5 reliable ways to avoid oversleeping at your favorite job

Reasons for falling asleep at work

The list of factors that provoke the desire to sleep at inopportune times is endless, but the main ones are:

• lack of rest;
• a hearty meal at lunchtime;
• peculiar biorhythms;
• nature of the work.

Most often, drowsiness haunts those who get little rest. Today's rhythm of life requires maximum output from a person. In order to get everything done, he usually neglects sleep for current affairs. At first, fatigue doesn’t make itself felt too much. Gradually accumulating in the body, it literally “turns off” a person on the go. People suffering from lack of sleep are irritable, depressed, lack enthusiasm, often get sick and constantly want to sleep.

In most cases, the struggle with sleep in the workplace begins after lunch. By filling our stomach to capacity with nourishing food, we force blood to accumulate in the stomach to digest what we eat and transport nutrients. At the same time, blood flows away from the brain, it receives less oxygen, and therefore tends to go into hibernation.

Whether you know about your biorhythms or not, they still work. Research shows that a person experiences the highest rise in activity in the morning, from approximately 10:00 to 12:00, and from 13:00 to 16:00 there is an intense decline in activity. Therefore, it is after lunch that employees are usually prone to sleep attacks. But by the end of the working day their enthusiasm returns.

The more convenient the working conditions, the more monotonous it is, the harder it is to fight the surging drowsiness. Sometimes the atmosphere of activity is so comfortable that you want to sleep at the mere thought of a warm office.

What to do to stay awake

In order for drowsiness to recede, you need to strengthen your body by feeding vitality with vitamin and mineral complexes. Be in the fresh air more often, eat right. Short-term drowsiness can be eliminated by the following actions:

• Touch your earlobes with your hands, squeeze them lightly and massage until you feel a rush of blood. Drowsiness will subside for about half an hour, after which the massage of the earlobes can be repeated.
• To avoid falling asleep, you need to rub your ears. Friction improves blood circulation, relieves fatigue, and accordingly drives away sleep.
• An “empty” stomach will help you last the whole night without sleep. Satiety provokes relaxation, the desire to lie down, but hunger, on the contrary, the need to eat, which means the functions of the brain are activated on this issue, and you don’t want to sleep for a while.
• Drinking tonic drinks - coffee, tea - will satisfy your hunger and make you stay awake for a while, especially if you add a bar of dark chocolate to your tea. Hot homemade decoctions made with ginseng, chamomile, and licorice can help you cheer up. Stores sell special energy drinks for such purposes, but you should often not drink them.
• A cold, contrast shower will quickly cheer up any sleepyhead.
• In order not to fall asleep, you need to ventilate the room you are in, go out into the fresh air, but just don’t smoke, and then don’t lie down under the blanket if you’re slightly chilled.
• When performing sedentary work, for example, working at a computer, a device, or driving a car, you need to periodically, every 1.5 hours, at least for a quarter of an hour, stop the monotonous activity, get up, stretch your back and limbs.
• When performing active activities, for example, you urgently need to finish a stand with photographs, clean the room, so as not to fall asleep, turn on a movie or music.
• Washing with cold water will help you cheer up, and you can also brush your teeth.
• For those who work the night shift, in order not to fall asleep at work, it is advisable to talk to someone; it is good when there are colleagues nearby.
• Crack the seeds, eat walnuts.
• Chew menthol-based gum.
• Quickly rub your knees with sharp movements and massage the back of your head.
• It is believed that drinking plenty of regular running water helps relieve sleepiness. But drinking hot water completely activates the digestive system, awakening the body.
• Inhaling the aromas of aromatic products can invigorate you by activating your sense of smell. So, before removing dust and washing the floor, drops of rosemary, eucalyptus, and pine aroma oils are added to the water. You can spray a small amount onto the table lamp itself; when heated, the substance will gradually spread throughout the room. For the same purpose, you can smell coffee, horseradish, ginger, adjika, and hot pepper.
• To stay awake at night, it is recommended to drink mineral water, adding a small slice of lemon and a tablespoon of honey. They also drink hawthorn with soda, succinic acid with coffee.

It is believed that it is especially difficult not to fall asleep from three to six in the morning. During this period, the body simply becomes exhausted, the brain literally simply turns off for a split second. Therefore, in order to maintain a state of wakefulness, you need to resort to each method in turn that prevents you from falling asleep.

How to overcome sleepiness

Having understood the causes of sleep attacks at inopportune times, you can look for ways to get rid of them. “Grocery” tips:

Try to have a light lunch and a light snack. Instead of one solid meal, it is better to have several light snacks throughout the day. This way you won’t overload your stomach, your body will always have enough nutrients for normal brain function, and a slight feeling of hunger will have a tonic effect.

Add an invigorating drink. This could be coffee, tea and, in extreme cases, energy drinks. For toning, coffee is usually used, which is praised for its invigorating caffeine. However, there is a lot of it in green tea, which increases activity for about two hours. You can enhance the effect by adding jasmine to the drink. Many people drink energy drinks. They have a prolonged effect - up to five hours.

But we must remember that energy drinks should not be drunk regularly, should not exceed the recommended dose, and should not be taken for certain diseases: high blood pressure, heart problems and other disorders.

Garlic is a great invigorator. Three to four hours after eating a few slices of the vegetable, you definitely won’t want to sleep. The fact is that the enzymes present in it stimulate the heart, which more actively pumps blood. The only drawback of this method is the specific aroma that lasts for a long time after eating garlic. Therefore, if you work with people, in a team, you should abandon it.

What if you are late for work?

First of all, don't panic. Chaotic actions will only add turmoil to an already hectic morning. Your main task now is to get to your duty station as quickly as possible. If possible, call someone on your staff whom you trust and let them know you will be late.

If you are on good terms with your boss and if you have a plausible excuse prepared, you can call your boss personally. If not, then it’s probably not worth doing this way. Your lame excuses may make him even angrier.

Secondly, you must look presentable, that is, no matter how late you are, you will have to devote time to your appearance. This will work to your advantage when you have to explain yourself to your superiors. A neat appearance will make a more favorable impression than a hairstyle a la “I fell out of the hayloft...”.

If you are a girl, then the minimum you need to do is wash your face and comb your hair; you always have your makeup bag with you. If you are a man, then you can add to this the procedure of getting rid of facial hair. In extreme cases, you can take shaving accessories with you. Don't forget to brush your teeth. Fresh breath makes it easier to understand! Don't waste time preparing and eating food if you are used to having breakfast in the morning. Unfortunately, now you cannot even afford a cup of coffee. It's not the time to think about food when you're about to get fired.

If you need to get to your place of work by public transport, then it is better to prefer a taxi. You will lose a little money, but you will save time, and your quick appearance, again, will work in your favor. And finally, a few words about your “true” explanations. Do not complain about your own forgetfulness under any circumstances, please do not tell that you overslept, even if this is the case. This is an extremely negative version of explanation, incriminating you of disorganization and irresponsibility (read incompetence). Guess what they do with incompetent employees.

Upon arrival, do not wait until you are “called on the carpet”; go to the boss yourself and apologize for being late. Never be afraid to personally explain yourself to your superiors. The boss is a living person like you, he also has his own personal and work problems and obligations, and perhaps he doesn’t like communicating with you either. Understand this.

Behave in a reserved but confident manner. Remember, you are not lazy - you are a victim of circumstances. Do not enter into conflict under any circumstances, even if you are provoked, remember who is in charge here and who, in the end, has the last word. Of course, you can object if you are openly insulted and such treatment, in your opinion, degrades your human dignity.

Options for excuses can be divided into two types: excuses relating to problems that arose along the home-work route and problems that arose at home. The first type includes “excuses” such as: 1) The trolleybus (tram, bus) broke down. Very plausible, but the delay time should preferably correspond to the waiting time for the next trolleybus. 2) Traffic jams. Suitable if your boss does not take the same route to work. 3) Emergency. You had an accident, you were detained by the police (because you fit the description of the identikit), you were robbed, etc.

The second type of “excuses” is like: a pipe burst in the bathroom (unexpectedly in the morning), drunken neighbors started a fire, etc., for which your imagination is enough. But at the same time, you must look as if this really happened to you, otherwise they won’t believe it.

You should not cite the breakdown of the alarm clock (read the “overslept” clause) and the illness (death) of relatives or friends as the reason for being late, if this is not actually the case. You shouldn’t joke about their health, because it’s almost your own health.

In general, the ends justify the means if your lie is innocent enough, but at the same time, what happened gives you a good reason for being late. The main thing is not to abuse it!

Tags: being late, work, time management

What helps with sleep. 8 ways to get rid of sleepiness

1. Charging. Light physical activity after sleep will help you restore your ability to concentrate and improve your attention. If you feel sleepy after work, but still have to drive home, run up the stairs a couple of times or take a few walking circles around the parking lot. It will be easier to concentrate on driving, and you will get a better night's sleep.

2. Change of schedule. Drowsiness may be the result of a mismatch between your routine and your biorhythms. Perhaps, waking up half an hour later or 20 minutes earlier, you will feel much better - because you will fall into the rapid phase of sleep, when the body's functions are already fully activated. Try to “catch” this ideal time for yourself and adjust your schedule to it. You can, for example, go to bed early or agree with your boss to shift the work day forward by half an hour.

3. Light. As soon as you wake up, immediately turn on the light in the room - no matter how much you want to sit in semi-darkness and not injure your eyes. Don’t worry: your eyes will quickly get used to it, but the light will help your brain recover from sleep faster and concentrate better. To make the effect last throughout the working day, try to use the last sunny days of autumn and walk more in the morning.

4. Sleep breaks. In Japan, many large companies have established special break rooms. These are small, dark, soundproof rooms where anyone can sit in a chair and sleep, and after 45 minutes the chair will wake him up with a slight vibration. In this way, hard-working Japanese extend their working capacity by 3-4 hours. This benefit of civilization has not yet reached us, but you can arrange sleep breaks for yourself. Even a 15-minute nap can help you feel fresher and more alert. If privacy at work is not possible, try taking a nap in public transport on the way to work.

5. Tea and coffee. These are the most common and least safe sleep-inhibiting drinks. But it’s better not to overdo it with them. Drink a cup of strong green tea when you feel like you can't handle it at all. And so, 3-4 cups of regular black tea is quite enough to maintain a normal state all day long.

6. Video

player. Many people sacrifice sleep for evening and late-night television series. If you really want to know all the details of the fate of your favorite characters, any series can now be bought on DVD, CD or downloaded on the Internet. As a last resort, you can buy a video player or VCR and record your favorite show, and watch the recording in the morning during breakfast.

7. Smell. Some strong odors have a similar effect on our body as a cup of coffee. The smell of lemon and any other citrus, according to scientists, promotes better concentration and speeds up the thinking process. And the smell of coffee itself (without ingestion) is very invigorating. So if you don’t want to ruin your teeth or are afraid of a heart attack, you don’t have to drink coffee, just smell it.

8. Visit to the doctor. If drowsiness persists for more than 3 weeks, it’s time to think about visiting a specialist. Perhaps it’s just stress or vitamin deficiency, or perhaps chronic sleep disorders. For example, narcolepsy is when a person can fall asleep at absolutely any moment, even while at the peak of activity. Or the so-called sleep suffocation - cessation of breathing during sleep, often unnoticeable for a person, but greatly spoiling the quality of his rest.

Read about how to combat drowsiness and improve attention while driving HERE.

Why do you want to sleep at work?

ABOUT! The answer to this question is so simple and obvious that you won't like it! If you want to sleep and have no energy at work, then this is a signal that you don’t want to work!

Here are some reasons for not wanting to work:

• laziness;
• don't like what you do;
• boring;
• not interested;
• You can’t stand the team, the management, or the company’s field of activity.

Have you ever been in a situation where you did something quickly, energetically and with enthusiasm? This was because you liked the activity.