In my first tech job, (early 20’s, single, no kids,) my boss said to me something like, “Our best employees are working moms, and we pay them the least! They come in first and leave early to pick up their kids. They never take long breaks and are super efficient. In fact, the moms are so grateful that they can leave by 3pm, that they don’t negotiate their salaries!”
While in retrospect, this could (should) have been grounds for a lawsuit, at the time I was just impressed and jealous with the efficiency of those moms.
I, on the other hand, woke up around 8-9am, dragged myself into the office around 10am, sometimes 11, tried to get my head around my task list before lunch, went out to lunch, attempted (read: failed) to fight off digestive sleepiness, and finally started focused work at around 4pm. Thankfully, I could easily stay until 7-8pm or later if needed, so I did get some actual work done.
My sleep cycle shifted somewhat when I became a mother, and these days I’m finding it much easier to focus in the mornings, even though I still do better work in the afternoon. What I did learn, though, is that my dream of becoming that super-productive working mother who only steps away from her computer for lunch, is unrealistic.
About 10 years ago, hacking your ultradian rhythms became popular in the productivity world, which provides some science backing for why I could never work like that.
You’re probably very familiar with the bottom-line advice – alternate work and breaks – but you might be able to get more out of it if you tailor it to your own body.
So what is an ultradian rhythm?
You’ve probably heard of circadian rhythms, our daily cycles that repeat every 24-hours, such as our sleep-wake cycle. If you don’t present as a geek, then you probably haven’t heard of circadian’s lesser known siblings, ultradian and infradian rhythms.
Infradian rhythms are cycles longer than a day, such as menstrual cycles, winter hibernation in bears, and migration in birds (or humans in August.)
Ultradian rhythms are cycles shorter than a day, occurring several times in one day. These include 90-120 minute sleep cycles, digestion cycles, and hormone secretions.
Some define ultradian rhythms are shorter than 24 hours but longer than one hour.
While there are many bodily processes that have ultradian cycles, when people talk about working according to or hacking your ultradian rhythm, they refer specifically to your basic rest-activity cycle (BRAC). This cycle was discovered by Nathaniel Kleitman (1895-1999), a psychologist widely regarded as the father of modern sleep research. Many people are familiar with our ~90 minute sleep cycles, during which we experience rapid eye movement (REM) and deep sleep, but a lesser known fact is that these cycles continue also during our waking hours.
Research shows that the Ultradian rhythm has a cycle of around 90-110 minutes, during which our energy levels surge before gradually dissipating over the course of the following 20-30 minutes. This means that if you optimize your work and break times to your high and low energy levels – you’re likely to perform much better than trying to just power through.
Common advice would be to track your energy levels throughout the day to understand what your peak hours are. Since tracking is my nemesis, I offer a much looser approach.
Because I work from home, and I’m a parent as well as the primary caregiver for my dad, I can’t just prioritize work projects over everything else, and complete those before starting to take care of other tasks. (Sorry Marie Forleo, Michael Hyatt, Dr. Shannon Irvine, and basically every thought leader on the planet…) My to-do list is divided into sections (work, kids, dad, home, personal) and I might have urgent and important tasks in each. To keep energy levels high, I alternate between deep focus tasks (e.g. writing this post) and ones that can be interspersed in between (dishes, setting medical appointments, etc.)
In this 5-minute video by Dr. Andrew Huberman, you’ll get some additional tips about what tasks provide good downtime activities. Notice in particular his advice about looking far and wide when resting your brain, so don’t choose tasks that force you to look at your screen (particularly your phone) if possible.
What I find most exciting about the 90-110 minutes high-energy period, is that very conveniently, this is about the length of one laundry cycle on my machine… So since laundry has to be run in parallel to other tasks, and is endless, that’s my most common downtime task.
I’m very big on napping, but my latest improvement is that during my nap/rest time, I go though my morning meditation process, lying down. Obviously, it’s not as effective as a seated meditation, because I often drift off, but it has a couple of important benefits:
- It reinforces my intention from the morning
- It prevents my mind from wandering into the anxious realm of “oh, shit!” when all the tasks I didn’t complete pop into my head
I wake up just as refreshed as I do from a regular nap, if not more.
What are your most effective down time tasks? Do you want to optimize your daily routine? (Or half-assed pretend routine, if you’re like me… but it still works!)
If you’d like to dig deeper into this, join me for The Rhythm Section – a 30-minute ask-me-anything call, where we can discuss hacks, tips and tricks for making the most out of our ultradian rhythms, without meticulous tracking!
I’ll open up my Zoom room every Sunday at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm UK, for 3 consecutive weeks, March 12, 19 and 26.
Come do this with me!
It looks so simple…why is it so hard to actually take those breaks. That would be my practice. Make a plan to follow a plan, then ask the question, “What got in the way?” It’s that deeper question that could lead me to change my habits, as you know, dear expert!
Even though I didn’t know this had a name, I’ve tried to tap into my most productive work times. It seems to be in the mornings and then later in the afternoon. I’m going to explore this more. Thanks for introducing me to the idea!
This is a great article. I never would have thought about aligning the 90 min cycle.
I stumbled on this accidentally with the GoGoDone coworking sessions. It’s a real thing! Taking the breaks in between is the real super power.
You totally did! It’s also interesting to note that the recommended number of consecutive pomodoro cycles (3-4) before a long break matches the science as well! I guess we’re all feeling it.
I knew from observation that I can’t plan on working more than a 2 hour block on any given task, but it’s really empowering to learn more details about how this works in humans. I feel like it gives me permission to be kinder to myself and to set better expectation for deep work sessions.
Exactly! And Dr. Huberman says that sometimes you won’t even be able to do the full 90 minute cycle, especially if it’s a difficult one.
The interesting challenge for me is optimizing the down time, so that I can continue strong after the break. I find the advice to stay away from a small screen especially effective!