Sleep is essential for your body and mind. They need rest after a tiring day. However, there are times when you need to stay awake, especially when your exams are going on or when you’re working on a project with a sharp deadline. Your exams and clients won’t care if you’re awake at night. All they need is productive results. That’s all. But, how can you stay awake all night? In this post, we will try to find out the answers.
How to stay awake all night
Here are the 12 tips from experts that can help you stay unsleeping at night, study your lessons, finish your client’s projects, and be well-prepared for the next day.
- Have caffeine: Caffeine helps you stay alert and enhances your thinking power. It helps to fight a few sleep hormones that your body releases every day. These hormones make you drowsy and sleepy. Caffeine fights with those substances on your behalf and helps you to feel less sleepy at night.
According to studies, moderate consumption of coffee helps to increase your analytical power and the capacity to complete various tasks. If you wish to stay awake at night while preventing mental fatigue, then have 2-3 cups of coffee at night. You shouldn’t consume more than 400 mg of coffee per day as that may lead to stress, anxiety, and stomach upset.
Avoid mixing coffee with alcohol. It’s a deadly combination, and it hurts your body. Avoid taking coffee tablets too as they usually have a high dosage of caffeine.
- Take short naps if possible: Short naps or power naps help you to stay alert and improve your concentration. It helps you to focus on your study and work. Take short naps for 15-20 minutes during the night. Although they are not as effective as a full night’s sleep, they can help to kill your drowsiness.
- Prepare notes on your laptop: Computers, televisions, laptops, tablets, and smartphones emit a blue light that postpones the secretion of melatonin. Hence, you don’t feel sleepy and can stay unsleeping for a long time. Try preparing notes or PowerPoint presentations on your laptop or computer. The blue light will help you to be on alert mode.
- Take several short breaks: Remember, your eyes and mind are working throughout the day and night. They are working 24*7. You should pity them and give them short breaks. Drink lots of water throughout the night. It helps to keep your body hydrated, focus on your study, and finish your client’s assignments. Most importantly, it helps you to have frequent bathroom breaks at night. Those breaks are small but quite effective. They help to give some rest to your eyes and mind.
Take several short breaks at night. If you’re working on a computer, then look at the wall for a few minutes. This will help to relax your eye muscles.
- Turn on all the lights: Darkness triggers melatonin, a hormone that makes you feel sleepy. Bright lights help to remove darkness from your room and keep melatonin levels under control. If you wish to stay awake at night, then turn on all the lights in your room. This is a very important tip for all the people who work in quite environment or night-shift and students who have to study at night.
- Exercise for 30 to 40 minutes: Exercise helps you stay fit and improves your mood. It helps your body to release toxins and produce a lot of energy. This helps you to stay unsleeping at night. If you want to finish assignments at night, then exercise for 30-40 minutes before settling down with pen and paper. If you don’t like to exercise, then go for a walk for 10 minutes. You can also roam around your room for a few minutes.
- Eat good food at night: Junk foods make you fat, lethargic, and sleepy. So, you need to reduce your consumption of junk foods and sugar. They make you feel drowsy. Try to avoid eating rice at your dinner. This is a big no-no.
Have lean protein as it helps to keep you energetic for a long time. Other than that, I have soups, salads, fresh vegetables, fruits, peanut butter, etc.
Don’t have a heavy meal at your dinner. Don’t eat fattening foods. Have healthy snacks throughout the night, especially when you’re drinking coffee. That would lead to a gradual injection of caffeine into your body.
- Maintain a moderate temperature: Adjust your room temperature before working on any assignment. The room temperature should neither be too hot nor too cold. Maintain a moderate room temperature so that your body can be on alert.
- Take a shower at night: Staying wakeful at night is not easy. After all, you’re working against your body clock. So, you have to do various activities to stay alert at night. Taking a lukewarm or cold shower at night helps you to come back to your senses. If you have water problems in your bathroom or you don’t like to have a shower, then splash cold water on your face every hour. Brush your teeth with a good toothpaste to feel fresh before going through your assignments.
- Sleep during the day: This tip is specifically for people who work night shifts. If you work the night shift, then you have to re-adjust your sleeping cycle. There is no other way out.
Sleep during the day so that you feel refreshed and can focus on your work. Initially, it will be hard for you to sleep during the day. However, as you stay wakeful at night, you’re bound to feel sleepy the next day. So, it wouldn’t be that tough to sleep for 8 hours during the day. Use eye masks if you find it too tough to sleep during the day.
- Chewing gum: Not many people know the health benefits of chewing gum. They help you to stay wakeful and keep your mind productive at work. Buy your favorite flavor of chewing gum and put it in your mouth when you feel drowsy.
- Don’t drink alcohol: Alcohol puts you in a state of trance. Your mind stops working after drinking alcohol. Save it for your post-work celebration. Other than alcohol, try to avoid having energy drinks at night as they contain a good amount of caffeine. The biggest problem is no one knows how much caffeine is in the energy drink, which can be fatal for your health. If you’re already having 2-3 cups of coffee, then make sure you stay away from both energy drinks and alcohol. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. Dehydration makes you fatigued and sleepy.
Hopefully, the aforementioned tips have helped you understand how to stay awake all night. In the next sections, you’ll understand how to stay wakeful at work, how to stay unsleeping in class, how to stay awake while driving, and how to prevent mental fatigue the next day.
2 Tips on preventing mental fatigue the next day
Sleep deprivation is extremely bad for your mental health. It hinders your decision making power, makes you impatient, creates massive mood swings, leads to short-term memory loss and mental fatigue. Moreover, you tend to be groggy after staying awake the whole night. You have to do something to balance your studies, work, and mental health. Here are a few tips on preventing mental fatigue the next day.
- Ask your friend to drop you off at work or school: Don’t drive to work. If you have been awake the whole night, then chances are high that you’ll feel drowsy during the next day. Your brain will be completely drained out in the morning. Ask your friend or a colleague to drop you off at work. If you’re a student, then ask your dad to drop you off at school. It’s better if you don’t travel alone the next day. Take a power nap in the cab if possible. It’ll help to prevent mental fatigue.
- Have a balanced diet with lots of veggies: Studies show that sleep deprivation leads to obesity, especially among young adults. People feel like having comfort foods the next day and end up eating a lot of things that are not good for the body and mind. Sometimes, they tend to overeat and increase their body mass index. Moreover, junk food is extremely bad for mental health. They lead to depression and anxiety.
Doctors recommend people (students who study at night and adults who work night shifts) to have a balanced diet every day. They should look for ways to lose weight and stay healthy. They should include lean proteins, fresh fruits, and vegetables to keep their mind and body happy.
Berries, walnuts, leafy greens, salmon fish, yogurt, lentils, etc. are good for mental health. So, people can have that. Another good option is foods that have good quantities of omega-3 fatty acids.
How to stay awake at work the next day
It’s quite obvious that you’ll feel sleepy at work after a tiring night. However, your boss won’t understand your problem. So, you have to do something to stay awake at work the next day. Here are a few tips to help you.
- Go for a short walk before going to your workspace. Fresh air can do wonders for your body and exhausted mind.
- Take a power nap during your lunch break to recharge your batteries.
- Drink lots of water to stay hydrated and concentrate on your projects.
- Roam around your workspace. Keep your body active to keep sleep at bay.
- Eat healthy snacks throughout the day. For example, fruits, nuts, cheese, etc.
How to stay awake in the classroom
Students find it tough to stay awake in the classroom after an exhaustive night. They find it very difficult to keep their eyes open in class. However, they have to stay awake somehow. Here’s all steps:
- Take a shower in the morning with a good shower gel to feel fresh. It would be better if you opt for a citrus shower gel.
- Drink cold water and eat fruits to reduce your mental fatigue.
- Open the windows of the classroom so that a fresh breeze can help to stay active.
- Have chewing gum to stay alert.
- Go to the bathroom and the playground during breaks to discard sleepiness.
How to stay awake while driving
It’s best to not drive after a sleepless night. However, if you have no other option, then here’s how to stay awake while driving.
- Listen to good music to calm your nerves and stay alert.
- Ask somebody to accompany you while you’re driving.
- Take a short nap before you sit on the driver’s seat.
- Take short breaks if you’re going for a long road trip.
- Open the windows so that cool breeze can help you to stay alert.
Final notes
When you stay awake at night, you have to take extra steps to take care of your physical and mental health. You have to do everything to prevent mental fatigue the next day. Staying awake at night won’t be of any use if you end up sleeping during an important meeting at work or in a classroom. You have to find out ways to make up for the lost sleep in the next few days. Here are a few sleep tips and tricks that can be useful for you