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Avoiding the Zzzzz's

Phantom

Uh, I didn't do it.
Okay, so I was almost literally falling asleep at work earlier having fallen victim to 'the bob'. You know, when you're trying your hardest to stay awake, but your eyes start to close and next thing you know your head is at your chest and you jolt awake... then quickly scan the room to make sure no one noticed?

Yeah... that.

Now I'm wide awake because I know a few tricks to staying awake. I'm curious what yours are. I mean everyone has those days when your coffee or energy drink just do not cut it.

Some of my tricks are; Splashing cold water on my face, especially the eyes; nomming quite a few mints or chewing gum; or what I just did which was going up a bunch of steps.

You have any funny stories about falling asleep or 'bobbing' somewhere where you really shouldn't?

When I was in explorers I had a baaad 'bobbing' moment. See we did our scenarios, but we also had academics. Things that you couldn't have scenarios on, like learning about different gangs and statistics and stuff. We were in an academic for internet crimes, and I'd been up studying for the scenario later the next day. I'm sitting in this academic with like 200 other police explorers and I keep falling asleep. I would wake up and we'd be on a different powerpoint slide. We had a test after and by some miracle my team won first place in the academic, when their team leader, me, was falling asleep the entire time. That was bad. :P

I've seen some people have weird ways of staying awake. Once in class a guy randomly stood up and started doing push ups in world history. O_o
 
I fall asleep on the train pretty much every time I go to and from uni! Which is kind of bad because unless you have your bag close to your chest, it's pretty easy for someone to pickpocket. I don't really have any tricks for this; music sometimes helps and sometimes it doesn't, and eating always helps but I'm not allowed to eat on public transport.
 
Would they let you have gum or mints? Seriously! Pop like six altoids and you're basically like "Ew, but WHOA AWAKE TIME!"
 
I'm caffeine sensitive (I'm an ex addict) so I just drink lots of sprite. Then I feel ill because I need sleep.

Mints don't work for me any more.
 
I was quite tired last week, almost fell asleep in an early morning lecture. The only thing that made me keep awake was the fact that people were laughing at the person a couple of rows in front of me who had already fallen asleep.
 
Usually I just stare into some sort of lightsource, it should work. This is probably a good time to mention that I don't drink coffee (which is uncommon, since Finland is THE biggest consumer of coffee per capita, 3x as much as the U.S), so really, the only thing I have to get me up is light and sound. Woe..
 
I believe the best thing that can be done about sleepiness is... Well, sleep. It's a matter of finding the right opportunity to take a nap, even if it's for less than a minute.

Although it does get troublesome if no such opportunity does come along.

Also, I fucking hate coffee. The smell of somebody having some nearby is enough to disgust me.
 
Mmm, I dislike coffee too, and I drink so much tea, unless I have literally about ten cups, I don't feel any more awake than before.

The time where I find myself nodding off the most is during a spectacularly boring 2-hour seminar I have this term, and I usually doodle as a way to stave off boredom. Having weird-face-making contests with people on the other side of the room also helps.
 
I actually rarely ever get that! I'm an awful sleeper - I tend to sleep about ~4-5 hours at a time and I'm constantly a little tired, but I'm not usually so tired that I keep falling asleep against my will. I am a master of my own brain :D Then I collapse and sleep for like 16 hours when I don't have anything to do.

I don't recommend this, but I also don't really have any tips?? Except 'be ridiculous, like me'! And that's just no good, bro.
 
Caffeine, excerise, a glass of cold water, and deep breathing work best for me. However, it's probably best to get quality sleep in the first place. Listening to music or bright lights (like a computer monitor) before or during sleep tends not go well for me.
 
5 HOUR ENERGY, OF COURSE!
But don't seriously drink that sh*t because it gave me diarreha

Try eating a large breakfast (and by large I don't mean eating another bowl of cereal) I mean eating something high in proteins, like an egg sandwich, and SKIP THE COFFEE. It makes you crash in he afternoon, which could screw with your tomorrow.
 
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Would they let you have gum or mints? Seriously! Pop like six altoids and you're basically like "Ew, but WHOA AWAKE TIME!"
sugarfree gum and mints tend to have ingredients that aren't really good for your digestion when you eat lots of them at once and my digestion is pretty much fucked anyway, so. gum and mints with sugar in them I'd rather not touch either because I already need like, three fillings.
 
I used to have this problem until I got hired at Starbucks <-=

What I do not have a coffee addiction I do not love it to death. (shhhhhh)
 
Coffee if I can get some in the morning, otherwise a Mountain Dew. That's only if I didn't sleep well, though. Sometimes if I'm falling asleep in the middle of class then I'll just slap myself and that'll wake me up a bit. I sleep well most of the time, though! Nightmares do not dare enter mon dark mind's recesses.
 
Nowadays I tend to sleep around 5 hours a day, and that means I'm usually a zombie in the morning. Nothing to be done about that; I take a nap in the car on the way to school, but I'm still pretty much dead during my first class. But once I push through my first class, I feel pretty awake, and that continues until 2am when I collapse, and the cycle begins again.

On the weekends I just catch up by sleeping until noon or later. :P
 
Nowadays I tend to sleep around 5 hours a day, and that means I'm usually a zombie in the morning. Nothing to be done about that; I take a nap in the car on the way to school, but I'm still pretty much dead during my first class. But once I push through my first class, I feel pretty awake, and that continues until 2am when I collapse, and the cycle begins again.

On the weekends I just catch up by sleeping until noon or later. :P

What do you DO at night? ...Do I want to know?

I mean, I've been going to bed at 2 a lot recently, too, but I don't have to get up for class until 8:30 or 9:00. I can get pretty tired, but I'm on medication, so I have a harder time getting to sleep (especially napping) than staying awake. Been the story of my life, really.

Unfortunately, I still can't always pay attention in class.
 
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