Pratica di Shadowing: Why You're Always Tired Between 1pm - 4pm (and what to do about it) - Impara a parlare inglese con YouTube
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Let me introduce you to the deadliest hospital in the world.
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Let me introduce you to the deadliest hospital in the world.
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In this hospital, patients are more likely to receive a fatal dose of anesthesia.
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They are also more likely to die within 48 hours of surgery.
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Nurses and other caregivers, are less likely to wash their hands before treating patients.
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And cancerous growths are more likely to go undetected.
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If you were a patient, you probably wouldn't want to enter this hospital.
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In fact, you would want everyone you know to stay far away.
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However, the hospital that I'm talking about, is actually located in your town.
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Everything that I've described is what happens in most medical centers around the world.
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To be more precise, it happens between 1pm to 4pm in the afternoon.
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And it's not just the medical profession that suffers.
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When students in Denmark have to take national standardized tests, they take them on a computer.
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But because there are more students than computers, they have to take these tests at different times.
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When researchers looked at 4 years of test results, they found an interesting correlation.
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Students who took the test in the morning, scored higher than those who took it in the afternoon.
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For every hour later in the day the students took the tests, the scores fell a little more.
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Timing of the test wasn't everything of course, but it was a large component.
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So what exactly is going on here?
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Well, you might have noticed yourself that sometimes when the afternoon rolls around you become less productive.
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You're not as motivated to do the work, you have a harder time focusing, and even the work that you do, is of lower quality.
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A lot of people around the globe experience this exact phenomenon every single day.
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And it has a name: the afternoon slump.
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There's a biological reason why this happens.
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You see, a lot of our bodily functions are controlled by our circadian rhythm.
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This rhythm works kind of like an internal clock.
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It controls our hormones, body temperature, blood pressure and many other functions throughout the day.
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If you have ever wondered how your body knows when to go to sleep and when to wake up, it's because of your circadian rhythm.
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When it's time to go to bed, your body releases melatonin, to make you feel sleepy.
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When it's time to wake up, melatonin secretion stops and your body releases cortisol to get you up and moving.
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Now the circadian rhythm also influences our alertness and mental ability, along with energy levels.
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Our cognitive abilities do not remain the same over the course of the day.
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We are smarter and more energetic during some parts of the day, while during others, we're the opposite.
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For example, during the night we experience a massive drop in energy and alertness, particularly between 2am to 4am.
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But we don't usually notice this drop in mental ability, since most of us are asleep.
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However, upon awaking, our energy and alertness steadily increase over the course of the day, until they reach a peak in late morning.
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That's when we tend to be at our cognitive best.
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But that peak is then followed by an afternoon low, which we call the afternoon slump.
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The low occurs approximately seven hours upon waking up, which is usually between 1pm to 4pm, for most people.
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This is what the afternoon slump is.
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A natural biological occurrence orchestrated by your circadian rhythm.
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This is why medical professionals make more mistakes, why students get lower scores and why you are unfocused and unmotivated during that time.
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The afternoon slump is then followed by another period of alertness, but as our body gets ready for sleep, we experience a slow decline in energy.
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Every person’s rhythm is slightly different, but the majority follow a similar pattern.
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If I were to draw a 24 hour graph of your alertness, it would look something like this.
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You can see how it slowly rises after waking up, until it reaches a peak in the late morning.
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Then in the afternoon, it dips down.
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When the afternoon slump is over, it bounces up again.
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Then as bedtime approaches it slowly decreases.
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A big drop occurs in the middle of the night, which you most likely don't notice.
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And as you wake up, the cycle repeats all over again.
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Now while the afternoon slump is natural, there are a few things that amplify it and make it worse.
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But there are also a few key habits that can help to reduce it.
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Let's first take a look at what can make the dip worse.
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One of the things is lack of sleep.
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This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
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When you get an insufficient amount of sleep, your mental alertness is severely reduced, especially during the afternoon slump.
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But if you're getting an optimal amount of sleep on a regular basis, the circadian dip is going to be less intense.
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I know that a lot of people try to get more time in their day by cutting on their sleep.
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They hope to get more done, since they are awake longer.
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Which is a rookie mistake.
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What those people don't realize is that they're functioning sub-optimally throughout the day.
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Sure, they have more time, but they have a harder time focusing and thus it takes them longer to get their work done.
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Likewise, people who get optimal sleep, might have slightly less time in their day.
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But they have more energy and they function much better as a result.
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Getting more high quality sleep is necessary for optimal mental and physical performance.
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So get your sleep.
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7 to 9 hours per night has been shown to be the healthiest for most adults.
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But optimally you should be sleeping without an alarm clock and let your body wake up naturally, instead of forcefully.
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Another thing that can amplify the afternoon slump is a big carbohydrate lunch.
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You know how grandma usually forces food down your throat when you visit her?
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Then you probably know that feeling of drowsiness that follows.
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You're lethargic, you can't move and you feel like you're going to explode.
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Digestion can take up a lot of energy.
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Especially big meals, give your stomach quite a workload.
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However, what can make it even worse, are meals that are made out of simple carbs, such as sugar.
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When you eat simple carbohydrates your blood glucose tends to spike up, giving you temporary energy.
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But that spike is then followed by a decrease in glucose levels, which results in a crash below your usual levels.
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When you pair this sugar crash with an afternoon slump, an irresistible urge to sleep might overcome you.
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So to avoid this massive crash at lunch time, avoid big and heavy meals, made out of simple carbs.
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Instead go for smaller portions, with a variety of different nutrients such as protein, fat and fiber.
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I mentioned before how students who took the tests in the afternoon, scored lower than those who took them in the morning.
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And many people believe that the solution to this problem would be to move all the tests before noon.
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However, the researchers who studied those test results, also discovered something else.
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Students who had a 20-30 minute break, before the test, to eat, play and chat, did not see a decline in their scores.
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In fact, they increased.
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Scores went up after a break, even if the test was taken in the afternoon.
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These days, taking a break is looked down upon.
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Others quickly label us as "lazy" if we do.
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And often we even label ourselves this way.
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That's because most people believe that to get more work done, they should just keep on working.
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However, when we stick with a task for too long, it eventually leads to mental fatigue.
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We're not as focused, we do our work slower, and we make more mistakes.
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I'm sure you've noticed this yourself.
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You're trying to focus on your work, but your mind just keeps on wandering and thinking about something else.
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Deliberate breaks are extremely underrated, since they can help us minimize and avoid all of that.
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Especially when a break is taken during the afternoon slump.
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So, what does a proper break consist of?
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There are 4 things.
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First is detachment.
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On your break, you don't want to think about work or whatever you were doing, otherwise you might intensify your mental fatigue further.
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Instead you want to psychologically detach and think about something that's not related to work and isn't cognitively demanding.
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Second is movement.
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Taking a walk will boost your energy levels, sharpen your focus and reduce the feelings of fatigue in the afternoon.
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One study found that walking around for 5 minutes, roughly every hour during the workday, is more effective than a single 30 minute walk.
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So if you have an option, take shorter walking breaks frequently.
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If not, a longer walk is still better than nothing.
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Third go outside.
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Taking a short walk outdoors, will rejuvenate you more than if you take a walk inside.
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Not only will you get more sun exposure, you will also physically detach from work.
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Fourth is company.
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Spending time with others, particularly with people you like, is a great way to recharge.
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However if your job requires you to deal with other people, it might be better to spend the break alone.
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Especially if you're more of an introvert.
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So if you're looking for an ideal restorative break, consider a short walk outside, with a friend, during which you discuss something other than work.
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Yet another way to recharge during the afternoon slump, is to take a power nap.
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Napping can lead to considerable benefits in terms of alertness and cognitive performance.
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A 5 minute nap has no effect.
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But a 10 to 20 minute nap is proven to increase mental alertness for three hours.
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A lot of people who try napping make one big mistake and end up feeling even worse after it.
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That's because when a nap is longer than 20 minutes, our brain begins to fall into deeper stages of sleep.
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If that happens you experience something called sleep inertia.
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You know that feeling in the morning when you wake up and feel groggy, disoriented and sluggish?
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That's sleep inertia and if you nap for too long, you are going to feel more tired and sleepy, than before you took the nap.
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So keep your power naps short.
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You don't want to fall asleep during the nap, and you shouldn't think of napping as sleeping.
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Instead you can think of it more like a relaxing meditation, where you close your eyes, lay down and just let your mind disconnect for 15 minutes.
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Now I understand that not everyone has the option to take a nap, or a longer break during the afternoon slump, because your workplace doesn't offer that flexibility.
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Or you might be one of those people who just want to power through it.
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If you fall into this category, I at least recommend not doing any important work during the slump.
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Instead, you should switch to something that doesn't require as much concentration.
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Things that are familiar, mundane, not as important and can be done on auto-pilot.
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Easy tasks basically.
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Your most important and difficult work should be done before or after the slump.
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That's when your cognitive abilities are at their peak and you don't compromise your work.
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Hopefully you now have a better idea, about why the afternoon slump happens and what you can do about it.
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If you have the option, experiment with your schedule a bit and see how you could implement the tips I've talked about.
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If you enjoyed this video, you should definitely check out Dan Pink's book, called: "When".
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It's all about the science of timing, and it was my source material for this video.
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I highly recommend it.
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As always thanks for watching and I hope this video made you better than yesterday.
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Informazioni su questa lezione
In questa lezione, praticerai l'inglese ascoltando un video che discute un fenomeno interessante chiamato "afternoon slump". Scoprirai perché molte persone si sentono stanche e meno motivate tra le 13:00 e le 16:00 e come il nostro ritmo circadiano influisce sulla nostra produttività. Imparare a parlare di questi concetti può aiutarti a migliorare la tua comprensione dell'inglese parlato e a utilizzare frasi chiave in contesti appropriati.
Vocabolario e frasi chiave
- afternoon slump - calo dell'energia pomeridiano
- circadian rhythm - ritmo circadiano
- alertness - prontezza
- melatonin - melatonina
- cognitive abilities - abilità cognitive
- test scores - punteggi dei test
- productivity - produttività
- hormones - ormoni
Consigli per la pratica
Per sfruttare al massimo il tuo shadowing e migliorare le tue abilità in inglese, ascolta attentamente il video e cerca di ripetere frasi intere seguendo il ritmo e il tono dell'oratore. Poiché il linguaggio usato è informale e colloquiale, non aver paura di imitare anche le intonazioni e le espressioni. Per iniziare, scegli brevi estratti di 20-30 secondi e ripetili a voce alta, prestando particolare attenzione alla pronuncia. Usare shadowspeak su video come questo può davvero aiutarti a cogliere sfumature della lingua inglese che sono spesso trascurate nei corsi tradizionali.
Ricorda, quando fai shadowing in inglese, l'importante è divertirti e non giudicarti troppo severamente. Più pratichi, più diventerai sicuro. Sfrutta le risorse di imparare l'inglese con youtube per trovare nuovi argomenti e migliorare la tua fluenza. E non dimenticare di visitare i shadowing site per ulteriori suggerimenti e risorse!
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