Position your computer screen, tablet, or book at least at eye level, ideally slightly above it, using stacks of books, boxes, or a monitor stand. This increases alertness by activating brainstem areas associated with vigilance and avoids ’text neck'.
Work in a standing or seated upright posture, as standing is ideal and seated is second best, avoiding reclining or lying down with feet above waist or head tilted back. This activates brainstem neurons (locus coeruleus) that release norepinephrine/epinephrine, increasing alertness.
During the first 0-9 hours after waking, work in a brightly lit environment, especially with overhead lights, turning on all artificial lights possible. This stimulates alertness-generating melanopsin ganglion cells in the eyes, facilitating focus and analytic work.
For every 45 minutes of focused work on a narrow visual field (phone, laptop, book), take at least five minutes to relax your eyes with panoramic vision, ideally by walking outside and looking into the distance. This prevents eye fatigue and allows for renewed focus by relaxing the visual system, so avoid checking your phone during this break.
Spend about half of your workday standing and half sitting, using a sit-stand desk or by converting a sit-desk with boxes or books. This improves health metrics like neck/shoulder pain, increases subjective health and vitality, and enhances cognitive conditioning and performance.
Ensure your work area (screen, book) is directly in front of you and does not extend too far beyond your ears, creating a restricted visual window. This generates heightened alertness, focus, and cognitive processing by engaging the parvocellular visual system.
Use apps like Freedom, turn off Wi-Fi, put your phone on airplane mode, or physically separate yourself from your phone for significant periods (e.g., lock it in a safe, leave it in the car, put it in a drawer). This prevents interruptions that are detrimental to focus and require additional time to re-engage neural circuits.
For detailed, analytic, or precise work, choose environments with lower ceilings or simulate this by wearing a brimmed hat, hoodie, or placing a hand above your eyes. This promotes detailed thinking and accuracy, as cognition follows the visual environment.
For creative, abstract, or expansive thinking (e.g., brainstorming, writing new material), work in environments with high ceilings or outdoors. This activates concepts related to abstraction and fosters broader, loftier thinking.
Consider listening to 40 hertz binaural beats (not monaural beats) for about 30 minutes before or during a work bout. Peer-reviewed studies show this can improve cognitive functioning, memory, and reaction times by increasing striatal dopamine release, which enhances motivation and focus.
From 9-16 hours after waking, gradually dim overhead lights and transition to more yellow/red light sources, turning off blue-light emitting devices around 4-5 PM. This aligns with the natural circadian rhythm, shifting the brain state for creative thinking and preparing for sleep.
Consider using a stationary treadmill or cycling workstation under your desk to incorporate movement while working. This can improve attention and cognitive control scores compared to just sitting, likely by recruiting neuromodulators that increase alertness.
When starting a work session, expect it to take about six minutes for your mind to fully engage and neural circuits to rev up. This realistic expectation helps manage initial lack of focus and allows time for neurochemical systems to activate.
If interrupted, acknowledge the person’s presence but avoid fully orienting your body towards them to keep conversations brief. This minimizes disruption to your focus, as re-engaging focus after an interruption takes significant time.
Periodically change your work location, such as moving from house to cafe, office to home, or even different seats within a room. Novel visual environments can lead to heightened levels of alertness and sustained engagement.
Before starting a focused work session, concentrate your visual attention on a single point for 30 to 60 seconds. This technique has been shown to improve focus and attention, even in individuals with ADHD.
Get morning sunlight in your eyes within 30-60 minutes of waking, or use bright artificial lights if the sun isn’t out, then seek sunlight. This is the best stimulus for waking up your brain and body through the melanopsin-hypothalamus system.
If possible, position your desk near an open window for sunlight exposure. Sunlight through an open window is 50 times more effective than through a closed one, as windows filter out essential blue light wavelengths.
In the later afternoon, dim your screen so it is considerably less bright than earlier in the day, while still allowing you to see everything necessary. This reduces blue light exposure, aligning with your body’s natural circadian rhythm as evening approaches.
If working between 17-24 hours after waking (middle of the night), limit bright light exposure to only what is absolutely necessary for your work. Avoid bright LEDs and overhead lights during this time to prevent severe melatonin depletion, circadian clock disruption, and negative impacts on sleep and metabolism.
Do not use treadmill or cycling workstations for tasks that require highly precise or detailed verbal memory recall. Studies indicate that verbal memory scores can decrease during active sessions, making sitting or standing better for these specific tasks.
Avoid working in environments with loud, incessant humming from air conditioners or heaters. This type of background noise can increase mental fatigue, decrease cognitive performance, and cause subtle stress by constantly activating brainstem vigilance circuits.
Avoid long-term, extended exposure (more than an hour or so) to loud white, pink, or brown noise, especially for children. This can cause impairments in auditory system development in children and increase overall alertness/stress in adults, similar to HVAC noise.
Do not rely on binaural beats all the time, every day. Constant use can lead to auditory system attenuation, causing them to lose their potency and impact on brain states.
If you absolutely must pull an all-nighter, drink 32 ounces of water and commit to not going to the bathroom for at least 90 minutes. This utilizes a bladder-to-brainstem circuit that increases alertness when the bladder is full.
If you are struggling to stay awake during an all-nighter, turn on as many bright lights as possible in your environment. This stimulates alertness circuits, helping to counteract sleepiness, though it will shift your circadian clock.
Take Athletic Greens once or twice a day to cover basic nutritional needs, make up for deficiencies, and provide probiotics vital for microbiome health, immune system, brain, and mood regulation.
Dissolve one packet of Element in 16-32 ounces of water upon waking, and during any physical exercise. This ensures adequate hydration and electrolytes (sodium, magnesium, potassium), which are critical for optimal brain and body function.
Supplement with Vitamin D3 K2. Vitamin D3 is essential for various aspects of brain and body health (many are deficient), and K2 regulates cardiovascular function and calcium in the body.
Use a meditation app like Waking Up for various meditation programs, mindfulness trainings, yoga nidra, or non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) protocols. These practices can place the brain and body into different states and restore cognitive and physical energy.