Hello desk dozers, cubicle catnaps, open space snoozers, corner office conscious, home den dreamers and coffee shop slumbers. My name is Brock Armstrong and I am… not the Workplace Hero. That’s you! The point of creating this podcast was to make you into a Workplace Hero. I am merely along for the ride. You can think of me as a helpful hitchhiker.

If you tend to suffer a sleepiness attack in the mid-afternoon, well it’s not all that odd. Many people experience a noticeable dip in their alertness, attention, creativity, energy level, and ability to concentrate in the afternoon.

It’s true, the majority of us have been there: after an awesomely kick-ass, productive morning of finishing projects and heading for inbox zero, the clock strikes two and well, hell… you might as well pull down the blinds, slip on your jammies, and slide under your desk

The good (and bad news is) that it’s completely normal to feel super-tired once the afternoon rolls around. Circadian rhythms, which affect our sleep patterns, may be to blame for the midday slump. In fact, our “sleep signals” peak at night and during the afternoon, which completely explains the phenomenon of the siesta. Secretly aren’t we all a little jealous of a culture that embraces an afternoon nap instead of scheduling another meeting through it?

What happens is, your body releases your brain's natural sleep chemical, melatonin, telling your body that it's time to go to hit the hay, sometime between 2 and 4 in the afternoon.

WebMD's sleep expert, Michael J. Breus, PhD, (who we will talk about more later) explains that the exhaustion you feel in the middle of the day is just like the tiredness you feel before bedtime at night as it has to do with a dip in your core body temperature. Right before you go to sleep at night, your core temperature begins to drop, which is a signal to the brain to release melatonin.

The exact same thing happens on a smaller scale between 2 and 4 in the afternoon. It's a mini-signal to your brain to get sleepy.

Basically, because we wake up super early for work, our body wants to go to bed in the afternoon because our natural clock is telling us to do so.

Is all this talk about sleep making you tired? It's definitely making me nod off. *shakes it off*

But other factors, like what we eat, hydration levels, and how much time we spend staring at a screen can also affect those droopy eyeballs.

There is a great book called The Power of When by Michael Breus (who I mentioned in the WebMD article earlier) that explains something else that is very cool. It’s a thing called a chronotype and I will explain more about that in a second.

Right now, if you are near an internet connected device, I want you to type this into a browser: workplacehero.me/getfitguy that will take you to the Quick and Dirty Tips network website where I just became the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast. If you are listening to this episode when it first comes out, you will see that my friend Ben Greenfield was the Get-Fit Guy before me and the latest episode if actually him handing me the keys… so to speak. I gotta say that am grateful, thrilled and more than a little intimidated to be taking over for Ben. But that aside, if you are a fan of the short, snappy and information packed type of podcast like Workplace Hero is, you will likely love the Get-Fit Guy (and the other Quick and Dirty Tips podcasts). The goal of the Get-Fit Guy podcast it to help you enhance your energy, lose weight, boost your performance, and get your body looking better than ever without spending a tonne of time at the gym (or a lot of money on equipment). If you want to begin an exercise routine and don’t know where to start, or if you’ve been working out for a while and aren’t getting the results you want, I will give you the tips you need to reach all of your fitness goals. So head over to workplacehero.me/getfitguy or just search for Get-Fit Guy and check it out.

Ok, now back to whatever the heck a chronotype is!

As Michael Breus puts it, every person has a master biological clock ticking away inside of their brain, and dozens of smaller biological clocks throughout his or her body. But, unlike a normal clock, not every person’s biological clock keeps the same time or even at the same pace. If you’ve ever heard someone say, “I’m not a morning person”, well there’s a reason for that. Some people are meant to be more productive in the morning than at night, and vice versa.

Yes, believe it or not – your body has been programmed to function much better at certain times of the day than others. Based on general morningness and eveningness preferences, different people fall into different classifications, called “Chronotypes”.

Each Chronotype will reveal exactly what you need to do to work with your body, not against it. There are four Chronotypes (Dolphin, Lion, Bear, and Wolf), and most people fit into the “Bear” category (I am a dolphin, in case you are wondering). You can head over to thepowerofwhenquiz.com to find out your own chronotype but for our purposes here, we’ll assume the majority of us are bears and continue with some anti-sleep advice that I found at Greatist.com, mercola.com, and thebalance.com on how to combat, avoid or otherwise stay awake through our afternoon meetings.

Since I just confessed to also being the Get-Fit Guy as well as (not) the Workplace Hero, this first one won’t surprise you. The first tip is…

1. Work Out A midday trip to the gym may not only boost productivity; it could ward off sleepiness, too. Stick to some light aerobic exercise before getting back to the books. Don’t have time to hit the gym? Try some deskercises to work out at work. Go back to workplacehero.me/workout for help with that

2. Step Back From the Screen In order to avoid eyestrain (which can make the eyes feel tired) keep a safe distance from the computer screen—about an arm’s length. That, or try a pair of snazzy computer glasses. Go back to workplacehero.me/airandlight for more info on that from Dr Tamsin Lewis

3. Stretch it Out Feelin’ stiff? Stretching out can provide a quick boost of energy. If there’s no stretching station in sight, try a handful of these desk stretches to keep the muscles loose. Visit my friend Abi Carver over at Yoga15.com for help with that.

4. Move Around A change of scenery may boost productivity, so do some work at a coffee shop or camp out in a meeting room. Try to park near a window for some natural light, which may keep us more alert. Check out workplacehero.me/stand for some help on that from Biomechanist, Katy Bowman.

5. Grab a Towel Splash some cold water on your face to wake up. I call these birdbaths and no, I don’t have a link for this one.

6. Sip Green Tea With less caffeine than a cup of coffee, a mug of green tea can give us that afternoon pick-me-up without making us stay awake all night. Plus its nutritional benefits are enough to keep anyone wide-eyed! For more caffeine alternatives go to workplacehero.me/shiftwork

7. Talk it Out Instead of emailing a coworker down the hall, take a trip to his/her cubicle and talk in person. That'll stretch out the legs while providing a break from staring at the screen. Ummmm… nope. No link for this one either.

8. Have a Snack Not meal time yet? Have a snack to help boost energy levels. Try an ounce of cheese, a handful of nuts, or another high-protein snack to keep alert. Go to workplacehero.me/snacks for help from Quick and Dirty Tips own Nutrition Diva on that.

9. Try a Walking Meeting Take that meeting to the streets and discuss what you would in the office outdoors. When I worked for a big coffee company I would often take my meetings while walking along the seawall.

10. Switch Tasks Working on the same project for five hours? Try tackling something else to stay stimulated and ...