Late-afternoon exhaustion?

[LitmusDragon]

Whats the best way to get past late-afternoon exhaustion? Exercise?

I used to light up, but I've quit smoking again recently. That's going fine but I find myself nodding off regularly between 5pm - 7pm. I'll be watching TV or working on a project, and realize I've just beep asleep for a few seconds. Then I'll be OK for a while, then I'll nod out for a few seconds again. It's rather annoying.

Maybe I'm just getting older (I'm 35).

Should I just take a nap? I'm afraid that will keep me up late though.

Maybe I should get a treadmill.

Apologies if this topic is a bit inane.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Litmus, first of all, come over here so i can smack you. 35? OLDER? *slap*

I've been told by many people that a 20 minute power nap is the way to go. Personally i can't do it. I'm not a napper and if and when i do nap it only makes me feel stupified when i get up. Sorry i can't be of much help.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I regularly sleep for an hour or two in the afternoon if I can, but then I get tired very, very easily. I don't know what to suggest, because I think afternoon smoozes are just natural for me.

My "perfect" schedule appears to be:

Sleep from 1 AM-7 AM
Be active and (marginally) useful, do anything involving activity, going out, chores etc
Sleep from 4-6 PM
Do any work requiring quiet concentration, or relax if there is none.
Sleep at 1 again.

 

[TheSeeker]

What's your diet like? That'll have a big impact on energy levels.

 

[Luckyflux]

I recently read that afternoon fatigue could be caused by a lack of water. Maybe drink more water?

 

[broberfett]

Try some Vitamin B-6.

 

[broberfett]

Here is a section from Wikipedia about the foods you get vitamin B-6 from:

Food sources:
Vitamin B6 is widely distributed in foods in both its free and bound forms. Good sources include meats, whole grain products, vegetables, and nuts. Cooking, storage and processing losses of vitamin B6 vary and in some foods may be more than 50%,[5] depending on the form of vitamin present in the food. Plant foods lose the least during processing as they contain mostly pyridoxine which is far more stable than the pyridoxal or pyridoxamine found in animal foods. For example, milk can lose 30-70% of its vitamin B6 content when dried.[3] Vitamin B6 is found in the germ and aleurone layer of grains and milling results to the reduction of this vitamin in white flour. Freezing and canning are other food processing methods that results in the loss of vitamin B6 in foods.

 

[LitmusDragon]

What's your diet like? That'll have a big impact on energy levels.

I'm sure my diet isn't optimal at this point, but it's a lot better than it used to be. I don't eat breakfast- I never have, for whatever reason I don't get hungry till about noon! For lunch I'll either have a bowl of campbells beef/vegetable soup or turkey chili, or something like a pork chop and some rice, followed by a sugary snack (I love sweets)- snack portion is about two reeces peanut butter cups worth of sugar. Then I eat dinner around 4pm, half the time this is a fairly healthy meal like a double portion of peas or green beans with some rice and a half portion of meat, usually pork. On Tuesdays I get a large pepperoni pizza and eat half of it that day for dinner, and the other half Wednesday. I'll eat a steak and potato (and double veggie) meal once or twice on the weekends. Dinner is followed by a sugar snack about the same size as the one I have for lunch. Then I'll have a snack around 8pm or 9pm, usually a bag of low-fat microwave popcorn or a bowl of corn chips. I drink two cups of coffee in the morning but none at any other time. During the day I drink as much water as I can- about 4-5 bottled waters or 64-80 onces on a weekday, more than that on the weekend when I'm not as busy.

I'm sure the sugar is part of the problem- I get a sugar buzz, followed by an immediate crash. Even if I don't eat the sugar that day though I still seem to get the crash from 5pm-7pm. Come to think of it, maybe it's the caffeine from the morning coffee wearing off around that time. I avoid drinking coffee in the afternoon though, makes it hard for me to get to sleep.

Try some Vitamin B-6.

I do take a multivitamin every morning but I haven't tried taking B6 specifically for energy, good idea!

 

[RoJoHen]

Make a large pot of coffee, then chug it.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Not eating breakfast may be part of the problem. I don't get hungry in the morning either, but since starting breakfast everyday, I last longer throughout.

 

[trampledamage]

A little out of left-field but have you been tested for diabetes recently?

Exhaustion in the afternoon was one of the big symptoms for my husband that got him to the doctors and that turned out to be diabetes (well pre-diabetes actually, they caught it early enough that he's now able to look after his sugar levels just through exercise and careful eating.)

 

[LitmusDragon]

Not eating breakfast may be part of the problem. I don't get hungry in the morning either, but since starting breakfast everyday, I last longer throughout.

That's a good point, I've read it's better to eat smaller amounts throughout the day but I tend to not do that. May get around to trying that eventually.

A little out of left-field but have you been tested for diabetes recently?

Exhaustion in the afternoon was one of the big symptoms for my husband that got him to the doctors and that turned out to be diabetes (well pre-diabetes actually, they caught it early enough that he's now able to look after his sugar levels just through exercise and careful eating.)

I'm actually quite worried about that. I have a history of diabetes in my family, and up until about two years ago I was drinking sodas almost constantly.

I went and had a physical and bloodwork done a year and a half ago, but I'm not really clear which blood tests they did. Silly me, I didn't think to ask. I'll have to go call them up and see if diabetes is one of the things they'd tested for.

 

[trekkiedane]

Try some Vitamin B-6.

I didn't know it specifically was B-6, that was useful but I remember a time where we had a dog that shed loads of little white hairs all over the brown floor tiles (a Dalmatian in the seventies ), the vet suggested vitamin B (for stronger hair), but after we began giving that t the dog it became so full of energy that it could wear down every one of us one at a time.

After that we began taking the vitamin B's and learned to live with the dog hairs on the floor...

So, yes, take some vitamin B - and the (no longer than one hour) nap is also VERY good. Might want to find the perfect duration for yourself though, some people just get more tired when they nap too long in the afternoon.

 

[backstept]

do a caffeine nap
have a cup of coffee, set a timer for 15 minutes, and go to sleep . . . when the timer goes off the caffeine will have filtered into your system and you'll be wide awake

 

[LitmusDragon]

Thanks for the advice everyone, this is very useful.

I had the crash again yesterday, but I forgot to pick up the B vitamins. Tonight I will. I'm also going to go in for a diabetes check just to be safe, I've been meaning to do that anyway.

 

[broberfett]

B-6 is a mild diuretic. So it might make you pee just a bit more. Don't take handfuls of them if you are taking vitamins in pill form.

 

[broberfett]

I would also recommend Asparagus. If you look at the wikipedia article under the culinary section you will see that it is loaded with vitamins and B-6 and riboflavin(b-2). I love Asparagus. It is a stronger diuretic than just B-6 by itself, so if you don't normally eat it, try it out on a day where you aren't expected anywhere, just incase.

 

[Holdfast]

Whats the best way to get past late-afternoon exhaustion?

Assuming you've had yourself checked out to be sure nothing's causing it, this is God's way of telling you it's time to leave work and get a Martini.