Avoid the Midday Slump and Stay Productive

It’s coming. You can feel it. You’re trying desperately to will it away, but, by 3:00pm you’re exhausted. You’ve completely lost steam. The thought of striking the letters on your computer keyboard seems like a daunting task. You can’t imagine how you’ll keep your eyes open during yet another meeting. Why are those scheduled in the afternoon again?

When this happened yesterday, you swore it wouldn’t happen again. As you walk to the café to get another cup of coffee and grab a snack out of vendo-land, you wonder how to avoid this midday slump tomorrow. The good news? There are simple steps you can take to energize your body throughout the day and avoid this desperate feeling.

Start with breakfast to avoid the midday slump

The best place to start is breakfast. First, let’s acknowledge that it’s important to eat breakfast. Your body has been in a state of fasting, rest and recharge for several hours. It needs fuel in the form of the right kind of carbohydrates, healthy fats and protein to get going in the morning. Here are a few ideas:

• Instead of processed cereal and milk, try oatmeal with almonds and blueberries.
• Prepare, in advance, a couple hard-boiled eggs that you can grab as you hurry out the door.
• Pair the hard-boiled eggs with a brown rice cake slathered with almond butter and real fruit jam and you’re starting your day off on the right foot.
• Blend up a delicious smoothie with frozen berries, non-dairy milk (like unsweetened coconut or almond milk), fresh spinach, and some almond or cashew butter. Grab and go!

Hydrate your body for more energy

It’s important to water your body throughout the day. Remember what happens when you forget to water your potted flowers? Yep, those beautiful blooms wilt and turn brown. Without adequate water intake, your body will start to wilt in its own way.

One of the first signs of dehydration is the feeling of being tired. Some people even experience a headache. This is because your tissues and cells aren’t getting enough water to produce energy.

Imagine that a few glasses of water could be the difference between your 3pm exhaustion and continued energy to help you finish the day strong. Keep a water bottle with you, or on your desk, at all times and aim for drinking half your body weight, in ounces of pure water, each day. (Weigh 140 pounds? Drink 70 oz. of water.)

Snacks to fuel your body

With just a little bit of thought and planning, you can have convenient, fuel-injected snacks available when you need them. When you’re prepared, you can say goodbye to the candy bars and packaged snacks in the vending machine and the leftover donuts someone brought to work that morning.

These processed foods are full of sugar and the wrong kinds of fat. They’ll cause your blood sugar to spike and give you a quick burst of energy, but it won’t be long and you’ll feel lethargic and worse than before as you come down from the sugar high.

Take a few minutes, during the weekend, to prepare a trail mix with almonds, walnuts or cashews, pumpkin seeds, and Goji berries. For a little sweetness, you can add some cacao nibs or mini chocolate chips (I prefer the Enjoy Life brand because their products are free of common allergens). Keep a bag in your desk at work! Or store some packets of almond or cashew butter in your drawer and dip some apple slices.

The midday madness doesn’t have to continue. You can control how your body feels by nourishing it with healthy food (and water) throughout the day!