Afternoon sleepiness

[Rudy Tamasz]

It's 2 p.m. and I am almost falling asleep in the office. it is not necessarily that bad. I had a good lunch and read some curious history related articles on the Web. The mood is pretty relaxed and laid back.

I need to do some work, though. I am gonna wake myself up with a cup of strong Sumatran coffee and finish the document that I started drafting yesterday.

What do you folks do to wake up after lunch? Is it a problem that needs fixing? Or is it just a normal state of mind and body and you can enjoy staying asleep?

[SaltaOffRoad]

[Mark]

Apparently it's a normal body reflex and not necessarily due to your body taking energy to process your food eaten at lunch, although that is a factor.

Apparently biologically we're designed to sleep twice per day. A small sleep in the afternoon and then a large sleep at night.

I guess the reason being that in Africa, where the human species did the vast majority of its evolution, it was often extremely hot during the day, so the best strategy was to be awake at dawn and then again at dusk and stay out of the hottest part of the day. So the the sleepiness you feel just after lunch is an echo of that past behaviour by our very distant ancestors.

[Daniel]

Apparently it's a normal body reflex and not necessarily due to your body taking energy to process your food eaten at lunch, although that is a factor.

Apparently biologically we're designed to sleep twice per day. A small sleep in the afternoon and then a large sleep at night.

I guess the reason being that in Africa, where the human species did the vast majority of its evolution, it was often extremely hot during the day, so the best strategy was to be awake at dawn and then again at dusk and stay out of the hottest part of the day. So the the sleepiness you feel just after lunch is an echo of that past behaviour by our very distant ancestors.

I do miss my afternoon unemployed naps

[BeansBeansBeans]

There is no greater pleasure in life than an afternoon nap. I think that's why some folk are always slagging off people on the dole. It's because they're envious of their afternoon naps.

[fandango]

It's 2 p.m. and I am almost falling asleep in the office. it is not necessarily that bad. I had a good lunch and read some curious history related articles on the Web. The mood is pretty relaxed and laid back.

I need to do some work, though. I am gonna wake myself up with a cup of strong Sumatran coffee and finish the document that I started drafting yesterday.

What do you folks do to wake up after lunch? Is it a problem that needs fixing? Or is it just a normal state of mind and body and you can enjoy staying asleep?

Definitely a natural thing. The best thing is to have a short nap, even just 10 minutes with your eyes closed sitting in a chair, and then drink plenty of water to get yourself going. Hold a pencil in your fingers to stop yourself falling into a deep sleep - when you drop it you'll wake up.

[schmenke]

What's a nap?

[Mark in Oshawa]

I used to always want to nap around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. When I was driving truck long haul, I would sometimes stop on a nice day in a rest area, put the windows down and let the breeze blow, and take a 30 min nap...

[Easy Drifter]

Actually it was probably the 10 Martooni lunch!

[slinkster]

I try and nip out the office for some fresh air... well, as fresh as it can get in the middle of a big city! I always get sleepy at about 2. I still miss the naps I used to have in my student days... but then that was about the only sleep I got for three years at uni so I guess I had a better excuse!