The 5 minute tweaks to avoid afternoon slump
Understanding the seed that signals your brain's dopamine
Hola amigos,
As I wrote this, I realised this might be the only newsletter on the planet that delivers real world executive health tips from someone who’s actually in your shoes.
“Energy isn’t an accident, you design it.” — Hazem A., CFO who crushed his 2 p.m. slump with three quick tweaks
My latest executive survey repeated the same refrain:
“Broken sleep, no time, and brain-fog by 14:00.”
One GM put it bluntly: “I hit my morning hydration, train at 6 a.m., and still buffer on Zoom after lunch.”
Another asked, “How do I stay sharp for 10 plus hours without adding a traffic heavy gym run?”
I analysed each of their wearables which showed an identical roller-coaster:
breakfast glucose spike → insulin crash → afternoon nosedive
So I personally handed them 3 micro habits that slip neatly between back to back meetings:
15 : 30 walk-and-talk to flatten the post lunch spike.
Chia–raspberry fibre at dawn for a four-hour energy release.
Pumpkin-seed dopamine bump at 15 : 00 to replace the emergency latte.
Ten days in, his glucose readings had flattened. By week three, Hazem’s presentation rating was nine points higher and he’d quit the 3 p.m. coffee run.
Today’s issue gives you the same playbook, no extra time, no guesswork.
this 10 minute habit clears brain fog
THE WHY
Almost every executive I work with goes through a midday energy slump. That fog is a post-lunch blood sugar spike followed by a crash. Two quick, three-minute movement breaks cut the spike by about 25 %, so you stay clear headed when the tough questions come.
THE HABIT
Set a standing 3:30 p.m. “walk-and-talk.” Pop in your earbuds, leave the screen behind, and take the call while you move.
THE MOVE
Mid meeting, stand, lightly brace your hands on the desk, and do 30 slow calf raises—two seconds up, two seconds down. Big leg muscles soak up extra sugar.
the cheap fibre food that powers you for hours
THE WHY
7 : 45 a.m. you polish a deck while inhaling “healthy” overnight oats. At 9 : 30 your stomach growls, and by 11 you’re craving pastry. The missing link? Soluble fibre.
A 2 tbsp chia snack turns breakfast carbs into a time release capsule, feeds butyrate-making gut bugs, and delivers four steady hours of cognitive voltage.
THE HABIT
Each evening, prep 2 tbsp chia + 1 cup raspberries + 25 g whey in almond milk. Park it in the fridge. By dawn: 16 g fibre, 30 g protein, < 2 minutes’ effort.
THE MOVE
At 10 : 30 open your Health app.
Note resting heart rate drift (RHR-Day vs RHR-Night).
Target ≤ 3 bpm rise.
Low drift = fibre buffer is doing its job.
a seed that boosts dopamine for peak energy
THE WHY
Coffee gives a quick buzz but charges interest later. A single ounce of roasted pumpkin seeds packs tyrosine (builds dopamine for focus), magnesium (keeps blood sugar steady), and iron (carries oxygen). Translation: a natural pick-me-up that keeps you sharp without the caffeine crash.
THE HABIT
On Sunday, scoop five one ounce bags of pumpkin seeds. Drop one in your laptop bag. When the 3p.m. latte urge hits, reach for seeds instead. Consistency beats novelty.
THE MOVE
“Crunch count 20.” Chew each bite 20 times, then rate your alertness from 1 to 5 ten minutes later. Track the scores all week; watch them climb as dopamine (not espresso) powers the home stretch.
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That’s it for today amigo,
Hasta la vista!