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Ask HN: How to deal with after lunch fatigue?
14 points by shahinghasemi on Oct 23, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 49 comments
Hi HN. I've been noticing that I experience severe physical/mental/attention fatigue after serving lunch which affects my abilities at work(I'm a full-stack developer).

I've been trying no-lunch routines a number of times and noticed a significant improvement over my attention.

What's your experience? Is there any medication/diet/routine that can be helpful? Is that related to vitamin deficiency e.g. B12, D3, etc.?

Thanks.



1 - after-lunch fatigue is often caused by an interruption in one’s ultradian rhythm, often induced by early consumption of caffeine. Wait a full ultradian cycle (90 minutes) after waking before caffeine consumption in the morning. Even for longtime early morning coffee drinkers, it’s actually pretty easy to break the habit and delay caffeine intake. (Early morning concentration does not suffer.)

2 - get early morning sunlight to ensure well-functioning internal clock and dopamine/cortisol/serotonin function.

3 - take a real rest after midday meals. Go for a walk. Do nothing. Hangout with friends. Read. Rests must be real (no social media) to be effective.

4 - if you like what you’re working on make the midday meal light and keep after it.

On a final note, oftentimes it is appropriate to shift into less-focused work later in the day. Humans experience less dopamine and less cortisol starting around midday, and serotonin or unfocused joy becomes a dominant force. (For me this happens something like 7 hours after waking. I do more abstract design work, write, connect with people, read, broaden strategic perspective, do whatever work I find most fun, or stop working altogether.)


> take a real rest after midday meals. Go for a walk. Do nothing. Hangout with friends. Read. Rests must be real (no social media) to be effective.

Honestly, going for a walk or reading is more energy-demanding that social media. People default to social media because it provides the most pleasure for the least amount of energy expended.


It’s not about energy-demand – it’s about motivation circuitry (dominantly dopamine). Humans have a lot of “energy” to do a lot of different things irrespective of midday meals. The issue is motivation, flow states, feelings of reward, joy, cognition.

On this note, social media is a terrible rest as it makes the brain pump with endorphins, making it immediately more difficult to find motivation for anything with delayed dopaminergic effect.


Burning physical calories boosts mental energy, did you not know?


Andrew Huberman, is this you?

Valuable advice.


This thread is peak HN. People even suggesting amphetamines.

You could try what the rest of the world without a burnout-inducing work culture does: take a 15/30 min nap.


Or just eat a smaller, healthier lunch.


Also a lower GI lunch. To me, a lunch comprised of mostly protein and fat pretty much nullifies the slump.

Walking for 15-20min after lunch can also help.

Even better, fast until later in the afternoon.


Meta commenting really isn't interesting to read. Also, more people have suggested naps than amphetamines in this thread. Naps aren't a great solution anyway.


I moved to very lightweight lunch meals.

I start my day with some breakfast to carry me until noon, then have a small lunch like a salad with a bit of protein. I almost never feel tired after that.

Carbs give you energy, high fiber foods make you less hungry over longer periods of time, and protein makes you drowsy if it's more than a little. Start the day with some carbs (like rice!), eat some vegetables and low amount of protein and carbs for a small lunch, and then get the rest of your protein at dinner. This of course varies from person to person but you can only find the mix that works for you through trying.

Get your 8 hours of sleep in addition to this, and you're golden.

Another tip which I know is super annoying to hear, is that some exercise can be very energizing. A little bit goes a long way.


It's normal to get tired, and you should rest after eating. Ideally get a work from home situation or something to facilitate that. But for some people like me, it can actually continue for hours and be debilitating. I have acid reflux disease and the biggest thing to help me has been Nexium. It makes a huge difference although can have some other potential health effects from long term use. So I try to stop every once in awhile but so far it's been well worth it to go back.

But also coffee is the worst for reflux so I have been staying away from that.

Also you should see one or more doctors to make sure you don't have a small hernia or something other condition causing the fatigue if you can't recover properly with a nap and within say an hour and a half after lunch. I think that actually there could be different types of related medical issues if it's severe and doesn't go away.


This is obviously a bigger-picture solution that may be tough for some, but if you can find a job that's WFH and flexible on time, then you can just avoid the problem entirely.

My best work hours are from when I get up in the morning (6ish) to about noon, then about 4-8pm. If I have work that doesn't require deep thought, I'll do that after lunch. If not, I'll just do housework and/or rest until I start to get some mental energy back, then I get back to work.

It's a great trade for my employer - I get flexibility to use my time effectively, and in return they get eight or nine of my best working hours instead of just eight or nine consecutive ones.


Things that have helped me is to only eat lunch (or anything, really) if and when I'm actually hungry, and when I do eat it stick to something lower in carbs if possible.

If I want rice or pasta one day I'll eat that, but I realized most days what I really want is something that involves vegetables (fried, streamed, raw, whatever), maybe some eggs, just kind of thrown together into an edible bowl of some sort with a high fat sauce. I'll add some kind of vegetarian meat replacement if I feel like it.

This became much easier when I started working from home because suddenly I didn't see my peers leaving the office in droves to grab food, or have any pressure to follow them to socialize. I realized most of the time when I ate lunch pre-pandemic it was just out of habit, not actual hunger. And sometimes I actually really wanted to grab a snack earlier, or have lunch later instead. Eating when my body actually wants to eat and minimizing carby offerings seemed to have resolved some of the post-lunch tiredness I'd experienced occasionally in the past.


Wait, do most people not get tired after lunch ? I've had trouble staying awake after lunch since grade school.


Things that have helped me at various points no one thing has lasted though just because things keep changing in my life. Biggest one was quitting caffeine!

* Increased protein lowered carbs

* Quit caffeine

* Plan out naps (20 mins max use an app with a timer i like pzizz atm)

* Intermittent fasting

* Change your lunch hour to much later or earlier in the day depending on your productivity levels


Make sure you don't have type 2 diabetes. After meal fatigue is a big red flag.


This is one of the reasons I do intermittent fasting. I basically hold off on eating anything until around 4pm when I have a snack, skipping breakfast and lunch. I either have coffee or black tea once or twice but am careful not too have too much as it can make me sick on an empty stomach.

So, if it works for you, I recommend giving IF a try. Its pretty hard for some people and easy for others, but if it helps it might be worth it.

Alternatively, experiment with your carb / sugar intake. Try eating protein / lean meals for lunch and see if that helps.


I tried intermittent fasting for a while a few years back and found that I didn't need caffeine anymore and after a week or two was no longer very hungry during the fasting period. I don't do it anymore but the idea of getting back to it appeals.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-preventi...


I think this can provide you some information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postprandial_somnolence

From the article: Counteraction A 2015 study, reported in the journal Ergonomics, showed that, for twenty healthy subjects, exposure to blue-enriched light during the post-lunch dip period significantly reduced the EEG alpha activity, and increased task performance.[29]


There is a fallacy that you have to be loaded on carbs to be productive. I find MCT oil[0] gives me laser focus, and typically make egg mayonnaise which I make with olive oil, grass-fed butter, MCT Oil, and vinegar. The old way of: 'Go to work on an egg' is brilliant advice.

[0] https://shop.bulletproof.com/collections/mct-oil


First time hearing about MCT oit, what is so special about it? Would any other oil would have the same effect?


https://draxe.com/nutrition/mct-oil/

https://superfoodly.com/mct-oil-benefits-side-effects/


The keto pitch: (as far as I understand)

You have a carb-heavy lunch, your insulin spikes to process this, then after the glucose is processed the excess insulin causes a drop in blood sugar (a kind of undershoot in the control system). This is felt as a crash in energy levels.

A keto diet prevents this by avoiding carbs, hence avoiding large swings in insulin and blood sugar levels. Hence keto diets are supposed to provide very consistent energy levels.


Or you could just exercise


At lunch? I'd love to, but like most people working in offices, I imagine this advise doesn't suit their schedules.


A few sets of pushups or a jog on break time is usually enough


I’ve noticed I don’t get tired after lunch since going vegetarian, even more so as I move towards plant based. Regular exercise will help too I think.


I take 10mg of mixed amphetamine salts or similar, as prescribed. Works great for my attention and focus! Take drugs to solve your problems, kids.


I assume cocaine works as well?


So far none of my doctors have proposed such treatment. It’s generally short-acting; probably not a good move for a therapeutic medication.


20 minute after lunch nap.


Protein, vegetables, water, go light on caffeine, no carbs, no sugar, no rice, no potato, no bread.

You won’t feel tired after eating


Chew properly, make sure you’re drinking water throughout the day, and have a lunch that has nutritional value. Avoid carb heavy meals or take out food.

I usually have some leafy greens mixed with beans and a light dressing. Enough to not feel hungry but also not feed “full”. Drinking 8 oz of water helps with that.


What works for me is to eat less at lunch.

How? By having a big breakfast. By the time lunch comes I am not starving, and it is easier to have a moderate lunch. This makes it easy not to be drowsy.

Having a big breakfast has also the advantage that it is a great motivator to get up in the morning :)


I skip breakfast and have a lighter lunch with a coffee or tea without sugar. The bitter flavor helps suppress my appetite. I have a big dinner after work everyday and maybe a snack in the evening.

Avoid sugar IMO, I notice when I have a lot of it, I get hungrier sooner and with greater intensity


Sounds like it could be blood sugar related. What kinds of foods are you eating for lunch?

E.g. how much carb-heavy, protein, sugar etc?

Also, there are professional dietitians you can work with. Usually available by reaching out to your primary care practitioner for a referral.


A relatively low hanging fruit that can help: chew more! This will both help with digestion, so your body will invest less energy, and secret more satiety hormones, so you will even eat a bit less without being hungry.


Sleep better, eat little and often, go for a walk after lunch, expose yourself to bright light. Try avoiding foods with tryptophan, including eggs, spinach, salmon.

It's related to serotonin and your blood sugar.


Next time you go in for a check-up, make sure your doctor measures your A1C level. Getting groggy after eating is not abnormal, but, depending on severity it may be sign of prediabetes.


Intermittent fasting can help. You can also try to go light on carbs and heavy on fat and protein. That after-meal tiredness is caused by a spike is blood sugar from digesting carbs


Not having lunch helps me the most with this (I don't eat breakfast either). If it seems too extreme, you can try to have a smaller low-carb lunch.


Just skip lunch. I only eat dinner now, and I'm in my 40s. Sometimes I go 2-3 days without food.

Or ask a doctor


Go see your primary care doctor.

Get a referral for a fasting lab panel.

Discuss results with your doctor.


Go talk to a professional and stop asking amateurs on the internet.


Nap. Micronap. Moment of snoring-like breath and closed eyes.


Take a nap. I thought this was fairly common but I guess not?


Protein + Veg only. Hello, meatless monday.


I try to avoid carbohydrates and it helps a lot.


What do you typical eat at lunchtime?




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