It happens around 3 pm every day

[Nobrainpowertothinkofaname]

I start to get tired.

Does anyone else?

I’m mid forties with a 5 year old. I work part time but currently off with her for a few weeks during school holidays.
Yesterday, we took the dog for a short 20 minute walk, we then went to the beach (short drive round the corner)
We stayed until 12ish, sat down, playedwith Dd for over an hour (tiring in itself!)
The plan was to make a picnic and head back to the beach at 6 ish, started to get tired at 3 ish and after making dinner and going in the paddling pool with Dd, had decided there was no way I had the energy to go out again
Does this sound normal?

Welcome! You're now at the perfect age to doscover 'Nana naps'....a short afternoon sleep to help you last through til bedtime. These are very different to the 'disco naps' you had in your teens and twenties, which were short afternoon sleeps to help you last through until bedtime.

These sound very similar, the significant difference being that your bedtime is now 11pm, whereas back then it used to be 2am.

I started feeling like this in my mid-forties. It turned out it was the start of perimenopause.

I was getting this almost every day for at least five years (I'm now 45) and assumed it was just not sleeping enough coupled with premenopause. However, I've changed to a much lower carb diet over the past six months (mainly as I suffered from terrible IBS and many carb heavy things are a major cause for me) and I've noticed that I don't get the afternoon exhaustion any more, so at least for me it is blood sugar related.

Haven't read the thread but I wad like this twice in my life.

First time under active thyroid. Bone crushing tiredness from 1pmish.

Second time vid d deficiency. Exhausted from around 2.30pm, along with muscle aches (felt like it was my bones that were aching)

*perimenopause- and when I say exhaustion, I mean literally not being able to keep my eyes open, falling asleep parked in my car waiting to pick up from school, or at my desk - not ideal!

You need a siesta. I have a Spanish partner and when ever possible he has a little snooze around 3 or 4 pm for an hour or two. (Not when he’s working as it doesn’t allow) I laughed at this at first but have begun to find it strangely tempting.

Not since going on keto over three years ago - no blood sugar drops

Sounds incredibly normal for mid afternoon when you have a small child. Especially (if you don’t mind me saying) if you had said child a bit older.

Also if you’re a natural lark I believe that’s a typical dip time.

I’m a night owl, and I only really function if I have either a lie in or a lunchtime nap. In which cases 3 pm is when I start to wake up and get my best work done. But I think im the weird one.

Could you be menopausal or perimenopausal?
Regardless, it's still normal in my experience!

Same for me, im 32. Slim and active, two walks a day with my lab. But I do agree that I don’t get the ebb when I have something to focus my brain on!

I stopped this by no longer eating carbs at lunchtime. Chicken and salad, no crash.

I went though a stage of this but since I lowered my sugar intake I've found a huge improvement with my late afternoon energy levels.

Quite normal. Mine used to start around 2pm. When my child was still a baby and toddler, we would have a sleep for a while and wake refreshed. I did work part time and on the days I worked I was reasonably alert all day. It's strange, isn't it?

HRT fixed this for me. Am 45.

I have this too. I don't think I'm particularly tired and then suddenly I can't stay awake. If I'm out and about I'll get a bit foggy but if I'm at home I'll sleep wherever I am. Yesterday I put my head on the table and slept. I've laid down on the kitchen floor a number of times too and fallen asleep there. Those times are usually 20 mins but it can take me 2hrs afterwards to feel awake properly.

If I lay down on the sofa when I feel like that I can easily sleep for anywhere from 45 mins to 2 hrs! So I put my alarm on. Again though takes me ages to wake up if it's too short a nap.

I've reduced carbs (as in sugar, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice, NOT vegetables!) together with eating only unprocessed foods and that helped. Not entirely solved, but it did reduce it. Note I'm back to eating everything the mid-afternoon exhaustion is worse again.

A note on carb reducing though to anybody reading: if you have an under active thyroid and reduce carbs too much it can make you so tired you can't function all the time. It can be dangerous. I spoke to my Dr about this and she said most people with under active thyroids shouldn't do Keto. So careful with cutting out carbs, because our brains need them.

For as long as I can remember, 2pm is my sleepy time. This has happened since my early 20s, way before I had my daughter.

Between 2 and 4 almost every day, I’m fighting the urge to nap and if I do, it’s the full two hours and I wake up so groggy. I’d love to be full of energy in the afternoon, it’s really annoying!

Thanks so much everyone,

I think it’s likely perimenopause and having a young child, that combo 🤷🏻‍♀️
As a pp said, I also work part time and on those days I’m better than if I’m gone all day with my Dd 😅

We get home from school at 3.30, if I sit on the sofa I fall asleep so when I sit I have to do so at the dining table 🙃 this has been years and I'm 34!