The afternoon crash is real!
We all know that sneaking feeling of exhaustion and brain fog that creeps up on us around 3 or 4 pm, sending us straight to the coffee shop, cookie jar, or vending machine for a pick-me-up to get through the last part of the day.
If only there was a way to avoid that and have even, steady energy throughout the entire workday.
Well, guess what? There is!
My grandmother always said “your body is like a car. If you don’t give it gas, it won’t go.” And while I rolled my eyes when she said this, she was right. We need to feed our cells after fasting all night and the best way to do that (before your coffee) is to make sure you eat a breakfast that contains protein, carbohydrates, and fat even if you are not hungry.
You can do something as simple as an egg cooked in coconut oil with a cassava tortilla, a hard-boiled egg with ¼ avocado in a cassava tortilla, unsweetened oatmeal with collagen and butter, or a smoothie.
If we only eat a salad with protein for lunch or if we eat a processed carbohydrate, our bodies will not have the stamina to keep our blood sugar balanced, which comes from burning our fuel efficiently.
Having a complex carbohydrate like brown rice, quinoa, black peas, lentils, chickpeas, sweet potato, yam, or yucca (cassava) with lunch will lengthen your energy runway to help you avoid the afternoon crash because it will enable your body to slowly release glucose into your system and provide your cells with energy in a steady fashion.
Seventy-Five percent of the American population has a sugar addiction in some way, shape, or form. This is a sugar addiction that is responsible for decreased productivity, diminished mental acuity, and lagging motivation.
Sugar, or ‘the white stuff' that's in cakes, cookies, muffins, and pasta, requires our body to pull from its own reserves of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and proteins in order to process it, leaving us nutrient deficient and depleted of our vital energy. Our bodies react to sugar like a drug, hence the crash.
Upgrade your sugar to a lower glycemic alternative that works better in your body. We love dark liquid stevia, coconut sugar, and raw honey as our top three natural sweeteners.
Often the best way to keep your blood sugar balanced and your energy levels steady is to make sure you don’t go for very long stretches without eating. By inserting a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack (or sometimes both) into your routine, you can pre-empt an energy crash.
We have a whole five-minute episode on how to Spring Clean Your Snack Drawer, if you need some healthy ideas.
Over 50% of routine fatigue can be alleviated with proper hydration. We need enough water to regulate our body temperature, flush toxins, enable our organs to function effectively, hydrate our skin, and of our course, to keep our energy high.
If you have dark urine, muscle cramps, dizziness, nausea or fatigue, increase your water intake to at least one liter (or 34 ounces) for every 50lbs of body weight.
For more hydration tips, watch our show Hydration and The Shocking Truth About Bottled, Tap, and Filtered Water.
This is a secret military trick from Navy Seals to help them refresh and stay alert when sleep has been scarce.
Get yourself a sleep mask. I love the 40-Blinks masks, because they provide the most darkness and were my go-to during labor. Then, lay on the floor with your legs up on the wall or a couch (or if at the office, do this in your car to elevate your legs) to get more circulation. Set your alarm for 8 minutes. Apparently, that is the shortest (magic) number of minutes to rest in order to get a brain reset. I often do this on long filming days and it works wonders.
If you cannot find a place to lay down, opt for exercise instead and move your body for 8 minutes—enough to work up some heat and get your circulation moving.
