When you’re as busy as we are, it’s easy to get in the habit of eating a big lunch before coming back to the office, and sometimes it gets difficult to power through the agenda after lunch. Sometimes even our brightest, most innovative creative individuals still feel like they need to have a big lunch to keep their spirits high throughout the day. If you believe in rewarding hard work, then you’ll have trouble stopping anyone from enjoying their afternoon delights. Remember that a sound mind needs to be fed the right foods to stay running strong.
Understanding the Situation
Let’s try looking at this dilemma by examining a reasonably logical explanation, advice we take from a professional. If you want to beat the lull that surrounds many of us after we eat lunch and try to get back to being focused at work, you might want to take some advice from sports nutritionist and dietitian, Robbie Clark. Clark recently told Huffington Post Australia the following information: “After eating — particularly sugary foods — insulin is produced by the pancreas which then converts these sugars,” said Clark.
The nutritionist described the entire process better than our favorite biology professors. The process occurs within our bodies every time we take a lunch break; he went on to say that these sugars eventually cause neurotransmitters in our brains to tell us that we can be calm. This calming sensation is known to induce Mid-day Sleepy Syndrome. Inspired by Clark’s advice, one mindful tip to beat the mid-afternoon lull is to set yourself up for success. Do this by eating less sugary foods, and avoid any food that is high on the glycemic index.
Change to an Active Meeting
If cutting down on sugary foods isn’t doing the trick, one of the best ways to take a meeting room by storm after lunch is to move around. Getting the blood flowing is one of the surest ways to get to the sleepier people in your meeting room. Don’t be afraid to change things up by having an active meeting or presentation. Getting people up and out of their chairs might sound like tough work, but you’ve got to do something to keep people awake after they eat their lunches.
Things may seem extremely languid after the holidays when so many people are eating turkey. Did you know that there’s an amino acid in turkey that many people blame for causing drowsiness?
Next time your group gets back from a big lunch, take the room by storm. Get everyone out of their chairs and off their bottoms by playing a game. If the room has been quiet all day, you could have people get up and introduce themselves, or you could ask that people stand and greet their neighbors. If you want something less conventional, try doing a walking meeting, or try incorporating actual exercises into the first few minutes after lunch. As long as you make the exercise light to avoid any cramping, this type of activity will usually stimulate digestion and get people out of a slump.
Keep Trying New Things
You should make sure to give people helpful tips on what to eat to stay healthy and active, and you should try to get people moving, but there’s only so much you can do to make people pay attention after lunch. Keep trying new tactics, and you’ll find the right one that works for your group. Stay focused, and make sure that above all else, you must show others by leading with a good example.
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