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Perhaps the most universal experience for office workers everywhere is feeling tired. More so than drinking low-quality break room coffee or drowning in a whitewater rapids of email is the sensation of getting extremely sleepy at one’s desk after lunch. No matter how productive your morning at work, the afternoon sleepies, as we’re going to call them, can absolutely derail a workday.
If you find yourself asking why am I so tired all the time? every single day, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Turns out the afternoon sleepies are science. Brandon Luu, a medical doctor who trained at the University of Toronto and is now a respirology fellow at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, has an explanation. “It seems to be actually built into our circadian rhythms,” Dr. Luu tells me. “So, even if you take a group of people and let them freely nap at any time they want, they’ll naturally want to sleep between 1 and 4 p.m.”
Dr. Luu cites, of all things, car-accident data as proof that performance dips in this window of time. “The biggest peak is driving overnight and very early in the morning, but there’s a second peak in the late afternoon,” he says. “It seems to be driven strongly by a circadian rhythm pattern that’s just built in. We wake up in the morning, we get a nice big boost of cortisol, melatonin is low, body temperature usually rises. Then in the afternoon, it’s that perfect time when your cortisol peak is coming off.” (While most people are familiar with melatonin in supplement form, it is a naturally occurring chemical in your brain that is stimulated by darkness and tells your body it’s time to hit the hay. Cortisol, meanwhile, is a hormone associated with stress that also helps control your sleep-wake cycle.)
Fighting biological processes is usually a futile task, but there are things that desk jockeys can do to ameliorate these conditions. Starting in the morning, before even decamping for work, Dr. Luu advises practices that trigger energizing feelings. First, let the light in, whether that’s natural or artificial. “I start the day with bright light all the time,” says the doctor, who is also a prolific Substack poster. “Essentially, what bright light in the morning does is tell your body it’s morning. It sends alertness signals to pretty much every other cell in your body through hormonal signals.” Exposure to bright light is also a useful tactic in the afternoon, when your energy is naturally flagging but you need to stay lively. This is where the so-called SAD (seasonal affective disorder) lamps can be your best friend, especially in wintry cities that don’t see much sun from November to March. “I use my 10,000 lux lamp,” Dr. Luu reports. “I actually have one at work, and it will help not only make you feel better, but it truly improves performance.”
You might be thinking: But I’m a great sleeper! Why am I STILL tired all the time? It could be because of inconsistent bedtimes. What we have going on in any given week largely dictates our sleep schedule. But Dr. Luu says that choosing a bedtime and sticking to it can help make you feel less run down. So you can binge that show, go out for those drinks, stay up to hang out with your kids, but try your best to regulate the time your head hits the pillow. “Consistency probably matters more than anything,” the doctor says. “What you don’t want to be doing is going to bed at 9 one day, 11 the next day, and then creating what we call social jet lag where your biological clock clashes with your social schedule. Then what happens is your internal clock and your hormones aren’t lining up properly. Come Monday morning, that’s going to explain why people typically feel so terrible and sluggish.”
Many of us are self-professed night owls as well, preferring to tackle big tasks while off the clock, under the cover (and freedom) of darkness. If that sounds like you, just know that there is medical research that says your life can be improved. “It seems that a lot of people who call themselves night owls have actually disrupted circadian rhythms from their environment and actually do better when they shift to a more early-morning schedule,” Dr. Luu says. “A lot of people are probably being really negatively impacted by dark mornings and bright nights, which is exactly the opposite of what you want.” He adds that a 2021 study by the University of Florence gave people that called themselves night owls basic lifestyle tips to improve their circadian rhythm. As a result, they began sleeping earlier and feeling better.
Though Dr. Luu says there’s no such thing as a “correct” bedtime, shifting to an earlier wake-up time has shown to be beneficial. When that just isn’t an option, and you’re fortunate enough to be working from home, you can call upon a classic: the power nap. Dr. Luu practices the ritual himself, but with discipline: He says no nap should exceed 30 minutes. “Going longer than that, you risk going into REM [sleep] and then waking up during that, which can make you a bit more groggy. You also don't want to sleep so long that it interferes with your sleep that night. I set a timer for 30 minutes and then no matter what happens when I’m done, I just get up after that.”
Other things Dr. Luu points to that can turn your average Wednesday demeanor from snoozy to attentive include light exercise—stuff like short walks or stair climbing—and avoiding lunches that are high in carbs. Dr. Luu recommends a big breakfast that front-loads your daily calories, then a high-protein, lighter lunch, as it’s better for the circadian rhythm to start the day with high-caloric intakes rather than vice versa. At night, keeping the blue light devices out of your hand, practicing good sleep hygiene, and curbing the midnight snacking will all help you feel more awake the next day. He’s also a fan of nightly magnesium to help with sleep.
For the waking hours, his advice is simple: It’s all about anchoring the circadian rhythm. “You want bright mornings, you want dark nights, you want to avoid very high-carbohydrate or processed foods in the morning or afternoon especially,” Dr. Luu says. “That's usually one of the best places to start for people to feel better.”