It’s 2 PM in the afternoon and you’re desperately fighting to keep your eyelids from closing as you slip into the mid-day stretch of low energy. As you internally yell at yourself to “Wake up!”, you begin to wonder, “What do I need to do to get this to stop”? We’ve put together a set of simple tips to keep you awake, productive and feeling like you can take on the world.

Lay Off the Simple Starches

Clients of the Diet Center Program know that overloading the body on carbs has a detrimental effect on your overall health but it is also important to note what carb overload does to your energy level. The McSandwich and fries hit your system for a temporary energy boost but all too quickly the body realizes it needs to store the extra carbohydrates as fat and begins to pump insulin into the body. This triggers that hard crash after a meal and leads to you staving off the snores at work.

Eating a healthy balance of complex starches during the day slows the rise in blood sugars and leads to lower insulin spikes as well as allows you to digest your food more slowly. Rather than fall asleep, you can enjoy healthy even energy throughout the day. Complex starches include quinoa, brown rice, wild rice, millet, steel cut oats and more.

Eat Enough Fiber

You may be asking, what does fiber have to do with me falling asleep? Lots, actually. Eating enough fiber is an essential part of proper digestion. When your intake is inadequate, the body begins to get bogged down with undigested food and your ability to absorb nutrients is negatively affected. Poor absorption leads to a lack of energy because your body just isn’t getting the needed nutrients to produce energy.

A simple solution is to enjoy foods that have high fiber content. Pears, wild rice, raspberries, and broccoli are just a few wonderful options to help you keep your digestion healthy and your energy levels stable.

You Need a Boost

The temptation to grab a mid-afternoon coffee is high when you start feeling less than awake but this may not be the best option for you. The high acid content in repeated cups each day can lead to acid erosion of tooth enamel as well as yellowing of teeth. If you enjoy going out to grab your coffee, you’ll have to be aware of things like sugar, additives and high dairy content which can throw your healthy eating habits and weight-loss results off very quickly.

Diet Center’s Fat Burning Water Enhancer is a healthy weight loss boosting drink designed to help you experience a positive lift during the day with B Vitamins while helping to power your metabolism. Free from sugar and dangerous chemicals, each pack contain ingredients to burn fat, suppress appetite and help brighten your day and get you back in the working mood.

Fresh Air

Mother knows best and when she told you that you need fresh air, there was some serious wisdom there. When you’re starting to feel heavy eyelids set in, taking a short walk in fresh air can do wonders to reset your body and help you bring back some much-needed energy. How you ask? Your body will be taking in more oxygen during the activity and allow for increased energy production. You’ll wake back up in no time and if the sun is out, this is the perfect opportunity to soak up some Vitamin D.

Have a quick stretch while you’re enjoying the fresh air. Stretching is also a wonderful way to bring blood flow back into your limbs and provides a nice boost of energy. There’s never a bad moment to add a little flexibility into your day!

Music

This may seem like the oldest trick in the book but it absolutely works. Pumping music through your earphones is a great way to remind your body to get back to it. Dance music with a steady beat actually awakens a biological response in the body to match the beat which is also why your local gym blasts that one dance track over and over until you’re sick of it. Setting the tempo for your work with a catchy song will keep you on track, productive and feeling energized. And I mean, why not have some fun while you’re at work?

Circadian Rhythm

The most obvious way to have more energy is to make sure you are getting adequate sleep but a little less obvious is the role circadian rhythm plays on the amount of energy you experience mid-day. Our bodies are biologically designed to follow the pattern of night and day but since we are amazing creatures, we can choose to ignore our own biology and set our own hours. A person who is a night owl not only loses sleep typically but also has an out of whack circadian clock because of it. When the body doesn’t know what rhythm it needs to be on, you can expect to experience tiredness at unfortunate times.

Set a sleeping schedule for yourself and do all that you can to stick to it. Going to bed at a reasonable hour such as 9 or 10 PM and waking 8 hours later will help you feel rested and experience proper energy through the day. Need a little help sleeping easy? Try Diet Center’s AM/PM Weight Control Patch to help increase feelings of relaxation, restful sleep and protect the body from hormone-related weight gain. The AM Patch has natural energizers while the PM patch has special ingredients to help you burn fat while you sleep while also promoting a restful snooze.