The Circadian Code by Satchin Panda PhD

Author:Satchin Panda, PhD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale
Published: 2018-06-12T04:00:00+00:00

But more important, don’t let your work disrupt your sleep schedule. There’s no way you can be productive and tired at the same time.

The Truth about Food and Productivity

Eating at the same time every day is one of the most powerful ways to maintain a strong circadian rhythm. This is true for breakfast and dinner especially. Between these two meals, it’s less important to focus on when you eat and more important to focus on eating foods that support a healthy brain. When it comes to brain function, quality is more important than quantity. Eating more food doesn’t mean our brain will function better. The brain actually works better on an empty stomach. We are not very alert after we finish a meal. This may relate to our inherent survival strategy. When we are hungry, our brain must find creative ways to search for food.

Your performance at any moment during the day is primarily determined by what you did the night before—when you ate and how much you slept—because that is what sets your clock, which then primes your body and brain. Studies have shown that both modest fasting and exercise have a similar brain-boosting effect. Each of them can increase a chemical called brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) that improves the connection between brain cells and improves brain function.15,16 When you have plenty of BDNF combined with a good night’s sleep, your brain is better prepared for performing complex tasks, staying focused, and being productive, so you can complete the same amount of work in less time.

Eating a late-night meal negatively affects your ability to pay attention the next day. As you learned in Chapter 5, late-night meals or middle-of-the-night snacks disturb our circadian clock, and as a result, the peak performance window between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. is disturbed.

The Coffee Productivity Myth

The active ingredient in coffee is caffeine, which does not have any nutritional benefit; our body doesn’t need caffeine to function. Caffeine is found naturally in more than four dozen plants and pods, including the coffee bean, tea leaf, kola nut, and cacao bean. People consume caffeine in many forms—coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, soft drinks, energy drinks, and some over-the-counter medications. Typically, 100 to 200 milligrams of caffeine (found in three 8-ounce cups of medium-roast coffee, or two to three bars of dark chocolate) is considered moderate daily intake. One cup of tea can have 25 to 30 milligrams of caffeine.

Caffeine is a stimulant, and in a low to moderate dose, it can increase alertness and reduce sleepiness. For the average person, the effect is almost instantaneous: Most of the caffeine is absorbed within 15 minutes and can start its stimulating effect in that time frame.

Although coffee can improve alertness, it does not remove your sleep debt. Rather, it delays that sleep pressure to a later time. That is why sleep-deprived people tend to have a “caffeine crash” after the effect wears off. They need another dose of coffee to keep them awake. In the evening, caffeine intake combined with light exposure can further delay your sleep.

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