Ask HN: How to deal with after lunch fatigue? Hi HN. I've been noticing that I experience severe physical/mental/attention fatigue after serving lunch which affects my abilities at work(I'm a full-stack developer). I've been trying no-lunch routines a number of times and noticed a significant improvement over my attention. What's your experience? Is there any medication/diet/routine that can be helpful? Is that related to vitamin deficiency e.g. B12, D3, etc.? Thanks. |
Or ask a doctor
Get a referral for a fasting lab panel.
Discuss results with your doctor.
2 - get early morning sunlight to ensure well-functioning internal clock and dopamine/cortisol/serotonin function.
3 - take a real rest after midday meals. Go for a walk. Do nothing. Hangout with friends. Read. Rests must be real (no social media) to be effective.
4 - if you like what you’re working on make the midday meal light and keep after it.
On a final note, oftentimes it is appropriate to shift into less-focused work later in the day. Humans experience less dopamine and less cortisol starting around midday, and serotonin or unfocused joy becomes a dominant force. (For me this happens something like 7 hours after waking. I do more abstract design work, write, connect with people, read, broaden strategic perspective, do whatever work I find most fun, or stop working altogether.)
Honestly, going for a walk or reading is more energy-demanding that social media. People default to social media because it provides the most pleasure for the least amount of energy expended.
On this note, social media is a terrible rest as it makes the brain pump with endorphins, making it immediately more difficult to find motivation for anything with delayed dopaminergic effect.
Valuable advice.
You could try what the rest of the world without a burnout-inducing work culture does: take a 15/30 min nap.
Walking for 15-20min after lunch can also help.
Even better, fast until later in the afternoon.
I start my day with some breakfast to carry me until noon, then have a small lunch like a salad with a bit of protein. I almost never feel tired after that.
Carbs give you energy, high fiber foods make you less hungry over longer periods of time, and protein makes you drowsy if it's more than a little. Start the day with some carbs (like rice!), eat some vegetables and low amount of protein and carbs for a small lunch, and then get the rest of your protein at dinner. This of course varies from person to person but you can only find the mix that works for you through trying.
Get your 8 hours of sleep in addition to this, and you're golden.
Another tip which I know is super annoying to hear, is that some exercise can be very energizing. A little bit goes a long way.
But also coffee is the worst for reflux so I have been staying away from that.
Also you should see one or more doctors to make sure you don't have a small hernia or something other condition causing the fatigue if you can't recover properly with a nap and within say an hour and a half after lunch. I think that actually there could be different types of related medical issues if it's severe and doesn't go away.
My best work hours are from when I get up in the morning (6ish) to about noon, then about 4-8pm. If I have work that doesn't require deep thought, I'll do that after lunch. If not, I'll just do housework and/or rest until I start to get some mental energy back, then I get back to work.
It's a great trade for my employer - I get flexibility to use my time effectively, and in return they get eight or nine of my best working hours instead of just eight or nine consecutive ones.
If I want rice or pasta one day I'll eat that, but I realized most days what I really want is something that involves vegetables (fried, streamed, raw, whatever), maybe some eggs, just kind of thrown together into an edible bowl of some sort with a high fat sauce. I'll add some kind of vegetarian meat replacement if I feel like it.
This became much easier when I started working from home because suddenly I didn't see my peers leaving the office in droves to grab food, or have any pressure to follow them to socialize. I realized most of the time when I ate lunch pre-pandemic it was just out of habit, not actual hunger. And sometimes I actually really wanted to grab a snack earlier, or have lunch later instead. Eating when my body actually wants to eat and minimizing carby offerings seemed to have resolved some of the post-lunch tiredness I'd experienced occasionally in the past.
* Increased protein lowered carbs
* Quit caffeine
* Plan out naps (20 mins max use an app with a timer i like pzizz atm)
* Intermittent fasting
* Change your lunch hour to much later or earlier in the day depending on your productivity levels
So, if it works for you, I recommend giving IF a try. Its pretty hard for some people and easy for others, but if it helps it might be worth it.
Alternatively, experiment with your carb / sugar intake. Try eating protein / lean meals for lunch and see if that helps.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-preventi...
From the article: Counteraction A 2015 study, reported in the journal Ergonomics, showed that, for twenty healthy subjects, exposure to blue-enriched light during the post-lunch dip period significantly reduced the EEG alpha activity, and increased task performance.[29]
You have a carb-heavy lunch, your insulin spikes to process this, then after the glucose is processed the excess insulin causes a drop in blood sugar (a kind of undershoot in the control system). This is felt as a crash in energy levels.
A keto diet prevents this by avoiding carbs, hence avoiding large swings in insulin and blood sugar levels. Hence keto diets are supposed to provide very consistent energy levels.
You won’t feel tired after eating
I usually have some leafy greens mixed with beans and a light dressing. Enough to not feel hungry but also not feed “full”. Drinking 8 oz of water helps with that.
How? By having a big breakfast. By the time lunch comes I am not starving, and it is easier to have a moderate lunch. This makes it easy not to be drowsy.
Having a big breakfast has also the advantage that it is a great motivator to get up in the morning :)
Avoid sugar IMO, I notice when I have a lot of it, I get hungrier sooner and with greater intensity
E.g. how much carb-heavy, protein, sugar etc?
Also, there are professional dietitians you can work with. Usually available by reaching out to your primary care practitioner for a referral.
It's related to serotonin and your blood sugar.