The alarm goes at 6:40, the first meeting is at 9:00, and somewhere in between you need to go from horizontal to switched on. If you're searching how to get energy before work, you've probably already tried the obvious move (a second coffee) and found it lands late or not at all. The hour before work has more to work with than that. Light, water, a short walk, the right breakfast and better coffee timing each have a named study or researcher behind them. Then there's the last step, the one you take at the office door.
How to get energy before work, starting at the alarm
Start with the curtains. In 2025, researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University put 19 students aged 20 to 30 in a sleep lab with motorised curtains and tested three wake-ups. When natural light came into the room for the 20 minutes before the alarm, the students rated themselves less sleepy and responded faster on a reaction test than when they woke in a dark room. The paper ran in Building and Environment.
Leave a gap in the blinds, or open them the second you sit up. If it's still dark, turn the main light on rather than scrolling in bed.
Drink a glass of water before anything else
You've gone seven or eight hours without a drink. At the University of Connecticut's Human Performance Laboratory, Lawrence Armstrong's team mildly dehydrated 25 women with an average age of 23, to a loss of about 1.5% of body water. The women reported fatigue, headaches and trouble concentrating. The study ran in The Journal of Nutrition in 2012.
A full glass, room temperature, before the coffee machine. Keep a bottle by the bed so it happens before you've decided anything.
How to wake up for work when you slept badly
Skip the snooze button and sit up with your feet on the floor, lights on, water in hand. On r/workfromhome, a thread from October 2023 asked how to get out of bed more than five minutes before logging on. The answer that got traction was a fixed early commitment (one person's 7am team call with colleagues three hours ahead), because the alarm alone wasn't working.
“Definitely energized.”
Energy for the commute comes from moving during it
McGill University surveyed 5,599 students, staff and faculty in Montreal in 2013 about how they got to campus and how they felt when they arrived. On sunny days, cyclists said they arrived feeling energised 82% of the time. Walkers said 55%, public transport users 38% and drivers 41%. Even on snowy days, cyclists reported feeling energised 70% of the time.
If cycling isn't on the cards, the walking numbers still beat the car. Get off one stop early, park at the far end of the car park, or take the stairs to your floor. In a 2017 study in Physiology & Behavior, Patrick O'Connor and Derek Randolph at the University of Georgia had 18 young women who slept under 6.5 hours a night walk stairs for 10 minutes at an easy pace. The women felt more energetic afterwards than they did after a 50 mg caffeine capsule. The effect was temporary, which is fine. You only need it to carry you to your desk.
Eggs, not a bagel
A 2010 University of Connecticut study led by Maria Luz Fernandez gave 21 men two breakfasts with the same calories on different days. One was three scrambled eggs with toast. The other was a bagel with cream cheese and yogurt. After the eggs, the men ate about 112 fewer calories at lunch three hours later, and ghrelin, the hormone tied to hunger, was lower than after the bagel. The study was published in Nutrition Research.
A morning that runs on a bagel tends to have you hunting the biscuit tin by 10:30. Eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese on toast or last night's leftover chicken all put protein in first.
When to have the coffee
Michael Grandner, who directs the sleep and health research programme at the University of Arizona, says he often waits 30 to 60 minutes after waking for his first cup. He also says there are no studies on the best timing, and that caffeine takes roughly 20 to 30 minutes to reach the brain. Use that second number. If the first meeting is at 9:00, a coffee at 8:30 is still arriving in your system when you sit down. A coffee at 6:45 has had two hours to fade.
Morning energy without caffeine
Some people skip coffee entirely. Others have had two cups by 8am and want something that works in seconds rather than half an hour. Light, water, the stairs and protein already cover a lot. The gap left is the moment itself: standing at the train door, sitting in the car park, logging on with a cold coffee next to the keyboard. For that, Mara carries a pocket spray.
One spray of Dragon Breath at the door
Dragon Breath is a 50 ml mouth spray of chilcuague root extract. Chilcuague (Heliopsis longipes) is a root from Central Mexico, wild-harvested from growth zones the Mara team selects with the help of local elders, then dual-extracted in organic solutions. Lab work on the root has measured affinin at 6.9 to 8.5 mg per gram by HPLC, and a 2017 paper in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences describes the roots producing a tingling on the tongue and a rise in saliva when they touch the inside of the mouth. Our guide to what chilcuague is and where it grows covers the plant and its history in Mexico.
Here is what the hour before work looks like with it. You step off the train, or kill the engine, or put your bag down at the desk. One spray. For a second it tastes earthy and a little peppery. Then, within about 10 seconds, a bright electric buzz spreads across the tongue and mouth, and your mouth floods with saliva. It lingers as a clean, fresh feeling (your breath is better for the first meeting too). You walk in with your whole mouth humming and your attention on the room.
Dragon Breath – Chilcuague Extract
50 ml mouth spray. Wild-harvested chilcuague root, dual-extracted. 250+ sprays.
Add to bagA customer filmed their first spray for a reaction video. A few seconds after it landed, they said, “Definitely energized.” That is the moment it's made for.
A spray suits the commute. It lives in your pocket or the car door, a few sprays is all a morning takes, and a bottle holds 250+ sprays. The extract sits sealed in Miron violet glass, which keeps light and air off it and adds significant longevity to its quality and potency. Loose root or powder sits open to both.
Start with one spray. Once you know the feeling, go up to five.
Questions people ask
What should I drink before work for energy?
A full glass of water first, since you've gone the whole night without one. If you drink coffee, have it 20 to 30 minutes before the first thing you need to be sharp for, so it arrives on time.
How fast does Dragon Breath kick in?
The buzz across the tongue and mouth starts within about 10 seconds of one spray, and the mouth starts watering straight after.
Can I use Dragon Breath with my morning coffee?
Yes. The spray is the switch-on at the door, and the coffee is already working in the background by then.
How many sprays are in a bottle?
Each 50 ml bottle holds 250+ sprays. At one or two sprays before work, that's months of mornings.
