How to Avoid the Afternoon Crash: 3 Simple Habits to Boost Your Energy

Yes, you can keep drinking coffee

You make a goal list and get hyped: “I’m going to read for 1 hour, hit the gym and meditate every day”.

Then you get home after work and you can’t find the energy to do a single thing that’s not browsing YouTube on the couch.

We’ve all experienced it, the famous “afternoon-crash”.

To achieve your goals, it’s crucial to eliminate this disruption from your daily routine.

Luckily, we have found many ways to make it go away.

Here are the 3 things I’ve incorporated into my routine to solve this problem.

Don’t have a copious lunch.

Digesting food requires a lot of energy. That’s why after eating we feel groggy and just want to lie down and relax.

It’s a completely normal thing for our bodies and there’s no way around it. But we can choose to eat something that is digested quickly.

For example, I like to eat an omelet for lunch.

I’ve found that doing this makes my hunger go away without making me tired, and I can keep going after my goal list for the day right away.

Another option is to practice intermittent fasting and eat during the mornings or just have a big dinner.

The important thing is to keep the stomach empty during the time we want to be alert.

Don’t drink coffee until at least 90 minutes have passed after you wake up.

This one came from the Huberman Lab podcast, and I found it extremely helpful.

The general idea is that adenosine, the molecule that makes us tired, builds up while we are awake.

What caffeine does is stop those adenosine molecules from interacting with our nervous system.

What it does not though, is make adenosine go away.

So when we stop getting caffeine into our bodies, all that adenosine will start interacting with our neurons again, making us crash.

According to Andrew Huberman, adenosine is still around when we wake up, and it takes around 90 minutes to make it disappear.

So if we ingest coffee or any other drink with caffeine during that time, we are interfering with our bodies’ natural systems that make adenosine wear off.

Delaying our first coffee is challenging, especially if you are a coffee lover (not an addict I swear) like I am.

So at first, I waited for 15 minutes, and I slowly increased the time.

I can confirm this trick works wonders, it has completely changed my afternoons.

Take a 5-minute walk.

Most people think that exercising makes us more tired.

Truth is, it energizes us.

Of course, if you train hard for 1 hour and a half you are going to feel depleted afterwards.

But light exercise makes us feel more “ready to go”.

From a 5-minute walk to a set of pushups or squats, anything that makes your body move will help you tremendously.

Think about it, you’ve just come from work, and you’ve probably been sitting for most of it. Your body is lethargic.

It’s way more probable that you are mentally fatigued than physically tired.

And for those of you who want a scientific explanation: light exercise improves the circulation of oxygen in your blood, as well as increasing endorphin, dopamine, and serotonin levels.

These are only the 3 habits I have incorporated, but I’m sure there are countless more, and I would be very happy to hear about them, so please do share!