How to Combat the Afternoon Slump

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Here’s a question I don’t think we’ve ever talked about: how to combat the afternoon slump. Do you feel sleepy or unmotivated midday, readers? How do you make that time period productive for you?

Things we have talked about in the past include how to stay energized at work, how to improve your focus, how to survive the day after the work-related all-nighter, how scheduling breaks can increase your productivity, and how to investigate when you’re exhausted all the time.

(We’ve also talked about productivity hacks, our favorite books on productivity, and how to make the most of your productive times.)

How I Combat the Afternoon Slump

I definitely feel unmotivated by midday, if not a little sleepy. Things I try to do to get over this:

• go outside for some sunlight and a quick walk
• grab a healthy snack
• green tea — it’s the right amount of caffeine to wake me up but not keep me up all night
• try to do easier work
• leave tasks like phone calls or meetings until midday
• (in extreme cases, I’ll try to take a quick nap — it’s been ages since we talked about how to take a nap at work! I will say that when I do try to nap midday I adore this sleep mask from Manta because it totally blocks the light but is very comfortable.)

Readers, how about you — do you get sleepy midday? How do you push through the afternoon slump? If you work longer hours than 9-5, do you feel like you feel the slump later in the day? (If I remember correctly when I worked hours closer to 10a-11p I often felt two slumps, one around 2:30 and one again around 7:30…)

Stock photo via Deposit Photos / Wavebreakmedia.