HN Explorer

Ask HN: Mental fatgue after a long day, what do you do to sharpen your brain?

8 points by thenobsta ↗ HN
I'm curious what HN users use to wake-up or re-sharpen their mind after a long morning. I usually hit the afternoon wall and am trying to get some ways to sharpen/stimulate my mind when I hit that wall. Chemical suggestions are welcome, but I'm really trying to collect a group of activities.

Activities I've found useful:

- The game SET (there's something about the pace and focus)

- Ping Pong (focus and response time)

- Kneeling to standing jumps (speed of the movement is oddly refreshing and stimulating)

- Walks/Jogs/Gym-time (I find these refreshing, not great at sharpening/stimulating my mind)

Looking forward to other things to try.

23 comments

[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 73.0 ms ] thread
idlewords
Do you consume caffeine? I found quitting it to be very painful, but it got rid of the 'afternoon wall'. Now I feel equally exhausted all day.
thenobsta
I do, maybe one coffee per day. I'll try to go two weeks with no caffeine.

I find snacking throughout the day helps a lot for consistency of energy (been known to forget to eat for most of some days...not good).

haack
"Now I feel equally exhausted all day"

Not sure if you meant that to be hilarious, but it was. Do you mean it helped?

pif
Hello, ever tried with a short siesta? When your brain is tired, nothing beats some sleeping. Some caffeine may follow.
ansible
Kneeling to standing jumps

Just doing a quick set of push-ups is good too. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just do it smoothly and with good form.

Sleep is good too. A 20 minute nap after lunch can sometimes work wonders with my attention span and mood.

god_bless_texas
I'm not an exerciser. I'd love to be but am not.

I'm not doing this now but when was working on my startup and working a regular job, I was taking "caffeine naps" at 4:30. There was something about this time of day which was magical in terms of how tired I was and how much extra productive time it granted me through twilight.

cscharenberg
I find 15 minute naps the most effective way to reset and have a productive rest of the day. I don't do it every day, but I can feel when I need one and am operating at lower effectiveness. Anything longer is bad though - if you do 30+ minutes you're in danger of hours of grogginess. You may not feel the immediate benefit of a short nap, but you'll notice if you think about it an hour later how much fresher you are.

Some people don't seem able to take naps. My advice is: give it a few tries. For me it took a few attempts for my brain to figure out how to shut down like that. And some days it just doesn't happen.

I've found nothing better than taking some caffeine and immediately taking a power nap. When the refresh from both hit about 45 minutes later, it's like starting the day over, energy-wise.

jasonpeacock
Eat healthy. Seriously, the fatigue is almost-always due to crashing blood sugar. Very rarely are we working hard enough to actually be mentally exhausted (like those 4hr physics exams in school).

Eat healthy != whole grains and carbs. Eat veggies and protein. Balance your blood sugar through the day and you'll 100% better.

vldx
Anecdote, but still - ketosis in combination w/ resistance training and solid sleep made me increase my productivity by 85% for the past ~8 months. To be honest, this discovery is probably one of the best things in my life. However, I would emphasis on "eat healthy fats and veggies".
thenobsta
Great anecdote.

I'm playing with ketosis/fasting at the moment. Right I now am waiting to eat till early afternoon and then grazing the rest of the day. I still find I need to refocus sometime between 3-5. Trying a caffeine-nap seems like a good thing to explore for me.

danielki
Swimming - easy to get into a pattern, almost meditative in a way.
stormpat
TLDR. Keep an healthy diet, and exercise. Sleep enough.

Im lucky to have a gym 10 meters from our office, so 3 times a week i use my lunch ti go to the gym, and eat afterwards something light at the office, i try to go jogging twice a week on to of the gym.

Try to eat a fiber rich diet, if you choose to exercise. And never pass breakfast. Its important, the most important meal of the day.

Now for the mental part, here the most important thing is to sleep. Dont watch TV, read a book instead.

[dead] stormpat
TLDR. Keep an healthy diet, and exercise. Sleep enough.

Im lucky to have a gym 10 meters from our office, so 3 times a week i use my lunch ti go to the gym, and eat afterwards something light at the office, i try to go jogging twice a week on to of the gym.

Try to eat a fiber rich diet, if you choose to exercise. And never pass breakfast. Its important, the most important meal of the day.

Now for the mental part, here the most important thing is to sleep. Dont watch TV, read a book instead.

staunch
A timed 20 minute nap followed by a shower. Sleep is the only thing that truly recharges mental capacity in my experience. Sleep is 100x more important than the next most important thing.
notjustanymike
Podcasts, especially funny ones. Laugh a bit at something totally unrelated to the work you're doing. I feed off of the energy of others, like a vampire.

Some of my favorites: No such thing as a fish, Here's the thing, The Bugle.

ljk
one podcast that i recently discovered: Nerdist podcast

they have weekly guests(I think) mainly consist of comedians!

avinassh
btw The Bugle has John Oliver. It's one of my favorites!
alltakendamned
I got rid of the afternoon wall by stopping the consumption of carbs. Other than that, rest when it is needed.
andersthue
I practice Taoist Tai Chi every week and meditate as much as possible (not enough)

Both gives me a lot of mental energy!