Afternoon sleepiness

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?

:)

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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I do miss my afternoon unemployed naps :(

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.

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Originally Posted by 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?

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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.

What's a nap? :dozey:

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...

Actually it was probably the 10 Martooni lunch! :p :D

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!

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Originally Posted by Daniel

I do miss my afternoon unemployed naps :(

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:up: :laugh:

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Originally Posted by schmenke

What's a nap? :dozey:

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That is what you try to get your kids to take so you can catch your breath. Ask your wife, she knows all about it!

I tend to agree with you folks that it is natural. The problem is that nobody would let me do that. Napping is out of question in our office. I also think that my best sleep happens betweem 7 and 9 a.m. and I have to be awake at that time. :(

After lunch I once walked in on a guy who was asleep at his desk

His arms were crossed and he was resting on them with his forehead

He woke, and I said sorry, did not mean to wake you,,,,,

he said you did not wake me.....I was not asleep

odd thing was that he had this clear, distinct impression of his watch, right in the center of his forehead

There was a Spanish politician who, when caught napping in parliament, said "I wasn't asleep, I was sleeping..."

We also have a joke: "I am not sleeping, I'm just blinking very slowly".

BTW, yesterday I had a team meeting at 2:30 p.m. and that was something else. I had to mobilize all of my inner resources to stay awake and coin an occasional remark. Coffee did not help at all. There were just four people in the room and I bet my heroics did not go unnoticed. Nobody said anything, though.

Mark's right, we are designed to sleep twice daily. Somebody told me years ago that humans are at their most tired about 8 hours after waking up, and though I doubted it, it's turned out right during my life.

I get to have an afternoon nap if I want one but rarely bother. Too much hassle getting out of all my muddy gear and kicking the dog off the bed during his (more important) afternoon nap(s) :p :