Do you regularly feel sluggish immediately after lunch? Or by mid to late afternoon?
When we feel lethargic after lunch, it’s because our energy is low. If this happens to you on a regular basis, it’s worth spending some time reflecting on what you are doing at lunchtime, and earlier, that may be a contributing factor.
It could be that your efforts to maximise your productivity – going to the closest deli or sandwich shop, working through lunch, or not leaving your desk – are actually counterproductive.
The key to peak productivity is consistent performance throughout the day, day-in-day-out, avoiding peaks and troughs, or cycles of superhero productivity followed by dead time and recovery.
Gaining a deeper appreciation of what your body needs in order to operate optimally helps you to show up at your best throughout the working day, and to make your afternoon as productive as your morning.
The first step is to start to think about your morning and lunchtime as an investment in your afternoon’s productivity, just as the quality of your sleep impacts on the following day.
Try these tips to feel more energised and engaged in the afternoon:
Eat in proportion to your appetite: If you aren’t very hungry, eat a small portion, and in general, try not to overeat. There’s no need to eat everything just because it’s in front of you. Pay close attention to what is happening in your body and learn to hear and respond appropriately to the hunger signals you receive.
Don’t wait until you’re starving to eat. In the same vein as avoiding going to the supermarket when you are hungry, waiting until you are really hungry to eat can result in you eating more food than you need, which creates more work for your body to do.
Don’t eat until you feel full. Sense into the difference between feeling full and being satisfied or having enough. Become more attuned to how much you need to eat based on season, schedule and exercise level. The goal is to feel vibrant energy so if you’re feeling sluggish, you may be overeating.
Avoid empty calories: Nutrient dense foods provide the same nutritional value in lower quantities so there is less bulk for our bodies to deal with.
Chew! It takes 20 mins for food to hit your stomach so chewing slowly (and aiming for 50 chews per mouthful) gives your body time to sense the food you are eating and register that you have eaten enough. Chewing also supports the digestion process so there is less work for your body to do.
Take a short walk after eating: Having a 10-20 minute walk after eating gets your body moving, and speeds up your metabolism and digestion processes. Think of the aftermath of big Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners! If you eat a large meal and then sit down, your body diverts resources to digestion and your energy levels drop through the floor.
“When we feel lethargic after lunch, it’s because our energy is low.”
You may feel that being less productive in the afternoon is simply the pattern of your working day and something that is outside of your control.
However, that is not the case. If you have a productivity slump most afternoons, there is something that you are doing that is contributing to it.
Become curious. Start to pay attention to the quality of your workrate in the afternoon and to distinguish between good afternoons and bad afternoons. There are contributing factors and it’s simply a case of working out what they are.
Once you know the formula for a productive afternoon, and how to avoid your productivity killers, you simply need to apply it to have the same energy and level of productivity in the afternoon as you had in the morning.
It may seem like an overwhelming task but have no doubt that there is some low-hanging fruit that will make a material difference. Partner up with a friend or colleague, and compare notes, or work with a coach.
The time invested in this task will repay itself quickly through increased, and more consistent, productivity.
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