Ask HN: Do you have a high level of energy throughout the day?

For example Ballmer's famous Developers Developers Developers speech[0] is NOT my "high energy" and in fact if I ever had that much "energy" I'd consider myself to be having an emotional breakdown.

My "high energy" is: zero brain-fog, good mental acuity, and not feeling sluggish. I've found light fasting to help with that (e.g. only eating dinners). But it isn't really clear what you're trying to achieve and or what success would look like.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxbJw8PrIkc

0. Accept that your energy and dopamine levels will slowly go down throughout the day

1. Get enough sleep

2. Take a short nap or meditate (10-15m) after lunch to clear my head.

3. Exercise (even a little bit helps)

4. Accept that you’re not a robot and you will have worse days.

I’m oversimplifying here a bit but: historically humans worked in cycles (one busy day followed by one slower day) and our current approach is not sustainable.

- Creating my own list of tasks and trying to get through as much of it as I could.

- Skipping breakfast, keeping my lunch small, drinking plenty of water.

- Working out before dinner, and finally having my first big meal.

- Getting a full night's sleep. Usually skipping coffee because it wasn't needed.

Even on days when I had a large lunch, standing ensured that I didn't fall asleep at my desk.

Also found having a good convo on an interesting topic. Find it very satisfying however, that may be due to my loneliness :)

And what others have said: B complex, B12 in particular.

Lastly, I found one of my best workout days are the days where I did NOT want to work out. Those days I flip a coin and do whatever it says. So I find it's a lot of mind over matter.

Like when your football wins, you wanna go out and run a marathon!

First of all, the cause for low energy may be mental or it may be physical.

Don't assume that because you feel tired in your body, the root cause is obviously physical. Long-term therapy helped me a lot. I also meditate semi-regularly, and try to maintain a good network of friends I see regularly. (AND, VERY IMPORTANT ... exclude negative people, if necessary family, from my life!)

Moving on to the body, it sounds like you're asking about "good health." Here's what works for me (has evolved over time):

* Early morning sun exposure, ideally a run.

* Keeping a healthy weight through intermittent fasting and low-carb eating.

* Regular resistance training - squats, pushups, pullups, can be done at home.

* Did I mention low-carb eating? Say no to lunchtime rice or noodles. Or perhaps say no to lunch.

* Very limited alcohol. No recreational drugs.

* Feeding that gut microbiome with lots of prebiotics and probiotics.

* Using a standing desk for about half the day.

* Avoid most meds except in case of emergency, i.e. stay off the prescription cascade.

* Regularly getting a good night's sleep, again without using meds. I recommend a weighted blanket.

I do drink coffee and tea, which are both reputed to be healthy, and I eat lots of other delicious cooked food. (Often without the rice/bread/noodles.) I am highly skeptical of raw-food diets - they seem completely anti-evolutionary.

Good luck!

Sleep 4 hours twice per 24 hr cycle, spaced 10-14 hours apart. No caffeine, lots of water. This makes a massive difference.

I reach my "final form" when adding a keto diet to the mix. No energy crashes ever, it's like being a machine. It can also be fun.

That being said it's nontrivial to schedule things in that way, and overall I'm happier when i get to see my family more by sleeping an 8 hour block in exchange for the performance benefits.

Also don't forget to do creative/fun things outside work. Watching TV doesn't count. Nothing kills my productivity faster than feeling like a work robot.

There are no secrets, it's just how I run. I only eat "OK", certainly not great. I drink a pot or more of coffee per day, but only water other than that. I don't drink a lot, or do any drugs, not sure if that helps.

I wake up, I get kids ready, start my workday, take them to the bus, continue my work day, pick the kids up, and then I go wherever the night takes me. Sometimes I need to finish my day, my wife and I are going to need to feed kids, wash kids, get their homework going, get them somewhere, etc.

That's probably 7AM-7PM, sometimes closer to 9PM. Most days I'm ready to go until about midnight or so, at a fairly steady, sometimes brisk, pace.

Edit: reading this back and I see I might have a problem with caffeine but I’m not ready to confront that yet.

Edit 2: does hyperfocus == energy? I think so

Make sure you're getting enough protein, and then enough nutrients generally to fuel your body at the right rates.

For some people this means a lot of slow-digesting grains, other people do better with less carbs and more fats.

And then some people need more to keep their blood sugar from being too low, whether it's bananas and honey at the start of the day or crackers between meals or whatever.

My biggest advice is that energy can be very linked to diet, and don't be ideological about it. Experiment widely and figure out what works best for you. It's truly bizarre just how differently different people respond to different proportions of macronutrients, or things like raw vs cooked, or things like intermittent fasting.

To be clear: I'm not a doctor, I'm not saying you must have ADHD based on two sentences. I'm not saying that medication is your only option, or would even be appropriate for you. I'm suggesting simply that you take a look at one of the self-report scales like "Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale" (ASRS) and see if it fits your experiences, and if it does maybe talk to your healthcare professional about it.

Also, find the tasks that motivate you; working out, working on your car, working on a house, working on a side project. Avoiding TV if possible.