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How to stay awake during work?
starlancerii
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I've got a problem, I can never stay awake if I'm not being mentally engaged.
Background:
Back when I was in college, I would fall asleep in classes. A lot. a WHOLE lot. If the professor was boring, going over something I already knew, or going at too slow of a pace (especially a problem), I would last about 20 minutes before I started nodding off. Yet, I'd still get good grades. Like, straight As, better grades than many classmates who stayed awake.
But now I've graduated and am starting work. Going through orientation, which is essentially sitting down from 9am to 6pm with *occasional* 15 minute breaks, and listening to speakers for hours on end. Problem is, many of them are not very good speakers, or are covering material I already understand. And so.... I nod off. HR is not very happy with me. I don't think I am also making a very good impression.
On a side note, probably the best description I can give is that when I'm bored, I start to just blank out my mind, listening but not really listening, sensing without really comprehending, my awareness becomes much more limited, and I'm not really conscious of anything other than that I'm fighting the urge to just conk out. So for like half an hour or so (hard for me to time these things), I'm not really asleep, but not really awake - I can remember some of what the speaker was talking about, but it doesn't really click. Its like I'm oscillating somewhere between the conscious and unconscious states. Strange, huh?
So I'm trying to figure out how to stay awake. I'm definitely getting enough sleep, like 8 hours at night. Unfortunately I can't go with drinking lots of caffeine, because I react badly to it - I'm buzzing and jittery for like 30 minutes, and then my body just shuts down completely. Plus, health concerns. Small amounts of caffeine from light tea are all right, but don't really help. I'd also prefer not to use pills - I just avoid them whenever at all possible.
tl;dr: I can't stay awake through boring presentations even with enough sleep, don't react well with caffeine, and would prefer not to use pills. I have one more week of orientation and then start my actual job, and really need to figure out a way to stay awake.
Any ideas?
Background:
Back when I was in college, I would fall asleep in classes. A lot. a WHOLE lot. If the professor was boring, going over something I already knew, or going at too slow of a pace (especially a problem), I would last about 20 minutes before I started nodding off. Yet, I'd still get good grades. Like, straight As, better grades than many classmates who stayed awake.
But now I've graduated and am starting work. Going through orientation, which is essentially sitting down from 9am to 6pm with *occasional* 15 minute breaks, and listening to speakers for hours on end. Problem is, many of them are not very good speakers, or are covering material I already understand. And so.... I nod off. HR is not very happy with me. I don't think I am also making a very good impression.
On a side note, probably the best description I can give is that when I'm bored, I start to just blank out my mind, listening but not really listening, sensing without really comprehending, my awareness becomes much more limited, and I'm not really conscious of anything other than that I'm fighting the urge to just conk out. So for like half an hour or so (hard for me to time these things), I'm not really asleep, but not really awake - I can remember some of what the speaker was talking about, but it doesn't really click. Its like I'm oscillating somewhere between the conscious and unconscious states. Strange, huh?
So I'm trying to figure out how to stay awake. I'm definitely getting enough sleep, like 8 hours at night. Unfortunately I can't go with drinking lots of caffeine, because I react badly to it - I'm buzzing and jittery for like 30 minutes, and then my body just shuts down completely. Plus, health concerns. Small amounts of caffeine from light tea are all right, but don't really help. I'd also prefer not to use pills - I just avoid them whenever at all possible.
tl;dr: I can't stay awake through boring presentations even with enough sleep, don't react well with caffeine, and would prefer not to use pills. I have one more week of orientation and then start my actual job, and really need to figure out a way to stay awake.
Any ideas?
starlancerii on
0
Posts
If you have some kind of puzzles you can go through in your mind that challenge you it can help. Hope that helps abit.
How is your overall diet?
Pretty good actually - I usually cook healthy Chinese food, but since I'm new to NY, I'm just getting Subway a lot of the time. I try not to eat too much for meals, since I find that having all my blood go to my stomach to digest it does not help me stay awake. Also very skinny, if that has any relevance.
1. Stand up, walk to the back of the class room, and face whoever is giving the class.
2. Think about sex! Yes, it works.
I think the question was "how to stop sleeping" rather than "how to stop living".
I know you get 8 hours but 8 hours isn't the magic number for everyone
In addition, quality not quantity.
A silly mental thing you can do is get yourself hyped up about something. Think about something going on later in the day that you're excited for. Maybe you're going out with friends, or maybe it's as simple as a TV show or something. When a favorite show is on that night, it helps to think about it; hype myself up and think about all the cool things that it could be about judging from last week. Works for videogames, too. Think about what's in store for you next, and you'll get to check it out when you get through work/class. It can be anything, just hype yourself up about something. This works best on Fridays, though.
These are just tricks, really, but whatever will get you through orientation is a good thing.
Now I've got a 1 liter water bottle that I fill and toss in the freezer when I get home in the morning. By the time I head off to work I've got a block of ice that'll keep cold a good 7 hours depending how often I refill the bottle from the tap.
You may want to try chewing gum too. Also, the doodling idea works as well, plus (so long as you're not front row center) it looks like you're taking notes. HR people love seeing new hires take notes. Makes them feel important.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I know exactly what you mean. I got this all through undergrad lectures.
I second the mental games and the drinking water. Also, with desk jobs, I'd also second the recommendations for getting up and going for walks - I generally go for a short walk twice or thrice a day.
I made a TD for iphone and windows phone!
I like the suggestions of ice cold water and getting up to do some exercise, I'll try that for once I start working, but I figure it should get better once I actually start working, since I'll have something to do.
On a side note, during the orientation, we had "assigned" seating and were discouraged from doing anything other than listening (yay for HR treating everyone like elementary schoolers). Midway through, they changed the seating around, and I got moved to the most mid-front table. The entire table concluded that we were being punished - some of us had dozed off, others had been texting on their phones ("This is a reminder that all phones and blackberries are to be turned off during orientation....") or passing notes.
If they were trying to get us to behave, it didn't work. In college, I sat at the front row in my favorite professor's class, and visibly fell asleep almost every day. Still got the highest grade in the entire class. And so I continued to fall asleep even while all the way up there. And meanwhile, the rest of the table played text twist on their notepads or continued to text. GG HR?
And if caffeine makes you jittery I'd recommend having an apple beforehand. They're quite effective as a stimulant in the morning, particularly for people who don't generally use caffeine.
During night watch to stay awake I usually take something to do to keep my mind occupied. If you aren't going to listen to the presentation anyway bring a notebook and draw, doodle, write, whatever. It will keep your mind engaged so you don't fall asleep.
Also be a little more mentally tough. It is not that hard to remain awake. If you feel yourself nodding off excuse yourself to the bathroom, wash your face, do a jumping jack or two and then head back to class. If you can use your PDA play games on it or whatever.
See how many you can rifle off while you're bored.
No, this is just HR. I don't think they're much different than this in any company.
I'm not a heavy caffeine user, but when I know I have some kind of important meeting or presentation to sit in on, I'll grab a small cup of coffee. I figure if I keep it to a low amount, it'll still work when I need it.
But even when I'm at my desk, I'm sometimes just bored with the assignment I have and begin to slowly nod off. So I'm all ears for other suggestions.