Brain Boosters…Caffeine or Games

You know the feeling. It’s two o’clock in the afternoon, you’re sitting in a meeting, and you feel your eyelids getting heavy.

Or maybe you’re sitting at your computer when the words on the screen begin to blur.

You recall with great fondness the kindergarten days of taking an afternoon nap on your mat.

It’s time for another cup of coffee. Or maybe it’s just time for a game.

Typical afternoon lethargy may be caused by a number of factors including your lunch, your physical and emotional conditions, and the quality and quantity of your sleep the previous night. It may also be a sign that you need to give your brain a break.

From the moment we push the alarm stem on the clock each morning, we typically spend most of our days processing information primarily on the left sides of our brains.

The left brain is the primarily process site for speaking and for reading. It is also the site for most brain activity related to the use of numbers, logic, analysis and sequential activities.

The right-brain is more likely to be engaged when we are creating or imagining. It’s stimulated by finding a new pattern, a new solution or a new way of doing something.

Although we use both sides of our brains, even people in more creative jobs still function primarily from their left brains through most of their day. If we consciously engage the right brain for a few minutes, we may be able to decrease the severity of an afternoon collapse.

I love coffee (very strong with lots of cream, please) and have consumed enough to flood the banks of the Mississippi River, but I’m suggesting that sometimes we can jump-start our afternoon energy levels by using our brains differently for a few minutes.

Here are some exercises and games you might try:

• Rearrange several critical items on your desk. Move your telephone, your calendar, and your pens. Move your keyboard if possible. Use your other hand to hold the telephone to your ear. Try making notes with your non-dominant hand.
• Scribble on a piece of paper until you have lots of lines on the page, and then try to find a picture in the scribbles. Erase some lines or add more. This is the same game you played as a child when you found objects in the clouds. It’s just an indoor version of the same process and you won’t get as many grass stains on your clothes.
• Take the coins out of your pocket or the bottom of your purse. Toss them on your desk and find a design in the layout of the coins. Move them around. Maybe you see the outline of a lake, a car, or someone’s face. If you don’t see anything, pick up the coins and toss them again. This is another version of finding shapes in the clouds.
• Move around and sit in different places in the room. If anyone seems to need an explanation for your movement, think of one. Perhaps the light is in your eyes, you can’t hear well, you’re sitting in a draft, the chair is uncomfortable, or whatever works. Remember that moving around will ultimately be less disruptive than falling asleep on the conference table.
• Keep a book of puzzles in your desk drawer. A great puzzle for stirring up the right brain is the kind that looks like a jumble of letters and your challenge is to find the words (the patterns) that are hidden across, down or diagonally.

Ten minutes or so of these kinds of games can stimulate your right brain. Your mind will be more balanced and chances are good that you will be more alert.

At the very least, doing these games and exercises may give you enough energy to walk down the hall and get yourself another cup of coffee.

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