Ep.119: Your 2PM Slump Is Not Normal, Here's What Your Body Is Actually Saying

If you've accepted the 2pm crash as just "who you are," this episode is going to challenge that.

That afternoon wall with the brain fog, the chocolate craving, the counting down until bedtime, isn't a personality trait. It's your body telling you something. And in most cases, there are very real, very fixable reasons behind it.

In this episode, we're talking about what's actually driving your afternoon energy crash: blood sugar instability, mineral depletion (magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, and copper), and what it actually means to be hydrated. Plus, four simple habits to try for the next 30 days, and a few mineral-rich mocktail recipes to replace that third cup of coffee.

And if you've already tried all of it and you're still crashing, that's exactly what HTMA testing is for. Instead of guessing what your body needs, you get the data.

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Transcript

Dr. Heather Finley 0:03

Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Heather Finley, registered dietitian and gut health specialist. I understand the frustration of dealing with GI issues because I've been there and I spent over two decades searching for answers for my own gut issues of constipation, bloating, and stomach pain. I've dedicated my life to understanding and solving my own gut issues. And now I'm here to guide you. On this podcast, I'll help you identify the true root causes of your discomfort. So you can finally ditch your symptoms for good. My goal is to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need so that you can love your gut and it will love you right back. So if you're ready to learn a lot, gain a deeper understanding of your gut and find lasting relief. You are in the right place. Welcome to the love your gut podcast.

0:55

Have you ever felt like almost every day right around that two, three o'clock period, it feels like something in your body just flips a switch? One minute you feel like you're checking all these things off your to-do list, you're answering emails, you're getting through the day, and then all of a sudden you need a nap. You're like, "I need to lay down. I have no energy. My brain fog is horrible." You read the same sentence three times. You can't remember what you said. You find yourself opening browser tabs, scrolling your phone, just staring at your computer, possibly wondering why your brain just literally shut off. So many of us experience this, where this, like, 2:00 PM slump is the term that has been coined, where all of a sudden you just have this, like, dreaded slump in the afternoon. But what if I told you that there was a way to actually avoid this, and that there are things that you can simply do to actually prevent this from happening? It's easy to just think, "Well, I'll just grab another cup of coffee," or Maybe you reach for a handful of chocolate or energy drink or something sweet at your office or kitchen just because you need that pick-me-up. And maybe you've just gotten so used to this routine that you really don't question it anymore. You just think, "Well, like, this is who I am. I just get tired in the afternoon. I'm just not productive in the afternoons." Or maybe you tell yourself, "I'm just getting older. I'm just a busy mom. I don't sleep enough. I guess this is just part of being an adult." But today, I really wanna challenge that belief. What if your afternoon crash is actually not normal? And what if it's not simply because you're just busy or stressed? Some of the busiest people I know are super productive in the afternoon, and it's because they have these very simple things that I'm gonna share with you today to help prevent that. So what if that daily 2:00 PM slump is actually one of the very first signs that your body is struggling to make energy the way that it's supposed to? Because here's what I can tell you after working with thousands of clients over the years, one of the most common symptoms beyond GI symptoms is exhaustion. Just like that burnout, bone tired exhaustion. And it's even more specific than that. They'll say, like, "I wake up feeling okay. I just get through the morning fine, but then every single afternoon, I completely hit a wall." And what is interesting is that wall does not just affect your energy. It starts changing how you see yourself. You stop identifying yourself as someone who has energy, and instead, you become the person that feels like I have to have caffeine to survive, or maybe you're the one that, like, avoids scheduling meetings after lunch because you know your brain won't work. Or maybe you're the parent who's counting down until bedtime because the afternoon is just so draining. That dreaded, like, three to 5:00 PM time is so hard because it's not only just that hard time of the day with kids, but you also just feel like you don't have any patience. You don't have any stamina. Maybe you skip your afternoon workout because you genuinely just can't imagine having enough energy, uh, or you get short with your spouse over something that wouldn't normally bother you because your paci- your patience just disappeared along with your energy. So what happens, and I know this from experience, is that you end the workday or just the day Feeling really frustrated because you know you could have gotten more done if your brain had just cooperated, or you know that you could have been a lot more patient with your kids, or you know that you don't wanna rush through bedtime with your kids, but you're just so exhausted. And so eventually, you just stop seeing it as a symptom, and this is the part that I think becomes so hard is it becomes part of your identity. It, I'm just not an afternoon person, or I'm just low energy, or I guess this is just what happens, or this is just life after having kids. But really, what if actually none of that is true? What if your body has simply just adapted to running on empty? One of the things that I tell clients all the time is that we become incredibly good at accommodating symptoms. We build our schedules around them. This could be GI symptoms, energy, et cetera. Maybe we stop making evening plans because we'll just be exhausted, or we say no to things we actually would enjoy because we assume we won't have the energy, or just lower expectations for ourselves. We stop asking why we're tired and just believing that that's who we are, and I don't want that for you. Because while an afternoon energy dip can be normal from a cortisol perspective, that is different than an energy crash-out, and your body was really actually designed to have steady energy throughout the day. So let's talk about what that actually looks like. Our bodies operate on a circadian rhythm, so an internal clock, and this internal clock influences everything from hormone production to digestion to energy to sleep. So in the morning, your cortisol naturally rises. So now before you think, like, "Oh, that's bad," no, cortisol is actually a good thing It's when it's dysregulated that it's not a good thing. So cortisol is not inherently bad. Healthy cortisol is one of the reasons that you wake up feeling alert, and it helps increase energy, it sharpens your focus, it raises your body temperature, it prepares your brain and your body for your day. So the morning is when your digestive system tends to be most active. Your body is primed to receive nutrients, to regulate blood sugar, and begin producing energy that you'll rely on throughout the day. So after... as the afternoon rolls around, it can be normal to experience a small dip in alertness. You might notice you weren't quite as sharp as you were at 9:00 AM, and that's okay. That is just part of a circadian rhythm. But there is a huge difference between a gentle dip and feeling like someone just literally unplugged the battery on your body. A healthy afternoon should not require three cups of coffee just to get through a meeting. It should not require candy from the break room because you suddenly cannot function without sugar. It should not require an energy drink just to make dinner or just any, any kind of excessive snacking just to kind of keep yourself awake, and it definitely shouldn't make you feel like you have to crawl under your desk and take a nap. If that's happening consistently, your body is trying to tell you something and the good news is that in many cases, there are very real, very fixable reasons why this is happening for you, and I wanna walk you through some of the most common reasons. The first one being your blood sugar Now, there are many reasons why someone might experience an energy crash in the afternoon, but one of the biggest ones is blood sugar instability. So here's the thing, blood sugar is not just important if you have diabetes. Blood sugar is important for energy, it is important for focus, it is important for mood. Have you ever been hangry? Have you ever known someone that's been hangry? Blood sugar influences your ability to think clearly and make it through the day without feeling like you are dragging or snappy or angry or tired. If I asked you what you had for breakfast this morning, what would your answer be? Maybe it was coffee because you weren't hungry, which that says a lot about cortisol and metabolism. Maybe it was a protein bar because you were in a rush, you were driving kids to camp or school. Maybe you skipped breakfast because you were running late, or maybe breakfast looked like just carbohydrates, so like a bagel, cereal, muffin, pastry. None of these choices are make you a bad person, and I know from experience, I am not perfect either, that there are seasons of life where breakfast feels really hard. But here's what I want you to know. If you are crashing every single afternoon, breakfast is one of the first things that you need to address, and the reason why is because of cortisol. So remember that we talked about cortisol, how it naturally rises in the morning. That rise is healthy. That is your body's alarm clock that helps wake you up and mobilize energy for the day. So one of the ways that cortisol does this is by increasing blood sugar. So your body is essentially saying, "Good morning. We have things to do today. Let's get some fuel." So imagine that your body has already raised your blood sugar, but instead of following that with a balanced meal, you skip breakfast or just eat carbohydrates. So you might feel okay for a little while, you might feel energized, but eventually you're gonna have a crash. So by early afternoon, you've got the perfect setup for a crash. Your blood sugar dips, your brain starts running on low energy, and your body starts responding by releasing more stress hormones to keep you going. So that's why you're craving sweets, that's why you're reaching for another latte, that's why you can't focus, that's why you're reading emails three times because you're not comprehending what's going on. So maybe you're even getting a little irritable with your kids or your coworkers, and you don't really know why. So one client comes to mind as I'm talking about this, and really many clients, but this client in particular, she was convinced that something was seriously wrong with her because every afternoon she's like, "I have to take a nap. I cannot make it through the day without a nap. I cannot think straight. I crave chocolate. By the time I get home from work, I am done. I feel like a horrible mom because I have nothing left to give to my family." So she thought there was something seriously wrong with her hormones. She's like, "There's something going on with my hormones." But when we walked through her daily routine, something really stood out, and that was that she was having coffee and a granola bar for breakfast if she remembered to eat. She wasn't eating another real meal until lunch, and even then, her lunch was, like, a salad with protein. And while a salad with protein can be great, what we're seeing here is, like, she has a carbohydrate or nothing for breakfast, and then she has protein and salad for lunch w- that's actually lacking carbohydrates. So We really need to focus on balance. So one of the principles in our program that we teach is PFFC, so protein, fat, fiber, color. Before we ever added any supplement, before we even looked into hormones, which by the way, we never even had to, before we looked at anything, we simply focused on getting her body enough fuel. And literally within a couple weeks, she's like, "I feel so much better. I thought that this was gonna be way more complex than it was." So was the breakfast the only thing? No. There were other pieces that we eventually addressed, including mineral imbalances that were making it harder for her body to produce energy. But breakfast was that first domino, and for many people, it is that first domino. So when you give your body nutrients that it needs earlier in the day, everything downstream becomes easier. So we wanna keep it simple. Instead of focusing on what you should eliminate, think about what you can add. You wanna aim for about 30 grams of protein. Protein is going to slow the rise in your blood sugar. It's gonna help you feel full, support your muscle mass, provide amino acids that your body needs for neurotransmitters and even hormones. You wanna include some healthy fats. That might be like avocado, nuts, seeds, full fat dairy, eggs. This is gonna help keep your blood sugar more stable and provide longer lasting energy. Then you wanna think about minerals. This is a piece that can get overlooked, but like minerals like sodium, potassium, magnesium, these are so helpful for hydration, for energy production, blood sugar regulation. We're gonna talk more about that in a minute, but mineral rich foods can be very essential here. And then finally, we can't be afraid of carbohydrates and fibrous carbohydrates. Your brain runs on glucose, so the goal is not low carb. The goal is to pair carbs with protein and fat so you have a steady source of fuel instead of like a quick energy spike followed by a crash So this could look like, you know, eggs with some kind of carbohydrate, whether that's like whole grain toast or fruit or whatever it might be, maybe avocado. You could saute some greens in there. This could look like yogurt with berries, hemp hearts, honey possibly adding like a little bit of granola or something. Th- this could look like a smoothie that has all of the components. So it does not have to be complicated. It could literally take you two minutes to prepare something or do it the night before. We have some clients that love eating their dinner leftovers for breakfast. There is no rule that says that breakfast foods have to be breakfast foods. So if that is what works for you, great. There was a season in my life where I did that a lot, and actually, like, I feel so great when I eat more of like a dinner food for breakfast. So you might be listening and thinking like, "Okay, I already do that. I eat a great breakfast, I drink plenty of water, I get d- decent sleep, but I'm still crashing So the next thing that I want to talk about is can your body actually turn the food that you're eating into energy? Because there's a difference here. Eating healthy or eating enough doesn't automatically mean that your cells can efficiently produce energy. So you- if you think of it this way, food is like the ingredients for baking a cake. You can have the best ingredients on your counter, but if your oven doesn't work, you're never gonna make that cake, right? The same thing happens in your body. Food provides that raw materials, but your cells still have to convert those nutrients into usable energy. So this process happens inside of these little structures in your cells called mitochondria. And you can think of them as like your body's power plant. Their job is to create energy or ATP, and this is the currency, the energy currency that your body runs off of. So your heartbeat, your brain, your digestion, your muscles, hormones even listening to this right now, this all requires ATP. So your mitochondria cannot make ATP efficiently without minerals. So you can be eating all the foods, buying supplements, you know, checking every wellness box, but if your body doesn't have the right minerals in the right balance, it is harder to produce energy. It's like trying to drive your car, and it's, like, in neutral or something. So everything is there, the engine is on, but it cannot perform like it's supposed to. I-- Minerals are one of the most underrated tools for energy. They're not trendy. They are not a fad. They are literally the building blocks of energy, and they-- the Krebs cycle, which is the process in your body that makes energy, it requires minerals at every step. So I wanna talk just about a few of the big ones. The first one is one that you're probably s- most familiar with, which is magnesium. Magnesium is involved in, like, three hundred plus enzymatic reactions in the body, and one of the biggest jobs is energy production. So the form of ATP that your body uses is actually bound to magnesium. So without magnesium, energy production is much less efficient. And magnesium also helps with blood sugar regulation. It helps calm your stress response. It improves stress resilience. It improves sleep. So you want to make sure that you're getting plenty of magnesium and magnesium-rich foods in your diet. Next up would be sodium. Now, before anyone panics because we've all been told that salt is the enemy, I wanna add some context. Most individuals that we work with are actually low in sodium. They're not getting enough because we're so paranoid, and this is especially true if you are sweating, especially in the summer, if you are eating a lower carbohydrate diet, if you are breastfeeding, if you are just filtering your water but not replacing the minerals, or you're living under chronic stress. So I imagine if you're listening to this, you probably identify with at least one of those. Sodium in excess, of course, can impact your blood sugar, but we need sodium as well. It is essential for maintaining blood volume, for helping nutrients get into cells, for supporting nerve function, and to keep your body hydrated. So when sodium gets too low, we often see people experiencing extreme afternoon fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, headaches, and even salt cravings. So I've had so many clients throughout the years tell us they thought they were craving chips because they were, like, lacking willpower when actually it's just their body asking for electrolytes. So sodium doesn't work alone. It has a partner, and that partner is potassium. These two minerals are constantly working together. They help regulate fluid inside and outside of your cells. They support nerve signaling, muscle contractions, hydration, healthy adrenal function. And so when both of these are depleted, which is a common pattern that we see, it becomes much harder for your body to maintain energy throughout the day. This is why I love using coconut water in some of my afternoon mocktails. It's because it's a natural source of potassium, and it supports hydration. You can add a little pinch of salt to it The last one that I wanna talk about is iron, um, and iron and copper, because I know many of you follow me because of iron and copper stuff. Iron is absolutely essential for energy because it helps carry oxygen to our tissues. So without enough oxygen reaching your cells, it is hard to produce energy efficiently. You might experience fatigue or brain fog or poor exercise tolerance, shortness of breath. These can all be signs that iron is part of your picture. But you wanna be careful. If you have listened to this podcast for a while, you know I'm not a fan of just that every tired h- woman that's losing hair needs iron. I've seen way too many people spend months or even years taking iron supplements, and it's not actually addressing the issue. Because iron doesn't work alone. It needs copper. It needs zinc. It needs a lot of the cofactors. Copper is one of the most overlooked minerals, and it's also one of my favorite minerals to teach because it's such an incredible example of how the body works as a team. Similar to sodium and potassium, but copper helps to move iron in your body. It is involved in loading iron into red blood cells so that oxygen can actually be delivered through the body. So when you don't have enough bioavailable or usable copper, you can have iron just sitting or you can continue struggling with low ferritin and still feel exhausted. So this is exactly why we use HTMA testing and, or hair tissue mineral analysis and why looking at a single nutrient in isolation can just miss the bigger picture. Because minerals work in relationships. They depend on each other, and when one mineral is out of balance, it affects the others. So this is why we spend so much time looking at mineral patterns instead of just individual things in our practice. Because when someone tells me they're crashing in the afternoon, it's usually multifaceted. It's blood sugar. It's circadian rhythm. There's a mineral piece. We're thinking about whether their cells have the raw materials they need to produce energy And then another last thing that I wanna talk about is dehydration, which goes along with the mineral conversation. How many times have you heard someone say, "You just need to drink more water"? While, yes, that could be true, hydration is so much more than just drinking water. If you've chugged water all day long, you still feel thirsty, you still have afternoon headaches, you still feel exhausted, this is where minerals actually come into play. You need the minerals that I mentioned, like sodium, potassium, magnesium, copper, et cetera, to help regulate fluid balance in your body. And yes, you actually need a small amount of glucose as well. One of the reasons that oral rehydration solutions work so well is because the sodium and glucose are transported together across the intestinal wall, so that small amount of carbohydrate actually helps you to absorb the sodium in the water more efficiently. And we need water to go where it's supposed to and allow your body to absorb it, not have it just go straight through you. So one of my favorite ways to support hydration in the afternoon, especially if you're dealing with the 2:00 PM slump, is a mineral-rich drink. In fact, I am recording this in the afternoon, and I'm drinking one right now. They are easy, they're refreshing, and they're, they're so quick. No one can say that they don't have enough time to do this. This is one of the quickest, cheapest, easiest health hacks for every single individual. The first one that I'll share with you is kind of tropical. So you can simply just take coconut water, sparkling water, lime juice, a pinch of sea salt, lots of ice. It is light, refreshing. It gives you a ton of potassium and sodium to support hydration. Another one is like a twist on a margarita, but without the alcohol. So you're gonna mix sparkling water with fresh lime juice, a pinch of sea salt, add an orange slice, maybe, like, a little bit of cream of tartar for some more potassium. Um, cream of tartar is a concentrated source of potassium, which is why I only recommend us- using smaller amounts. If you have kidney disease or you take any medications that affect potassium, like spironolactone, you'll definitely want to check with your clinician before adding it regularly, but small amounts of this are totally fine. It would be similar to eating a banana or a potato or something else that's high in potassium. Another one that's more citrusy is coconut water, orange juice, sparkling water, lime. You can also take the coconut water out. And you could do orange juice, water you could add, like, some coconut cream for more of a creamsicle and, like, a pinch of sea salt and a little cream of tartar. It tastes so good. And then, um, last, I know I said last one on the last one, but a bonus one here, watermelon cooler. So you're gonna blend watermelon with lime and mint and pour it over ice. Top it with a little sparkling water and sea salt. This is so good in the summer. Watermelon is a great source of potassium, so if you are hearing the coconut water and thinking, "I don't really like that," try watermelon juice. It is so good. So pick one of these and try it in the afternoon, and try it, like, before you kind of hit that slump and see if it prevents that slump. I would be willing to bet that it really, really helps. So that point is that sometimes your afternoon slump isn't that you need more caffeine. Most of the time you don't need caffeine in the afternoon, right? Your body is asking for fluids, electrolytes, and actual nourishment. So before we wrap up, I just wanna leave you with a few simple habits that can make a huge difference over time If you try these four things for the next 30 days, you will change your health in some way, shape, or form. The first one is getting outside in the morning sunlight. Even just five to 10 minutes of natural light shortly after waking up is going to reinforce that circadian rhythm, tell your brain it's time to be awake. That sets the stage for better energy throughout the day, better sleep at night. Number two is prioritize a protein-rich breakfast. Stop skipping breakfast. Eat enough protein at breakfast. Um, number three, don't be afraid of carbohydrates. Your brain needs glucose to function. Instead of avoiding carbohydrates, pair them with protein and fat for stable blood sugar. Number four, hydrate with minerals. So I'm not telling you to give up coffee. I love coffee, but you don't need to be drinking coffee all day long. You probably should start your morning with some water and electrolytes before your coffee, and you will notice a huge difference. Um, and then bonus tip actually is take a short walk after your lunch, even five to 10 minutes. If you're a mom and you're home, walk around your house. Um, this can help support blood sugar regulation. This can help you to feel more energized. Um, this can help to kind of get things processing and moving. Um, and then another bonus tip would be just, like, make sure that you're sleeping. Your body is going to dep- deplete minerals faster when you are not rested and more stressed. So make sure that you are sleeping enough and getting enough rest. Otherwise, your mineral needs are actually higher. So just to recap, you're gonna get outside in the morning. You're going to prioritize a protein-rich breakfast. You are going to stop being afraid of carbohydrates. You are going to hydrate before you caffeinate. You are going to take a short walk after lunch. Make sure you're eating enough throughout the day, of course. And then also prioritize sleep and stress management. So you might be listening to this thinking, "I've already done this. I eat a balanced breakfast. I drink water. I sleep well. I get outside," but you're still crashing. If that's you, then it may be time to stop guessing. This is exactly why I love HTMA, or hair tissue mineral analysis, because instead of asking what mineral mocktail should I try or what vitamin do I need to take, it tells you exactly what you need. HTMA is going to allow us to look at the mineral patterns behind- your energy production, your hormones, your gut, everything, and will give us specific data on exactly what you need to do and give us an exact plan. We will help you create an exact plan so that you can address your symptoms. So I love this testing. We are running our twice yearly sale. The Christmas in July sale is coming up on HTMA. It always sells out the same day. It is my favorite test because it gives you so much data. So if you have been curious about HTMA, if you've listened to mineral episodes or HTMA episodes and you're like, "Oh, I can't wait to do this," don't wait on the Christmas in July sale. We will have 30 spots available. Like I said, we have never not sold out. So set your alarm. Make sure you're on our email list. If you have downloaded The Mineral Guide, which will be in the link of this episode, you are on our email list, and you will be first to know about the sale. It will open on July 25th at 9:00 in the morning, and we will run the sale. The first few spots will get $50 off. The second set of spots will get $30 off, once the 30 spots are gone, they will be gone until Black Friday. So don't wait. And like I said, I challenge you to try those habits that I mentioned for the next 30 days and let me know what changes in your health. Let me know if you notice differences in your energy. Let me know if you notice differences in your sleep, your brain fog, et cetera. So thanks for joining today's episode. I hope that it was helpful and insightful, and I will see you next week on the next episode of the Love Your Gut podcast.