She explains that these cycles involve up to two hours of focused attention followed by a desire to ‘switch off’: “you may start to feel woolly in your head, and this period of reduced focus lasts roughly 20 minutes. Often this is the time you might feel the need to take a break at work or make a cup of coffee. Then you come back to work and are able to focus for another chunk of time and so on throughout the day.”

Yet, how many of us actually live like this? I know I don’t, falling firmly in the ‘always on’ camp, whether that’s being physically active all day – pacing from a morning gym session to multiple meetings across London and straight out for dinners or social events with friends – or continuously mentally stimulated. Because even when we are sedentarily strapped to our desks, our brains work like hamsters on treadmills to meet deadlines while simultaneously keeping tabs on the by-the-minute news cycle and absorbing the activities of other people’s days from Instagram.

Recovery Clinic: is rest as important as sleep to feel energised and beat fatigue?