Tips for Staying Awake When You’re Tired

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsImprove SleepTake BreaksUse CaffeineAlter ActivitiesGet SunlightTake a NapHave a SnackExerciseLower TemperaturesDiscuss Medications

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Improve Sleep

Take Breaks

Use Caffeine

Alter Activities

Get Sunlight

Take a Nap

Have a Snack

Exercise

Lower Temperatures

Discuss Medications

When you feel tired but need to stay awake, there are things you can do to keep from falling asleep. These include making changes to your environment (such as lighting and temperature), taking breaks to refuel and stimulate yourself, and ensuring you have ample sleep reserves to fall back on when faced with long work or study hours.

This article offers 10 tips on how to stay awake when you are tired. It also discusses prescription drugs that healthcare providers may prescribe if daytime sleepiness affects your work or quality of life.

Get Enough Sleep

The best defense against daytime sleepiness is getting agood night’s rest. Not getting enough sleep, called sleep restriction, is the most common cause of daytime drowsiness and fatigue.

By getting enough sleep on a regular basis, you will have the reserves needed to work, study, or stay out late. By not getting enough sleep, called asleep deficit, you will be hard-pressed to be productive even if you manage to stay awake.

How Much Sleep Do I Need?

Take Frequent Breaks

Concentrating on a work task for a long period of time can make you feel exhausted. As hours turn into many hours, the quality of your work may suffer, causing you to make mistakes. This is especially true when working in front of a computer, leading to what some call “computer work fatigue.”

To keep this from happening, take frequent short breaks every couple of hours. Instead of checking personal emails or playing on the computer, get up from your desk, stretch your legs, and get a snack or a drink to keep your energy levels up.

Why Do I Get Sleepy in the Afternoon?

Consume Caffeine

Caffeineis an effective way to stay awake and alert when your energy starts to lag. it s a natural stimulant that can boost energy and improve your focus.

To avoid jitteriness, rapid heartbeats, and other caffeine side effects, you’ll want to space out doses and limit yourself to the following daily intake:

Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and soda are popular caffeinated drinks. You can also get caffeine from foods like chocolate.

How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?

Alternate Your Activities

If you have trouble concentrating at work, you may find it helpful to change up activities. For example, you can break large projects into smaller tasks and complete them in steps rather than all at once. Or, you can use Mondays for certain tasks and reserve Wednesdays for other tasks.

In nursing where hours are long and often late, fatigue reduction protocols call for the avoidance of repetitive tasks that can lead to exhaustion, a loss of concentration, and potentially serious mistakes.

The same principles can be applied to any job. By shifting your work focus, you can be more attentive when tackling important tasks.

Boost Your Energy With These 8 Proven Tips

Get Some Light and Fresh Air

Interestingly, the type of lighting you have in your place of work can affect energy levels and lead to daytime fatigue.

Why You Feel Sleepy All the Time

If you are battling daytime sleepiness, anapmay be enough to recharge your batteries. A 2016 study published inSleep Sciencefound that short “power naps” significantly improve learning and memory skills even for people who are notsleep-deprivedand who get ample sleep.

In many cultures, having a midday nap is part of the daily routine.

As a general rule,naps lasting 15 to 20 minutesare the best way to get recharged. Anything longer may put you in adeeper state of sleepand leave you feeling groggy when you awaken.

Postprandial fatigue, also called “food coma,” is a state of drowsiness that happens after a meal. It typically occurs 30 minutes to one hour after eating and can persist for several hours. It happens when blood from the brain is diverted to the stomach to aid with digestion.

Snacks to Avoid Blood Sugar Spikes

Exercise and Be Active

Sedentary activities like sitting in a conference room, driving long distances, or being at your desk for hours on end can make you feel drowsy. It can also affect your mood, making you feel low, edgy, or washed out.

Exercise is a natural remedy to both of these concerns.

Having a midday workout is certainly one way to approach this, but even having a brisk walk around the neighborhood can help enormously.

How to Fix a Sedentary Lifestyle

Keep the Environment Cool

If you have ever found yourself dozing off in a room that was overly warm, you know the benefits of keeping things on the cooler side.

It is well known that temperature can greatly affect your ability to sleep and stay awake. This is because hot and cold temperatures affect heart and respiration rates, burning up fuel reserves faster than normal. They also slow down the signaling between nerve cells in the brain, interfering with executive functions like reasoning, learning, and memory.

A 2019 study inHealth Promotion Perspectivesfound that physiological and neurological functions were at best at temperatures around 71 F (22 C) and declined at temperatures over 30 F (86 F) or under 64 F (18 C).

The Best Temperature for Sleeping

Use Medications as a Last Resort

Prescription medications called stimulants can help people stay awake in specific situations. Examples include:

Stimulants act on the brain to help you pay attention and remain alert.However, stimulants can be addictive and are rarely used to treat excessive daytime sleepiness.Their overuse can cause dizziness, tremors, headache, flushed skin, heart palpitations, chest pain, excessive sweating, vomiting, and abdominal cramps.

If you have a sleep disorder that causes daytime drowsiness, speak with asleep specialistwho may provide you with more appropriate and effective treatments.

Do Stimulants Help Chronic Fatigue?

Summary

When you’re feeling tired but need to stay awake, sipping a little caffeine, taking frequent breaks, or eating a light snack can help you fight sleepiness.

Exercising, power-napping, getting fresh air, enjoying natural light, and lowering the temperature in a room can also help you stay awake during the day.

If you have a sleep disorder, your provider may prescribe medications to help you stay awake. These medications come with risks, however, and are rarely used if daytime drowsiness is the only symptom.

8 Tips for Staying Up Late Without Getting Tired

15 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Murray BJ.A practical approach to excessive daytime sleepiness: a focused review.Can Respir J. 2016;2016:4215938. doi:10.1155/2016/4215938Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About sleep.Staffe AT, Bech MW, Clemmensen SLK, et al.Total sleep deprivation increases pain sensitivity, impairs conditioned pain modulation and facilitates temporal summation of pain in healthy participants.PLoS One.2019;14(12):e0225849. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225849Fang Y, Liu C, Zhao C, Zhang H, Wang W, Zou N.A study of the effects of different indoor lighting environments on computer work fatigue.Int J Environ Res Public Health.2022;19(11):6866. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116866Government of Canada.Caffeine in foods.MedlinePlus.Caffeine.Caruso C, Baldwin CM, Berger A, et al.Policy brief: nurse fatigue, sleep, and health, and ensuring patient and public safety.Nurs Outlook.2019;67(5):615–9. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2019.08.004Melrose S.Seasonal affective disorder: an overview of assessment and treatment approaches.Depress Res Treat. 2015;2015:178564. doi:10.1155/2015/178564Morita Y, Ogawa K, Uchida S.Napping after complex motor learning enhances juggling performance.Sleep Sci. 2016;9(2):112-6. doi:10.1016/j.slsci.2016.04.002Sleep Foundation.Napping: Benefits and tips.Gallagher T, You YJ.Falling asleep after a big meal: neuronal regulation of satiety.Worm.2014;3:e27938. doi:10.4161/worm.27938Sorriento D, Di Vaia E, Iaccarino G.Physical exercise: a novel tool to protect mitochondrial health.Front Physiol.2021;12:660068. doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.660068Balchin R, Linde J, Blackhurst D, Rauch HL, Schönbächler G.Sweating away depression? The impact of intensive exercise on depression.J Affect Disord. 2016;200:218-221. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.04.030Abbasi AM, Motamedzade M, Aliabadi M, Golmohammadi R, Tapak L.The impact of indoor air temperature on the executive functions of human brain and the physiological responses of body.Health Promot Perspect.2019;9(1):55–64. doi:10.15171/hpp.2019.07Drug Enforcement Agency.Drug fact sheet: stimulants.

15 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Murray BJ.A practical approach to excessive daytime sleepiness: a focused review.Can Respir J. 2016;2016:4215938. doi:10.1155/2016/4215938Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About sleep.Staffe AT, Bech MW, Clemmensen SLK, et al.Total sleep deprivation increases pain sensitivity, impairs conditioned pain modulation and facilitates temporal summation of pain in healthy participants.PLoS One.2019;14(12):e0225849. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225849Fang Y, Liu C, Zhao C, Zhang H, Wang W, Zou N.A study of the effects of different indoor lighting environments on computer work fatigue.Int J Environ Res Public Health.2022;19(11):6866. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116866Government of Canada.Caffeine in foods.MedlinePlus.Caffeine.Caruso C, Baldwin CM, Berger A, et al.Policy brief: nurse fatigue, sleep, and health, and ensuring patient and public safety.Nurs Outlook.2019;67(5):615–9. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2019.08.004Melrose S.Seasonal affective disorder: an overview of assessment and treatment approaches.Depress Res Treat. 2015;2015:178564. doi:10.1155/2015/178564Morita Y, Ogawa K, Uchida S.Napping after complex motor learning enhances juggling performance.Sleep Sci. 2016;9(2):112-6. doi:10.1016/j.slsci.2016.04.002Sleep Foundation.Napping: Benefits and tips.Gallagher T, You YJ.Falling asleep after a big meal: neuronal regulation of satiety.Worm.2014;3:e27938. doi:10.4161/worm.27938Sorriento D, Di Vaia E, Iaccarino G.Physical exercise: a novel tool to protect mitochondrial health.Front Physiol.2021;12:660068. doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.660068Balchin R, Linde J, Blackhurst D, Rauch HL, Schönbächler G.Sweating away depression? The impact of intensive exercise on depression.J Affect Disord. 2016;200:218-221. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.04.030Abbasi AM, Motamedzade M, Aliabadi M, Golmohammadi R, Tapak L.The impact of indoor air temperature on the executive functions of human brain and the physiological responses of body.Health Promot Perspect.2019;9(1):55–64. doi:10.15171/hpp.2019.07Drug Enforcement Agency.Drug fact sheet: stimulants.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Murray BJ.A practical approach to excessive daytime sleepiness: a focused review.Can Respir J. 2016;2016:4215938. doi:10.1155/2016/4215938Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About sleep.Staffe AT, Bech MW, Clemmensen SLK, et al.Total sleep deprivation increases pain sensitivity, impairs conditioned pain modulation and facilitates temporal summation of pain in healthy participants.PLoS One.2019;14(12):e0225849. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225849Fang Y, Liu C, Zhao C, Zhang H, Wang W, Zou N.A study of the effects of different indoor lighting environments on computer work fatigue.Int J Environ Res Public Health.2022;19(11):6866. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116866Government of Canada.Caffeine in foods.MedlinePlus.Caffeine.Caruso C, Baldwin CM, Berger A, et al.Policy brief: nurse fatigue, sleep, and health, and ensuring patient and public safety.Nurs Outlook.2019;67(5):615–9. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2019.08.004Melrose S.Seasonal affective disorder: an overview of assessment and treatment approaches.Depress Res Treat. 2015;2015:178564. doi:10.1155/2015/178564Morita Y, Ogawa K, Uchida S.Napping after complex motor learning enhances juggling performance.Sleep Sci. 2016;9(2):112-6. doi:10.1016/j.slsci.2016.04.002Sleep Foundation.Napping: Benefits and tips.Gallagher T, You YJ.Falling asleep after a big meal: neuronal regulation of satiety.Worm.2014;3:e27938. doi:10.4161/worm.27938Sorriento D, Di Vaia E, Iaccarino G.Physical exercise: a novel tool to protect mitochondrial health.Front Physiol.2021;12:660068. doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.660068Balchin R, Linde J, Blackhurst D, Rauch HL, Schönbächler G.Sweating away depression? The impact of intensive exercise on depression.J Affect Disord. 2016;200:218-221. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.04.030Abbasi AM, Motamedzade M, Aliabadi M, Golmohammadi R, Tapak L.The impact of indoor air temperature on the executive functions of human brain and the physiological responses of body.Health Promot Perspect.2019;9(1):55–64. doi:10.15171/hpp.2019.07Drug Enforcement Agency.Drug fact sheet: stimulants.

Murray BJ.A practical approach to excessive daytime sleepiness: a focused review.Can Respir J. 2016;2016:4215938. doi:10.1155/2016/4215938

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About sleep.

Staffe AT, Bech MW, Clemmensen SLK, et al.Total sleep deprivation increases pain sensitivity, impairs conditioned pain modulation and facilitates temporal summation of pain in healthy participants.PLoS One.2019;14(12):e0225849. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225849

Fang Y, Liu C, Zhao C, Zhang H, Wang W, Zou N.A study of the effects of different indoor lighting environments on computer work fatigue.Int J Environ Res Public Health.2022;19(11):6866. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116866

Government of Canada.Caffeine in foods.

MedlinePlus.Caffeine.

Caruso C, Baldwin CM, Berger A, et al.Policy brief: nurse fatigue, sleep, and health, and ensuring patient and public safety.Nurs Outlook.2019;67(5):615–9. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2019.08.004

Melrose S.Seasonal affective disorder: an overview of assessment and treatment approaches.Depress Res Treat. 2015;2015:178564. doi:10.1155/2015/178564

Morita Y, Ogawa K, Uchida S.Napping after complex motor learning enhances juggling performance.Sleep Sci. 2016;9(2):112-6. doi:10.1016/j.slsci.2016.04.002

Sleep Foundation.Napping: Benefits and tips.

Gallagher T, You YJ.Falling asleep after a big meal: neuronal regulation of satiety.Worm.2014;3:e27938. doi:10.4161/worm.27938

Sorriento D, Di Vaia E, Iaccarino G.Physical exercise: a novel tool to protect mitochondrial health.Front Physiol.2021;12:660068. doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.660068

Balchin R, Linde J, Blackhurst D, Rauch HL, Schönbächler G.Sweating away depression? The impact of intensive exercise on depression.J Affect Disord. 2016;200:218-221. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.04.030

Abbasi AM, Motamedzade M, Aliabadi M, Golmohammadi R, Tapak L.The impact of indoor air temperature on the executive functions of human brain and the physiological responses of body.Health Promot Perspect.2019;9(1):55–64. doi:10.15171/hpp.2019.07

Drug Enforcement Agency.Drug fact sheet: stimulants.

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