by Morganne Darling - January 29th, 2020 - College Knowledge, Joining JSOM, Student Life
Contents
Sleeping in class. We’ve all done it, even if we don’t want to admit it. There are thousands of different positions to doze off in class, but I’ve compiled together a few of my favorites.
One of the most common ways students fall asleep, this occurs when the lecture is passive and you’re just “resting your eyes”.
Sometimes you just want to sleep in class but you don’t want to be seen as disrespectful, so you hide behind
a notebook, computer, or folder. Anything to make it look like you’re paying attention when in reality
you’re catching some z’s.
This one’s kind of rare, but sometimes, it’s hard to keep your eyes open, even when you’re taking notes. This may have happened because you wanted to watch another episode of The Mandalorian…
Sometimes you don’t care if you’re being disrespectful, you just really need some sleep and attendance. So you show up to class to get counted present, then you settle in and close your eyes.
But a question remains… Should you sleep in class?
Now seeing someone in any of these positions is pretty amusing, but imagine being that person, the one who falls
asleep in class. It’s a pretty scary experience because you don’t know how long you were asleep for if the
teacher noticed, and what topics they went over while you were getting your beauty rest.
Make sure you take
advantage of Student Resources if you are having a hard time.
Well, there’s no need to fear because I’m here to give you some tips and tricks to keep yourself awake during those long class lectures! Part of being successful in college is managing to stay awake.
Every time you get that tired feeling or you start to zone out, drink some water. Drinking cold water helps keep you hydrated to keep you focused. If you don’t drink enough water, your body doesn’t function as well as it could.
Being closer to the teacher is a great motivator to stay awake in class. Studies have also proven that
sitting in the front of the classroom, leads students to receive higher grades on exams.
Win-win, am I
right?
Interact with your professor! Even if they don’t provide engaging activities, you can make them. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
By taking deeper breaths, you raise your oxygen levels, slowing your heart rate, lowering your blood pressure, and improving circulation.
Chewing something activates specific regions of the brain meaning your brain becomes more active and you stay more awake!
So you can wake up early and feel well-rested.
The adrenaline from working out, taking a stroll, stretch, or doing some jumping jacks before class will help
you stay awake.
If you focus on sitting straight up in your seat, you won’t be able to fall asleep. You rest your head and you will crash and burn.
It keeps you active and it helps you focus on what you’re learning in class. Even if it’s random scribbles, it’s better than being asleep.
If you get tired, just find a spot in the classroom where you are not distracting anyone and walk about back and forth or take notes while standing.
With these tricks, you won’t end up like our friend at the beginning (hopefully)! Do you have any tricks to share with us? Leave us a comment. As about our Management Programs.
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Nodding off in class is common for students of any age.
Late nights studying, long hours on a job, sitting in a warm classroom after a big lunch, a long evening class, or simply finding the teacher or subject matter a trifle boring all can contribute to classroom sleepiness.
For tips on how to stay awake in class or in any setting that requires your attention, consider the following strategies.
While this may not be easy or appropriate in the middle of a lecture, walking around, jogging in place, doing jumping jacks, or any activity that gets your blood pumping can juice up your energy and attention levels.
If you’re in a long lecture that has a break in the middle, use that time to get up from your seat and move your body. And if there’s no formal break, ask to use the restroom and get a little exercise on the way there and back.
You can also try some chair stretches like shoulder rolls, seated twist, and others.
If you’ve ever seen a new parent pushing a stroller on the sidewalk with an infant aboard, they may be doing more than simply getting out of the house for a few minutes.
Being out in fresh air is invigorating.
And if you’re stuck in a classroom or other indoor setting, taking a few deep breaths can help deliver a little more oxygen to your system. That might be just what you need to stay awake and attentive.
Downing a cup or two of coffee, tea, or other caffeinated beverage can be a simple but effective jolt to your senses.
But how much caffeine do you need to be alert? Well, it varies from person to person, in part, based on your sensitivity to this precious ingredient.
Mayo Clinic reports that about 400 milligrams of caffeine per day — about what you’d find in four cups of coffee — is usually plenty to keep a person awake and attentive.
Coffee can sometimes lead to higher spikes in energy and lower dips when the caffeine wears off, so caffeinated tea may have a somewhat milder, more consistent effect than coffee.
Coffee or teas without a lot of added sugar are also healthier choices than sweetened, high-caffeine energy drinks.
A 16-ounce energy drink packs a lot of calories and more than twice as much caffeine as a standard cup of coffee.
Staying hydrated is a key strategy employed by long-haul truckers and others who have to put in long hours at tedious jobs.
Fluids help keep your blood flowing, which means your brain is getting plenty of oxygen and nutrients to keep working sharply in and outside of class.
Even becoming slightly dehydrated can cause fatigue, irritability, and other health problems. Having a water bottle with you in class — if it’s allowed — can make a big difference in keeping you hydrated and focused.
Being actively engaged, whether it’s taking notes or participating in a classroom discussion, can help keep you from snoozing during a lecture.
You may just need to occupy your mind more during class, so take good notes. They can be questions or comments on the lecture if there aren’t facts to jot down.
If the class allows for questions and discussions, be the student who raises a hand and keeps the conversation going.
One of the keys to getting a good night’s sleep, which in turn means less daytime sleepiness, is to follow a set schedule of bedtime and wake-up time.
By going to sleep at approximately the same time every day and waking up at the same time, you’re setting your body’s natural clock to know when it’s time to sleep and when it’s time to be awake and learning.
Try to aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night, though if you’re in your teens or 20s, you may need as many as 9 or 10 hours to become fully rested.
Exposure to light, especially in the morning, is one of the simplest and cheapest ways to wake up your mind and body for the day ahead.
Taking a brisk walk in the morning can energize you for hours. If that’s not possible, open up your blinds as soon as you wake up to let the morning sunlight into your home.
Exposure to morning light helps you wake up faster, and perhaps more importantly, it sets your internal clock to be awake during the day and sleepy at night.
Sitting in the back of a large — or even a small — lecture class can put you one step closer to an unplanned nap. It’s a little tougher to fall asleep if you’re in the front row, just a few feet from the teacher.
Mint has many health benefits. One of the most useful in class — apart from making your breath smell better — is how peppermint can help stimulate the hippocampus, which is a key part of the brain involved with alertness, memory, and other thinking skills.
If you’re upset about your grades, the news, or something that happened this morning, your brain expends a lot of energy. It’s going to wear you out and make your tired.
If you’re experiencing emotional exhaustion, problems can range from daytime sleepiness to poor sleep at night, as well as irritability, poor concentration, headaches, increased pessimism, and much more.
Using meditation and relaxation techniques to help cope with stress and anger may help restore your energy and give you a happier outlook.
Even just few days of mindfulness meditation training can help boost your attention and thinking skills.
You may feel more like sitting up, paying attention, and working if you’re wearing business-like clothes as opposed to comfier outfits. It may keep you focused on the work in front of you.
If you struggle to stay awake in class once in a while, just remind yourself to get enough sleep on “school nights” and try the strategies above.
But if you’re consistently sleepy in class or other times during the day, tell a doctor. You may have a condition such as obstructive sleep apnea that’s keeping you from getting enough restorative sleep at night.
Otherwise, a warm cup of tea or coffee, or perhaps a little exercise or meditation may offer more benefits than just helping you keep up with your schoolwork.
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
It is still dark at 8 am.
Every morning you think, probably, the alarm clock is broken - in the middle of the night it rings. Getting used to the dark winter rise is difficult, because our body “wakes up” from the light, from the sun. In addition, we sleep little, do not get enough sleep, we want to do everything in the world, but there is not enough time for rest. How to wake yourself up if you feel tired and sleepy during the day?
1. The magic of daylight
Natural lighting is a great help to the body that cannot wake up. After all, in daylight, melatonin, the hormone that causes sleep, ceases to be produced. Natural light wakes up and improves mood. So open the curtains, go out during the day from the office, from the house to the street - just walk in the daylight. If the sun is shining, catch every ray. In winter, we are especially deficient in vitamin D, and only sunlight in contact with our skin can help produce it.
2. More water
When we don't get enough fluid, we become dehydrated, which makes us feel tired and lose energy.
So if you fall asleep on the go, drink more water. But not coffee and sweet sodas, namely simple drinking cool water.
3. Proper food
Food can also put us to sleep and wake us up. To wake up, do not skip breakfast. And for lunch, do not eat fatty foods. Eat often and in small portions, the best option is foods rich in proteins. But it is better to avoid energy drinks and caffeine, they will not only not help, but can only harm, accelerating the work of a sleepy heart.
4. Movement is life
If you sit in one position, you will want to sleep even more. Walk. Get moving. If possible, do exercises, stretch all parts of the body - twist your neck, do side bends, squats, straighten your shoulders. If there is nowhere to do exercises, go for water or walk up the stairs to colleagues on other floors.
5. Inhale-exhale
Breathing in the stomach will help you wake up and cheer up. Inhale and exhale through the nose, "inflating" the air, and then "deflate" the stomach.
Gradually speed up the inhalations, exhalations and movements of the stomach.
6. Music
Do not listen to calm relaxing music - you will fall asleep completely. You will be shaken by a rhythmic melody, to which you want to dance, and your foot stomps to the beat. Turn up the volume - Latin rhythms, pop music - what is usually played in discos and fitness classes.
7. Breaks
Find an excuse to take a break every 30 minutes. Clean up the desk, go to other rooms (if you are in the office). Get up and stretch your legs and arms. This will help the blood circulation to "keep up", the blood will run faster, and the body will become active.
8. Fresh air
The sleepy brain needs oxygen to be active. If you can, take a walk or just open the window and take a deep breath. If you fall asleep in the car, put on a hat and open the window for a while.
9. Wash your face
Take a shower in the morning.
If you can stand under contrast, you are a hero. If not, then pour cold water over at least your legs and arms. Wow! And wake up immediately. During the day, you can simply wash your face with cold water several times - this will wake you up and improve your complexion.
10. Stirlitz's dream
Sometimes you want to sleep so much that you can't fight yourself. Well, don't fight. Find an opportunity and close your eyes - at least for 10-15 minutes. Such a short break will give you a lot of energy!
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October 1, 2020Tips
Discomfort, coffee with chocolate and trolling will help you stay awake until the morning.
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Getting ready for bed usually involves a sequence of activities: putting on pajamas, drinking milk, reading a book.
For ordinary days, this is an advantage: the body immediately understands that now you are going to bed. If you need to stay awake, these habits are best avoided.
Being slightly hungry will keep you awake, as you are supposed to be active in order to get your own food.
Do not change into pajamas, even if they are very comfortable. Wear something you can't sleep in, like brand new, unworn jeans. Another helper will be shoes with laces. It will not give you the opportunity to "just lie down for five minutes." Unless, of course, you are used to falling asleep in your shoes every Friday.
If you are very sleepy, you will fall asleep even on a hard chair with nails sticking out in some places. A soft bed will not leave you a single chance to hold out until the morning. Therefore, choose not the most comfortable seats.
Studies have shown that bright light suppresses sleepiness.
Turn on the overhead light, sconce, table lamp. It is impossible to overdo it in this matter. True, you should not pull this trick at parties: other visitors to a nightclub may be dissatisfied with the lights suddenly turned on.
Find a person with a questionable position on Facebook* and try to convince him. You can sincerely argue or frankly troll, but the effect will be the same: from indignation, you will not only fall asleep - you will not be able to sit still.
Not the most unexpected, but working way. A sleepless night the day before leaves you virtually no chance to be productively awake. Unless, of course, you flew from the future to save John Connor. Therefore, before a strategically important night, sleep as hard as you can.
Caffeine does suppress sleepiness. True, there are nuances of drinking coffee, depending on how you want to spend the morning.
If you drink it too actively, there is a risk that you will be too alert even when it's time to go to bed. If you drink just a little bit of coffee, you will easily fall asleep when the caffeine leaves your bloodstream.
Instead of trying to pinch yourself to stay awake, outsource this activity. Eat a portion of spicy, burning food. It will irritate the mucous membrane in your mouth enough to make you forget about sleep.
On a sleepless night, the very property of fast carbohydrates that adherents of healthy eating scold them for is useful: they quickly break down into simple sugars and provide a strong, albeit short-term burst of energy. So ignore the advice of grandmothers "do not eat sweets at night, otherwise you will not fall asleep" and stock up on sweets.
Keep an eye on your level of fatigue, as the energy will leave your body just as quickly: as soon as you feel tired, it's time to take another bite from the chocolate bar.
Rinse face and wrists. Cold water is a kind of stress for the body, and therefore it will inevitably cheer up to eliminate discomfort.
Research has shown that chewing will keep you awake. The brain receives a signal that food is on its way to the stomach, and does not allow the body to relax in anticipation of a portion of energy. In general, you can chew anything, but chewing gum will be a longer-lasting option than food.
Dehydration can lead to fatigue, so listen carefully to your body's signals of thirst. The advice has an added bonus: Have you ever tried to sleep with a full bladder?
Physical activity is invigorating, and if you get up every hour and do 15 squats or push-ups, this will significantly extend the period of wakefulness. But jumping is better to avoid, although communication with the police squad, which the neighbors will call because of the noise, can invigorate better than any squats.
