Key Takeaways
- It’s common to experience a “slump” in energy midday.
- Improving sleep hygiene and finding ways to boost your energy can help you push through an afternoon slump.
- Excessive daytime sleepiness may be a sign of an underlying medical issue.
A midday slump is a noticeable drop in energy and productivity during the afternoon. “It’s actually well recognized and has been noted as a physiologic dip in circadian alertness as we progress during the day, usually occurring in the early afternoon,” says Philip Alapat, MD, associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine. Fighting through this slump can be challenging, but there are practical ways to do so.
1. Consider Your Nighttime Routine
If you find yourself too sleepy in the afternoon, look at what is going on at nighttime.
“Each of us knows what can worsen our sleepiness, and if you try to be cognizant of that and try to get around it, you can manage your mid-afternoon slump better,” says Alapat.
Ask yourself if you are getting enough quality sleep at night. “If you are not doing that, then the slump is going to be worse for you,” he says.
2. Move Around
When sleepiness strikes, get up and go for a walk or run. “If we are physically active and/or doing something that is engaging, we are usually able to fight off any sleepiness that may exist,” says Alapat.
Movement boosts circulation and oxygen levels and can release adrenaline, which increases alertness. For example, Alapat says that construction workers and others who perform physical labor don’t usually show significant daytime sleepiness.
“But those of us who are stuck in a work environment staring at a television screen or computer screen or doing data analysis or accounting work, tend to feel a lot more sleepy in these early afternoon periods,” he says.
Kelley Kitley, licensed clinical social worker, suggests setting a timer for around 2 pm to walk the stairs or halls at work. If you’re at home, take a walk outside. If you’re not able to leave your work area, stand up and stretch for a few minutes.
3. Avoid Large Meals for Lunch
Heavy meals loaded with carbohydrates tend to put your body into a metabolic state that requires it to expend more energy breaking down the food rather than maintaining alertness.
“If you’re stuck in a board meeting where you’ll be in a dark room staring at a screen in the early afternoon period after eating a large lunch, you’re probably going to be more sleepy than if you had not done any of those things,” says Alapat.
Barbara M. Rocha, N.D., a certified traditional naturopath, eats a light lunch or smaller snacks throughout the day.
“As our digestive system is working, it pulls oxygen from our brains to digest the foods. If it doesn’t have to work as hard, you won’t be sleepy,” she says.
4. Drink Caffeine or Water
Caffeine is an agent that works as an adenosine antagonist in the brain to boost your alertness levels. While drinking an afternoon coffee or tea can give you a jolt, Alapat says timing is important.
“If you are taking caffeine in the early afternoon, it should not be physiologically active late in the evening at 9 or 10 pm when you are getting ready for bed,” he says. “For most of us, the caffeine has metabolized out probably within about 6 hours or so.”
However, he warns against taking caffeine tablets sold as a supplement. “I don’t encourage the use of caffeine tablets because they can make you jittery, anxious, and exacerbate underlying medical conditions,” he says.
If you don’t want to drink caffeine, drinking water might do the trick. Water moves nutrients and oxygen throughout the body and keeps you hydrated, which can help regulate your blood pressure and heart rate.
For something more flavorful, Kitley suggests grabbing a smoothie, green drink, or bubbly water. “It’s a nice ritual and refreshing to have something to hold on to. Bubbly offers many different exciting flavors. Smoothies and green drinks are full of nutrients and will give you energy,” she says.
5. Take Vitamin C
Rocha takes 1,000mg of vitamin C in the morning and another 1,000mg in the afternoon to help with afternoon sleepiness.
“I find the powder absorbs faster as it takes time for the capsule or tablet to digest,” she says. “If you have too much, your body will just expel it out in your urine. The body doesn’t store it.”
A 2020 study found that vitamin C can help combat tiredness due to its antioxidant properties—which reduce oxidative stress, a major contributor to fatigue—and by helping to synthesize carnitine, a compound that helps convert fat into energy.
Rocha says there’s no one-size-fits-all protocol. “There are many things to consider. For example, while it’s rare, vitamin C may not work for some people, but it is a good place to start.”
6. Shift Your Energy
To get your mind off feeling sleepy, Kitley says to avoid telling yourself how tired you are.
“It will make it worse,” she says. Instead, focus on recognizing how much progress you’ve made in the day.
“Tell yourself how proud you are of you,” Kitley says.
For further distraction, call or text a friend for a few minutes, or read an article or funny social media post. “It will help shift your energy,” she says.
7. Take a Power Nap
If you can, consider taking a short nap at home to rejuvenate and improve productivity for the rest of the day.
However, the length of the nap and time when you take it matter. To avoid feeling sluggish, you’ll want to wake up when you’re in the early, lighter stages of sleep.
“For most people, a short rejuvenative nap is usually in the realm of 20 to 30 minutes. If it starts to get longer than that, trying to get up from that nap is usually much more of an exercise,” says Alapat.
The nap should also be several hours before you go to sleep for the night. “The closer you are to your primary sleep period, the more likely that nap will affect your ability to fall asleep that night,” Alapat says.
Kelly Janowiak, a realtor, regularly takes 15-20 minute naps between 2:30 and 3:30 pm when work allows for it.
“I can get to the point where I almost feel like I could sleep standing up,” she says. “If I have the time, I’ll give in and take a quick nap before my sons come home from school. Then when I wake up, I feel totally awake.”
Why Do Midday Slumps Happen?
While there’s no one single clear reason why midday slumps occur, Alapat says it has to do with the body’s internal clock or circadian rhythm–a 24-hour cycle that regulates bodily functions, including sleep-wake patterns, hormone release, and body temperature.
He says most studies measuring people’s alertness during the day find that it increases in the morning and decreases slightly in the early afternoon. Interestingly, alertness is at its highest level in the early evening hours.
“That’s why in previously established European models, the norm was to take a little break in the early afternoon period where you may retire for a brief slumber and then get back up and resume work into the evening,” he says.
When Is Sleepiness a Concern?
Alapat says you will be more prone to afternoon slumps if you have an underlying medical condition that contributes to daytime sleepiness, such as obstructive sleep apnea or narcolepsy, or if you take medications that have sleepiness as a side effect.
“This is because the circadian dip in alertness in the early afternoon is going to affect you just like if a person doesn’t have an underlying medical problem,” says Alapat. “Then add in circadian alternations in your alertness on top of your already sleepiness, and you have an even greater level of sleepiness.”
If you have excessive daytime sleepiness, contact your doctor to help determine if there is an underlying issue.
