Energy. We can’t live without it. And for most of us, we just can’t seem to get enough of it, either.
Management consultant Peter Drucker once said: “what gets measured, gets managed.” He may have been talking about business, and may not have even said it at all, but this idea can apply to everything in life, including your energy levels.
Once you start tracking your energy, you can find the times of day you’re most productive, make the most of the energy you have, and learn how to get more of it the natural and sustainable way.
Below, we’ll explain why you should track your energy in the first place, how you can use this information to manage and improve your energy levels, and why the RISE app is the ideal tool to help you do it.
Time tracking is a popular productivity technique. You can see exactly how long a task takes to do, how long you’re spending on different projects, and how to most efficiently spend this precious resource.
However, you could have all the time in the world, but if you don’t have the energy, nothing will get done. Energy, therefore, is an even more precious resource than time.
But how do you manage your energy? Tracking it is a necessary first step.
Here's what you can do when you start tracking your personal energy:
Tracking your energy isn’t simply about assessing your daily amount of energy, though. Our energy levels follow a predictable pattern throughout the day. And this is all due to your circadian rhythm. This is your body’s biological clock. It runs on a roughly 24-hour cycle and, as well as your energy levels, it dictates things like hunger levels, body temperature, and when your body produces certain hormones.
Here’s what your energy levels look like over the course of the day:
The timings of these peaks and dips in energy are affected by things like your chronotype (whether you’re an early bird, night owl, or in between), how long you slept for the night before (and at what time), and your exposure to zeitgebers. Zeitgeber is German for time-giver and science-speak for an external cue that helps time your circadian rhythm to the outside world. The most powerful zeitgeber is light exposure, but meals and exercise also impact the timing of your circadian rhythm.
You don’t need to figure this all out with time logs or an expensive energy monitor, though. The RISE app predicts your circadian rhythm each day and shows you a visual representation of your energy levels.
We use your recent sleep history data and algorithms to make this happen. Our prediction model is built from the renowned SAFTE model (Sleep, Activity, Fatigue, and Task Effectiveness), which predicts changes in cognitive performance based on your circadian rhythm and was developed by the US Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense to forecast and avoid fatigue in transportation operations.
With the RISE app, you’ll not only track your energy levels, you’ll be one step ahead of them, knowing when they’re likely to rise and fall throughout the day, and by how much. You can check your schedule each day or get push notifications to remind you when your peak and dips are coming up.
“I have always had problems with the amount of energy I have in a day. It often happens that during my day I crash. This app has allowed me to know when my body is performing to its maximum. Thanks to this app I’m able to prioritize my work and do complex work during my peak moments.” — 5-star review.
“I love this app. I’ve been using it for six months now. Knowing when the peaks and dips in my energy levels will occur is so helpful.” — 5-star review.
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You may just be tracking your energy because you love data. But for most of us, we want to do something with this information. With the RISE app, you can not only see when your energy levels will change throughout the day, you can make the most of them by scheduling your day to match and getting reminders to see when you’ll be at your best.
“Well executed app that teaches about sleep and through alerting you to natural energy swings can help you structure your day better. Thanks rise!” — 5-star review.
Here’s how:
It can feel like torture to power through a particularly tricky task at work during your energy dip. And, on the other hand, it’s a waste to work simple admin tasks or scroll through social media during your most productive times each day.
With RISE, you can see when exactly these energy peaks and dips will happen each day, and how long they’re expected to last.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to see their upcoming energy peaks and dips on the Energy screen.
Connect RISE to your Apple or Google calendar, so you can see the best time to schedule your to-dos.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to connect their calendar.
Here’s what we recommend doing:
Sleep inertia is a fact of life. You can make this morning grogginess shorter and less severe by keeping sleep debt low and staying in circadian alignment (more on both soon).
To make the most of this time:
To get over sleep inertia faster:
We cover more ways to get over sleep inertia faster here.
This is your biological prime time when you’ll have high energy and be most productive. Use this time of the day to do anything where you need to focus, be alert, or make important decisions.
How to make the most of this time:
The best way to beat your afternoon dip in energy? Working with it, instead of against it. Research shows now’s the time of day when we’re hit with sleepiness, more car accidents happen, and even our ethics are affected.
How to make the most of this time:
You can learn more ways to stay productive through your afternoon dip here.
After the afternoon dip, you’ll start to feel your energy levels pick up again.
How to make the most of this time:
As your energy levels start dipping towards the end of the day, don’t force yourself to stay up and get more work done. Do low-energy tasks and activities that will help, not hinder, you falling asleep later.
How to make the most of this time:
You can learn more about how to spend your wind-down time here.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to schedule their ideal evening routine.
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We’ve covered how to get more energy in detail here. But here are the key things to focus on.
Sleep debt is the biggest thing determining how much energy you feel each day. It’s the running total of how much sleep you owe your body over the last 14 nights. It’s measured against your sleep need, which is the genetically determined amount of sleep you need (not everyone needs 8 hours).
For example, if your sleep need is 8 hours 30 minutes, but you’ve only been getting 7 hours of sleep, you’ll have built up quite a bit of sleep debt.
It’s easy to build up sleep debt and not even notice though, as our bodies adapt to sleep deprivation over time. We think we’re doing fine, when really our health, productivity, and energy levels are all suffering.
There are long-term health impacts of sleep debt. But day to day, we’ll feel the effects of high sleep debt in our energy levels — those energy peaks will be smaller and energy dips much deeper.
RISE works out your individual sleep need. It then uses your phone use behavior and proprietary sleep-science-based models to work out how much sleep debt you’re carrying. We recommend keeping this below five hours to maximize how much energy you feel each day.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to view their sleep need.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to view their sleep debt.
Got more than five hours of sleep debt? You can catch up on sleep by:
RISE can guide you through 20+ sleep hygiene habits and exactly when to do them each day.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to set up their 20+ in-app habit notifications.
You can, and should, schedule your daily to-dos to match your peaks and dips in energy levels. But another way to sync up with your circadian rhythm is by matching your sleep-wake schedule to when your body naturally wants to go to sleep and wake up.
RISE can work out your sleep need and show you your “Wake Zone,” or when your body naturally wants to wake up. You can also see when your body naturally winds down and wants to go to bed.
In the RISE app, look for your Melatonin Window. This is a roughly one-hour window of time when your rate of melatonin production is at its highest. If you go to sleep during this one-hour window, you’ll have a much easier time falling and staying asleep.
RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to set up a reminder to check their Melatonin Window each night.
By heading to bed at the right time for you, you’ll have a much easier time meeting your sleep need and keeping sleep debt low. Plus, you’ll be in sync with your circadian rhythm, which leads to more energy each day and endless health benefits.
If you’re looking for a personal energy tracker, turn to one that can not only help you understand your energy levels, but improve on them, too.
The RISE app helps with energy management. It predicts how your energy levels will fluctuate throughout the day, so you can schedule your daily tasks to make the most of the energy you have.
To get more energy, use RISE to pay down sleep debt, maintain excellent sleep hygiene, and go to bed and wake up when your circadian rhythm wants you to.
By doing all of this, you’ll not only have more energy, everything from your mental health to your productivity to your overall wellness will improve. In other words, you won’t just be tracking your energy levels, you’ll be in control of them, instead of them controlling you.
Use the RISE app to track your personal energy levels. The app shows you when you can expect to be in a high or low energy period in the day, when your body is shaking off morning grogginess, and when it wants to wind down and go to sleep.
Most people have the most energy during their morning peak of their circadian rhythm. The timing of this depends on things like when you wake up, your chronotype, and when you get light exposure. Use the RISE app to know when you’ll have the most energy each day.
You’ll be most productive during your natural peaks in energy, which usually happen in the morning and then in the later afternoon or early evening. Check the RISE app to see when these energy peaks will be and how long they’ll last each day.
The most productive time to wake up is when your body has had enough time to meet your individual sleep need. This time should ideally match your circadian rhythm and be a time you can wake up consistently each morning.
Your low-energy times of day are when you first wake up, during your afternoon dip in energy, and during a wind-down period before bed. You can track when these low-energy times are due to happen with the RISE app and minimize how low they are by paying down sleep debt.
RISE makes it easy to improve your sleep and daily energy to reach your potential
RISE makes it easy to improve your sleep and daily energy to reach your potential
