HomeKnowledge CenterHow to Stay Awake at Work
A sleepless night can impact your work and personal life. How do you stay productive the day after a sleepless night?
Even though you may have had a sleepless night, you may still need to have a productive day. Learning how to keep yourself awake following a night of lost sleep, requires you to learn which of the following methods your body best responds to.1
Good night, sleep tight!
Consider your usual night’s sleep: do you sleep like a rock, or do you wake up throughout the night? If you wake up a lot, make sure your sleeping environment is free of lights, sounds and changes in temperature. And limit use of smartphones, computers, and the TV before bedtime Digital devices like these can stimulate your mind and keep you awake instead of asleep.
Stay hydrated
While coffee or tea can help jumpstart your day, too much can dehydrate you or make you restless. A good way to stay awake without caffeine is to drink low or no calorie fluids, such as water or herbal tea. Fluids help your circulatory system and get your blood flowing. If you have a headache from too much caffeine, fluids can help relieve it.
Splash your face with cold water
A splash of cold water over your face will draw your circulation upward, toward your head, temporarily renewing your energy, making you feel more awake.
Reduce your sugar intake
Eating sugar is often thought to be one of the best ways to stay awake. But it’s actually best to avoid sugar when you’re tired. It causes blood sugar spikes – which is a spurt of high energy followed by very low energy, which can leave you feeling sleepy.
Interrupt your work routine with regular breaks
If you’re experimenting with how to stay awake at work, try interrupting boring or uninteresting tasks by working for 25 minutes at a time, followed by a 5-minute break. The variety will help you stay awake longer, and may make you more productive. Get up and move around during your break to get your blood flowing.
Connect with a friend
One of the best ways to stay awake is to do so with others.
Focus your mind on something else by talking with a friend or co-worker.
Keep your space cool
A warm room can make you tired, and a cool room does the opposite! Crack a window for a refreshing breeze to keep your blood flowing and your energy level up.
Put on some tunes
Use music to help wake up your senses. It can also distract you and take your mind off feeling tired.
Take a walk
A walk can help bring blood flow to your muscles and wake them up. A change of scenery is also likely to reduce fatigue by inspiring new ideas and even sparking creativity.
Massage
You can give yourself a jolt of energy by lightly massaging select pressure points on your body. Key areas include: the back of your neck, between your thumb and index finger, behind your knees and just below the balls of your feet.
When you’re at work and need to stay awake, give these tips a try. Make sure to aim for quality rest, as a general rule. If your fatigue and sleeplessness continue talk to your health care provider for guidance.
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110 Tips to Stay Awake at Work without Coffee, Health Plus, March 29, 2021, https://www.mountelizabeth.com.sg/healthplus/article/10-tips-to-stay-awake-at-work-without-coffee
This article is general health information and not medical advice or services. You should consult your doctor for medical advice or services, including seeking advice prior to undertaking a new diet or exercise program.
If you’re able to stay home and relax for the day, being a little sleepy isn’t a big deal.
But being tired at work can have significant consequences. You might miss deadlines or get behind on your workload. If this becomes a pattern, your job could be in jeopardy.
Treating the underlying cause of daytime sleepiness — such as sleep apnea — can help improve your energy level and boost cognitive function. But even if you take steps to feel better, daytime sleepiness might not improve overnight.
Here’s how to manage daytime sleepiness at work.
If you’re feeling sluggish at work, a shot of caffeine might be the energy boost you need to get your job done.
Caffeine is a stimulant, meaning it increases activity in the brain and nervous system. It can improve your thinking ability and mental performance, and help you fight off sleepiness. Head over to the break room for a coffee, or take a short walk to a local cafe.
Be careful not to go overboard. Drinking too much caffeine can overstimulate you and make you jittery, which might affect your productivity level.
Sometimes, getting a little bit of shut-eye is the only way to get over daytime sleepiness. If you have to close your eyes, squeeze in a quick power nap on your lunch break.
If you have your own office, shut the door and lay your head on the desk. Or sit in your car and recline the seat. A 15 or 30-minute nap might give you enough energy to power through the day. Don’t forget to set your alarm clock or you may oversleep!
Sitting in one spot for too long can worsen daytime sleepiness. Periodically rising from your workstation and walking around gets your blood flowing. It can also help you stay to awake and concentrate on your work.
Granted, you probably can’t be away from your desk for too long. You may have to get creative and move at your desk. Maybe fidget or shake your leg while sitting in your chair. If you have your own office, pace the room while talking on the phone.
If you’re sleepy at work, having to do your job in silence can be a drag. You may feel as though you’ll fall asleep at any moment.
To wake up your brain, listen to upbeat music.
Check with your employer first for permission. Your boss might be OK with listening to music as long as it doesn’t affect your productivity. If you can’t turn on a radio, get permission to listen to music through earbuds — the more upbeat the music, the better.
If you deal with frequent daytime sleepiness, eating a heavy lunch could make it worse. Do your best to stay away from sugary snacks, sodas, or carbohydrates like white bread and white pasta.
Eat a light lunch to keep your energy up. You want to feel satisfied but not stuffed. As you pack your lunch, choose healthier sources of energy. This includes boiled eggs, chicken, berries, nuts, vegetables, and whole grains.
If you’re fortunate to work in a space with windows, open the shades and let in some natural light. Sunlight in your office can increase alertness and energy.
If you don’t have a window near your workspace, get permission to bring in a lightbox and position it near your desk.
This emits a low level of UV light and helps regulate your wake cycle so you feel less sleepy.
If you’re struggling to stay awake at work, go to the bathroom and splash cold water on your face. This quick and simple hack can reenergize you and provide a much-needed pick-me-up.
Step outside after you splash your face if it’s a breezy day. The cool air against your face can increase your alertness.
You might want to invest in a fan for your office space or desktop if you deal with daytime sleepiness.
When you’re feeling sleepy, point the fan in your direction and turn it on full blast. Just like the natural breeze outside, the cool air of the fan can increase your alertness.
Daytime sleepiness can be intensified by too much downtime. Depending on the nature of your job, you may have periods when you have fewer responsibilities.
Without much to do, you may start to feel even more tired. Ask your boss for some light responsibilities, if possible. You might be able to assist with overflow work.
Learning how to manage daytime sleepiness can keep you on your employer’s good side. When drowsiness hits, try a few of these hacks to get through the day. Rule out an underlying problem by visiting your doctor if your tiredness continues for longer than a few weeks.
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Sometimes it happens that you come to work and you are already tired and you don't want to do anything, just to sleep.
We will tell you how to overcome sleep and spend the working day with benefit.
It probably happens to everyone: you come to work/university/school, and you realize that you can't do anything, your eyes get stuck together, you get sleepy. You understand that even if they let you go home now, you still won’t crawl to the bed and fall asleep on the nearest bench. So what is it? Why do you sleep peacefully all night in bed, do not sit at the computer at night, but calmly catch dreams. In the morning, all the hours that you overslept magically disappear and it seems that you have not slept all night? What to do with fatigue, if you do not want to oversleep the whole working day, and at the same time not spend a lot of time on bringing yourself in good shape?
So: if you wake up and feel that the bed is luring you back under the covers, and there is a long and hard working day ahead, then you don’t need to panic, but take action right away. Let's start from the very beginning, namely from the moment you go to bed.
Of course, as soon as you come tired from work, you want no one to touch you, but just have a quick dinner and immediately go to bed. But this will not help, because if you lie down tired, then in the morning you will wake up the same, and in the evening everything will be repeated all over again. Therefore, before going to bed, you need to take measures to somehow cheer yourself up, and then in the morning you will wake up well-rested. To do this, you can do a little gymnastics, a short walk or take a cold shower, and when you are cleansed of fatigue and anxious thoughts, you can safely go to bed, before that, do not forget to open the windows so that the room is ventilated at night. Let's move on: the night has come and naturally, if you want to get up cheerful, then you need to forget about nightly computer games and watching TV shows. Only a dream.
Well, morning has come, time to wake up and go to work. You followed all the rules: you went to bed awake, slept peacefully all night, and woke up as if you had been carrying bricks all night.
No, you are not doomed, you can still feel sleepy. First, it is worth checking if you always get up at the same time, if not, then you should make a habit of getting up always at the same hour. Also, to wake yourself up in the morning, try to do exercises, but do not overdo it, because heavy exercises will only exhaust you worse. Try just stretching your neck, waving your arms, squatting, bending over, and most likely this will be enough. Also to help you - a cold shower, it perfectly invigorates in the morning. If you have a short walk to work, you can get to it in a sporty way: by bicycle, rollerblading, skateboarding, or simply by running to the place of work.
But then you came to your work, and fatigue again "attacked" you. In this case, try to answer her with invigorating coffee, and even better - tea. Try doing short calisthenics again to cheer yourself up. Directly during working hours, do not overwork yourself and make sure that parts of your body do not become numb.
To do this, sometimes get up from your workplace, do a short warm-up for the neck, legs and arms. During your lunch break, try not to spend all your time eating, but spend part of the time walking, exercising, or just sitting around doing nothing.
Well, we've had another hard day at work! Take care of yourself, exercise and go to bed on time. Spend the night on sleep, not on TV shows and the Internet. If you follow all these norms, then you can say goodbye to fatigue, and always come to your favorite job cheerful.
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Teamwork
ua will not save you from changing the clock, but it will tell you how to cope with drowsiness at work. Twice a year, time manipulation disrupts our biorhythms, disturbs our sleep, and causes us to yawn much more than usual at work. And if the autumn turn of the hands gives us an extra hour for sleep, then the transition to daylight saving time makes our bodies get used to earlier rises. As a result, fatigue, irritability and decreased concentration.
The easiest and most familiar way to activate the body is invigorating drinks. Prepare a cup of good coffee the way you like it. Just don't get carried away - it's better to drink coffee no more than three times in 8 hours. And remember that strong green tea invigorates no worse than espresso.
Leave your work area for a few minutes and walk briskly down the hallway or run up and down the stairs. Just a few jumps in place or squats will fill the body with energy and vigor.
If there is no time for this, warm up on the spot: move your feet, stretch, make a few energetic swings with your arms.
A breath of fresh air is no worse than a sip of fresh coffee. And bright lighting, especially daylight, helps the brain understand that it is time to become more active. Open the blinds and the window, take a few deep breaths, take in the view, or better yet, go outside and walk vigorously back and forth. It’s good if you manage to catch the sun - its light will spur the production of endorphins, and they, in turn, will make you more active and focused.
Eat an orange, tangerine or grapefruit. The aroma of citrus fruits will invigorate the nervous system, and vitamin C will activate the body.
Place your palms under running water. Alternately change cold water to hot and vice versa. A few minutes of such a "shower" - and sleep in one eye.
Do acupressure: rub your hands and massage your fingers from the tips to the base of the palm, press the active points located between the thumb and forefinger.
Stirlitz did everything quickly and efficiently, even rested. The recommendation of a well-known intelligence officer boils down to the formula: 20 minutes of an afternoon nap allows you to get rid of fatigue and not want to sleep during the day. During this time, the brain has time to rest, and the body relaxes and relieves stress.
Whatever one may say, if you want to sleep all the time, you just don't get enough sleep. And you need to change the regime. It's never too late to get good sleep habits. Try to go to bed early tonight and don't take your phone to bed with you.
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