Feeling tired in the afternoon especially between 3 to 5 PM, is what we call an afternoon
slump.
This is Dr. Lam, founder of DrLam.com, and in this video we will go through the mechanism
of what this is all about.
Most people eat lunch between 12 and 1 o'clock, and if your diet is not very heavy in carbohydrates,
you should be able to feel quite steady and refreshed throughout the afternoon as you
continue your work. Those people who have diabetic problems or pre-diabetic problems
may have an intolerance to carbohydrates and they may get what we call a food coma, or
a food slump, usually within a half an hour or so from when they eat lunch.
Now we are not talking about that, we are talking about a situation about two hours
after lunch, around 3 o'clock or so, assuming that you eat around 1 or 12:30, that your
body simply kind of runs out of steam. It's almost like you have irritability, fatigue,
you feel you need a nap. Sometimes, you can hardly open your eyes. What is really going
on? The body seems like it is in a slowdown mode, it doesn't want to move. It is like
a train, running out of gasoline, and interestingly if you take a break and take a 20-minute nap
you do feel better.
So this slump has many reasons, it could be metabolic because the sugar is low during
this time, and that can be associated with adrenal fatigue. It can be your cortisol level
has gone off balance. It could also be due to if you have tremendous stress during the
day your adrenaline may have been released and causes the sugar to be used up, so to
say, and causes the body to go into a rebound situation in the afternoon. The interesting
thing in these slumps that happens during the afternoon that is classic for adrenal
fatigue, is it is self-limiting. It gets worse, and then by 5 or 6 o'clock you start to rise
back up in terms of your energy level. It is almost like you have a second wind when
you get through this slump.
Managing this slump is very important because during this slump not only do you have reduced
energy and fatigue, you can have occurring brain fog, reactive hypoglycemia, heart palpitations,
etc. So, take it together with other symptoms, and this will serve to give you a big window
of looking into what is really going on. Now, this type of slump can be overcome obviously
by eating food, by moving, physical activities; but if you are very weak these things might
not be possible. The good news is that there are ways to overcome this, and usually when
the body recovers and gets stronger, usually this problem is one of the first ones to go
away.
So, you will hear the reports of sufferers saying 'Well, I'm able to go through my afternoon
now. I no longer need an afternoon break. I am able to go through the whole day.' These
are wonderful signs that the body's metabolism and the energy reserve is clearing up, and,
as a result, it has more energy to produce and more energy as a reserve to help the body
deal with stressful times during the afternoon when the body's need can be quite great.
Now, so, what you need to do is to pay attention. If you do have afternoon slump, make sure
your blood sugar is okay, make sure to go to a conventional medical doctor to get checked
out, but if nothing is wrong that is indicative of structural problems, then do think about
adrenal fatigue.
I hope you've enjoyed this video. For more information on this topic, head over to DrLam.com
where I have written over a thousand articles to help educate people. You can also call
me at 626-571-1234 for more information on Adrenal Fatigue and how to navigate it. Finally,
if you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks for watching.