Naturally Avoiding the Afternoon Energy Fail at the Office

It starts to happen almost everyday at the office. A couple of hours after lunch, your eye lids weigh more than your entire body and you have entered a state of mindless sleepwalking.

This is typically followed by either the third cup of coffee for the day, a sugary soda, a mystery power beverage, or a sugary snack, and maybe a combination of these to compensate for the loss of energy, but it does not really work that well in the end.

In order to operate at full mental capacity at the office, your body needs to function well. Your body needs to be adequately hydrated and it needs a consistent amount of fuel via healthy snacking and lunching.

Hydration is key to maintaining energy, focus, and productivity at the office!

Drinking coffee in the morning is fine for most people, but remember that there are adverse health effects of consuming more than 20 ounces in a single day (which is about a medium at most coffee shops).

Drinking teas at the office is also fine for most people and it really does not matter how much tea you consume, the tea itself is good for you!

Sodas are discouraged completely at the office, actually, never drink a soda. They contain high quantities of sugars, calories, synthetic ingredients and just bad energy in general. One of the things that people who love sodas often do not realize is how bad the sodas actually make them feel and how long those effects last.

With drinks, be conscious of the additives like milk, cream, sugar, etc. - less is always better.

Whether or not you drink coffee, teas, or other beverages your body needs straight up, pure water. The water in coffee, tea, and other drinks does not do it! Your body needs pure water consistently throughout the day to properly hydrate and oxygenate, which is the key to natural energy.

Maintaining an adequate level of hydration will not only make you more alert and mentally elevated, but you may even find that headaches and neck pains start to disappear.

Healthy snacking and lunching moderates energetic sustainability

What many people do not realize is that the "energy fail" does not necessarily come from a lack of food intake, sometimes it is more about the intake not matching the needs of the body, resulting in excess loss of energy.

For example, if your breakfast consists of a bottled Frappuccino drink and a doughnut, and your next snack before lunch is a candy bar, you are already setting your body up for failure. When so much sugar is consumed through out the morning, your body is simply going through a high and it will eventually have to come down.

If this style of snacking is followed by an unhealthy lunch, loaded with fats, carbohydrates, greases, etc., your body is simply overwhelmed. After a couple of hours, no snack or drink is going to bring you close to where you are coming down from. Your whole body is allowing energy to escape and you simply feel tired and find it hard to focus.

Try starting your morning with a light breakfast complimented by fruits and nuts.

You should snack on more natural foods that provide real energy through real nutrition through out the day, like fruits, nuts, raw greens and veggies, or whatever you like that is honest, wholesome food.

For lunch, eat smart. Convenience is not your friend. Sometimes you cannot avoid the devil, but most of the time you can try to avoid processed foods, preservatives, artificial flavorings, and senseless indulgences.

Being sensible about what you consume before and during your office day will absolutely determine how you function, so listen to your body and feed it wisely.

Your heightened performance at the office just might pay off in unexpected ways!