One of the side-effects of working from home for several months now is that I feel perpetually lazy tired.

Perhaps it is the sense of inertia that has come with a new daily routine of being able to sleep late, attempting to wake up five minutes before starting work, and eating breakfast in sleepwear, while sitting in a morning meeting with the camera turned off.

What’s more, it’s extremely convenient to take a post-lunch nap now since I work right beside my bed.

Suffice to say, none of these elements are very conducive for being a productive employee.

So how effective is a liquid energy shot in keeping the perpetual tiredness away?

I decided to take this energy shot one morning:

The decision had been largely spurred by the fact that it was a particularly busy day, given that I had to attend at least two meetings and finish up a few articles that were due on the same day.

Also, I had woken up 40 minutes past work. As such, I figured I needed all the help I could get to get through the day, and took the shot at 11am.

Two articles done by 1pm

To my surprise, I found myself finishing at least two of my required assignments by around 1.30pm.

On a normal day, it’s usually slower, mostly as a result of YouTube or Spotify being opened every 15 minutes to spur my brain awake.

But I found myself unusually focused this time around.

This was then followed by a virtual brainstorming session at 2pm, after lunch, with about seven other colleagues.

Did not nap during a brainstorming session

At this point, I usually like to steal a quick 10-15-minute nap, given that working from home means no one will notice too much.

And yes, there are occasions where I have it done while a brainstorming is in progress, with the entire virtual setting exacerbating my tendency for distraction.

But I was surprised this time around, at how much more attuned I was to the meeting, compared to the usual mood of lethargy constantly hovering around my mind.

I even found myself slightly chattier than usual.

But most importantly, I still found myself highly alert after the meeting.

Usually at this point, I would feel even more exhausted.

Which was just as well because I had a second meeting right afterwards, from 3pm to 4pm, also in a virtual setting, but with only two other people, thereby making it harder to shut down and tune out.

Taking a second bottle to finish off the day

However, once this second meeting finished, I did find myself feeling tired.

Was it because the effect had worn off, since it was more than five hours, or were back-to-back virtual meetings just that tiring?

In any case, I decided to take another shot given that I still had two more assignments to finish before knocking off.

At this point, in the later stretch of the day, and depending on the content of what I’m writing, I usually find myself either knocking off on time at 7pm, or working past the hour, because I was distracted once again.

And while I ended up finishing both of my assignments by 7.15pm, taking into account the fact that I had woken up 40 minutes late in the morning was all in all, not too bad.

No sugar rush involved

At this point, you might be thinking that some form of sugar rush might have been involved.

However, this energy shot has zero sugar and only four calories.

On top of that it contains caffeine derived from tea and a range of B-vitamins (B3, B6 and B12) to boost your mental concentration and energy level.

You also don’t have to drink a lot of it -- one bottle is at a mere 57 millilitres which makes it extremely small and easy to carry around.

It's also available in three flavours: orange, peach tea and cool mint lemonade.

Not a bad experience overall for helping you with days that are busier than normal.

You can find out more information here.

Disclaimer: Please note that this energy drink contains caffeine. If you are sensitive to caffeine, do consult your doctors before consuming. And like all things in life, please consume energy drinks in moderation.

This is a sponsored post by 5-hour Energy. This author is going to save the energy shot for days when he has multiple deadlines due. 

Top photo by Matthias Ang