We’ve all been there: it’s mid-afternoon and suddenly you hit that slump, affectionately known as “biscuit o’clock.” The time between 2-4pm can often feel like an uphill battle against fatigue. But why does this happen and more importantly, how can we combat it effectively?

Why the Slump Happens

The afternoon dip is your body’s subtle nudge for a little recovery and sometimes a signal that your daytime stress hasn’t been well-managed. This dip is largely dictated by your circadian rhythm, the internal clock that regulates your energy throughout the day. After lunch, it’s natural for your energy to wane, but factors like a heavy lunch, sedentary desk work and poor sleep can exacerbate this feeling of lethargy and distraction, which can lead to your mid-afternoon productivity crash.

Common Strategies That Just Make it Worse

Here’s how it typically plays out: you begin your day in a focused state and start to burn through glucose, a brain fuel. Within about 90 minutes, you experience what’s described as your ‘peak-performance window’. As you work, by-products build up in your brain in the form of metabolic waste and cellular debris. Your brain is also processing new bits of information. You may feel fatigued, groggy and frustrated, and your attention is likely to wander. This is your body waving a red flag and telling you it needs some downtime to rest and recover. It’s at this point that you’ve hit your ultradian trough, which is an energy low point. You’ll probably crave one of the three Cs:

1. Caffeine: Your afternoon latte might seem like a saviour, but caffeine’s long half-life means it could interfere with your sleep later, perpetuating a cycle of sleepless nights and sluggish afternoons.

2. Carbs: Reaching for a quick carb fix is a sign that you’re fatigued. Ambushing the office biscuit box (or the lolly stash in your drawer) won’t help you! It might provide a temporary energy boost, but it often leads to a crash shortly after.

3. Crappy Connections via Social Media: Mindlessly scrolling through social media might seem like a break, but it can further drain your mental resources without providing real rest (although there’s some evidence that a quick check can help us. You can read more here

A Better Way: Science-Backed Strategies to Beat ‘Biscuit O’Clock’

Instead of succumbing to the slump or relying on ineffective fixes, try these strategies to keep your energy levels up:

1. Seek Sunlight Instead of Coffee: Step outside and soak up some sunlight. Natural light activates your hypothalamus, boosting alertness and mood without the caffeine jitters. Whilst your afternoon coffee might seem like a good idea but it can cause havoc with your sleep. Caffeine can disrupt slow-wave sleep (I find 8 hours is fine for me, but some of my clients’ sleep is impacted if they nap within 12 hours of their bedtime because caffeine has a half life of around five hours, meaning it takes around five hours for roughly half of the substance to be eliminated from your body). The reason it’s hard to be precise about your caffeine cut-off time is because your CYP1a2 gene determines how fast you metabolise coffee so there can be a lot of variation from person to person.

2. Go for a Walk: Taking a walk is a powerful antidote to the dreaded afternoon energy slump, as it triggers a cascade of brain-boosting benefits. When you move, your brain releases Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factors (BDNFs), often referred to as ‘fertiliser’ for the brain, which enhance cognitive function and focus. Additionally, walking stimulates the production of endocannabinoids, serotonin, and dopamine—chemicals that improve your mood, reduce stress and elevate energy levels. This simple movement also creates “optic flow,” where objects pass by your eyes, calming the amygdala (the brain’s emotional centre) and activating the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-order thinking. Even a short 15-minute walk can refresh your mind and body, leaving you recharged to tackle the remainder of your day.

3. Delay Your Morning Coffee: If you often hit an energy slump in the afternoon, your morning coffee could be to blame! This one is a game-changer for many of my executive coaching clients (who initially (and reluctantly) delay their morning coffee for 60-90 minutes after waking and report the phenomenal changes that result. Delaying your morning coffee by 60-90 minutes after waking can help you avoid an afternoon energy slump by working with your body’s natural rhythms. When consumed too early, caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors, by interfering with your body’s natural process of clearing adenosine in the morning. This can lead to a rebound effect, leaving you feeling sluggish later in the day (around biscuit-o’clock). Additionally, caffeine can cause spikes in cortisol, the stress hormone, which may amplify feelings of anxiety and disrupt your energy balance even further. By postponing your coffee, you allow cortisol levels to peak naturally after waking, supporting a more sustainable energy flow throughout the day.

4. Practise Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR): Instead of napping, try NSDR when the afternoon fatigue hits. This involves lying down and focusing on your breathing, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Just ten minutes can increase dopamine, reduce stress, and enhance focus. A ten minute NSDR session mimics what happens in your brain when you sleep, but doesn’t impact your sleep pressure which a nap can if it’s too late in the day, or too long. You can listen to one from Andrew Huberman here.

5. Work with Your Chronotype: Understand your natural biological rhythm. Your chronotype biologically dictates what time of the day (or night) you’re most focused and energised and what time your body naturally wants to fall asleep. It’s determined by your PER3 gene and so you cannot manipulate your chronotype. If you’re a Lion or Bear chronotype, your energy and focus tends to naturally peak in the morning and you’ll naturally find it more challenging to do mentally-taxing work in the afternoon.. Aligning tasks with these peaks can optimise productivity and reduce the impact of the afternoon dip. Not sure if you’re a ‘Lion’ or ‘Bear’? Check out my Chronotype Assessment and Individual Report.

Whilst the post-lunch energy dip is a natural part of our biological rhythm, it doesn’t have to derail your productivity. By adopting these strategies, you can build a fortress around your focus and maintain your energy levels throughout the day. Remember, it’s not about fighting your biology, it’s about working in alignment with your Human Operating System (your hOS) to achieve and sustain peak-performance.