Maintain Your Energy Throughout The Afternoon

Maintaining Your Energy Throughout The Afternoon

Sometimes as daily chores take their toll on us towards the afternoon, our energy tends to plummet. Here are simple ways to boost the highs and lessen the lows, helping you easily cope
with the rest of the day's work.


Break for energy. Short breaks speed up work and increase energy. When people take short breaks, they have a greater number of total accomplishments per day and also exhibit less
distress and fatigue. A 2- to 5-minute break resets your pace, allowing you to experience natural, powerful waves of energy that continue for up to 3 hours.

Reevaluate your task. Your energy is highest whenever you're doing something that is meaningful and exciting to you. On the other hand, whenever work is boring and monotonous, energy and alertness fade. During your breaks, stop and ask yourself why you are doing a task, where it is leading you or if you should shift your attention.

Be aware of the first signs of fatigue. For most people, signs of reduced attentiveness or energy appear about every half-hour or so during the day. The very first feelings of increased tension, tiredness, distraction, or anxiety are your cue that it's time for a break.

Catch a few naps if you can. Our bodies are programmed to gear down in the afternoon, turning down metabolism and body temperature and causing the dreaded mid-afternoon slump. You can wipe out a mid-afternoon slump very quickly with a 20- to 30-minute nap.

Smooth on an eye gel. If your eyes get fatigued at work, patting on an eye gel over your makeup can refresh them.

Stop staring. The eyestrain from staring at a computer screen can cause headache, fatigue, and related tension in your neck and shoulders. To combat eyestrain, look away from your
screen- or the papers you are working on, or anything you're staring at - every half-hour or so.

Don't let deadlines pressure you. Working under a deadline can make you tense your muscles and hold your breath - often unknowingly. To combat this fatigue-causing combination,
consciously think about breathing normally, then close your eyes and imagine yourself in a tranquil setting.

Stretch the tension away. If keeping sedentary at work all day saps your energy, try stretching. It gets muscles working, blood moving, and breathing going, all of which to perk you up.
Here are two quick moves that loosen muscles that are likely to tense up:
(1) Put your arms behind your back, and intertwine your fingers. Straighten and raise your arms until you feel a stretch in the chest, shoulders,and arms (do not bend forward). Hold for 30 seconds.
(2) While seated, intertwine your fingers and raise your arms overhead. Press your hands upward, lean to one side for 10 seconds, then lean to the other side for 10 seconds.