TOP SECRET! An “I was thinking of you” phone call works wonders. A five-minute keep-in-touch call to your wife, child, siblings, parents, a friend, or a retired colleague will lift your spirits for hours and reinvigorate you to get your work done.
1. Ten minutes outdoors is practically prescription-strength. When the slump hits, head outside and sit in the daylight for 10 minutes. Better still, have your lunch outside and divide your break between eating and a walk. It will help reset your biological clock, keep down the amount of melatonin (the sleep hormone) your body produces during this circadian dip, and give you a valuable boost of beneficial vitamin D, reducing your risk of osteoporosis, as well as various cancers.
2. A green salad sprinkled with low-fat cheese, a hardboiled egg, and some sliced turkey wins over a pasta salad. Basically, protein will give you energy, while carbs may sap it. So a tuna salad without the bread is a better choice than a tuna sandwich. The change can really make a difference.
3. Teatime can soothe and energize. A mid-afternoon cup of tea is a good step toward beating the afternoon doldrums thanks to that little bit of a caffeine burst and the few quiet minutes it entails. Keep a selection of exotic flavored teas (preferably caffeinated) in your office and an aesthetically pleasing cup just for tea.
4. Your desk and e-mail inbox can pick you up—if you clean them out. Cleaning them out is a relatively mindless task that doesn’t require great amounts of concentration or clear thinking, and both will leave you feeling more energized because you’ll have accomplished something visible, as well as having reduced energy-sapping clutter.
5. Put a drop of peppermint oil in your hand and briskly rub your hands together, then rub them over your face (avoid your eyes). Peppermint is a known energy-enhancing scent.
6. You don’t even have to leave your desk to gain energy. Simply roll your shoulders forward, then backward, timing each roll with a deep breath in and out. Repeat for 2 minutes.
TOP SECRET! An “I was thinking of you” phone call works wonders. A five-minute keep-in-touch call to your wife, child, siblings, parents, a friend, or a retired colleague will lift your spirits for hours and reinvigorate you to get your work done.
7. Consider a morsel of dark chocolate. Unlike milk chocolate, dark chocolate is truly a healthy food, closer to the category of nuts than sweets given the high levels of healthy fat and antioxidants it contains. Plus, it has abundant fiber and magnesium. Additionally, it provides a little caffeine, as well as a satisfyingly decadent feeling. Just stop at one square.
8. Chewing gums with strong minty flavors are stimulating, and the mere act of chewing is something of a tonic to a brain succumbing to lethargy. Plus, chewing stimulates saliva, which helps to clear out bacteria responsible for cavities and gum disease from lunch. Just be sure to choose sugar-free gum.
9. If you often work on your own, try to organize work involving others at the time of day when your concentration might otherwise be waning. We are social animals, and interactions always rev us up. But make sure it’s an interesting, interactive activity. Sitting in a room listening to someone else drone on and on will just send you snoozing.
10. You can get your blood moving and feel more energized even in a meeting. Isometric exercises involve nothing more than tensing a muscle and holding it. For instance, with your arm held out, tense your biceps and triceps at the same time and hold for 5 to 10 seconds. You can do this with your calf muscles, thigh muscles (front and back), chest, abdomen, buttocks, shoulders, and back.
11. Not only will sharing your space with a plant—a live, growing thing—provide its own mood boost, but also studies find the scent of rosemary to be energizing. Whenever you need a boost, just rub a sprig between your fingers to release the fragrance. Or, if you’re really wiped out, rub a sprig on your hands, face, and neck.
12. Have an afternoon snack designed to get the blood flowing. That’s one that combines protein, fiber, and complex carbohydrates (such as whole-grain crackers or raw vegetables) to raise your blood sugar levels steadily and keep them up.
13. Keeping manageable items on your to-do list will keep you motivated. Checking off tasks you’ve completed makes you feel productive and ready for the next job. Be sure to keep routine items that you are always accomplishing on your list so you can have the satisfaction of checking them off.