How do YOU stay awake at work or in class?

[Rush]

So I think I've taken on more than I'm capable of handling for the next few weeks. Maybe.

I'm taking a summer semester at a campus a half hour away from home -- a Calculus course that lasts five weeks. Obviously, it's a very intense course, and it requires at least four hours worth of studying each night. The class itself lasts for 2.5 hours, Monday - Friday.

I'm working an internship at a TV station that's a half hour away from home -- but I work psychotic hours. At least three days a week (usually more), I have to wake up at 2am to be into the studio at 3:30am. Why? I'm a meteorology intern. And when the first newscast is at 5am, you need enough time to analyze all the weather data that came in overnight, design and create all the needed graphics for all the morning newscasts, update the various aspects of the station's website, blah-blah-blah. It's a lot of work. Some days, I have to be up at midnight to get to the station a couple hours early, cause they need me.

And of course, I'm also working my 'regular' job as a server during the evenings, usually only on weekends.

So my schedule usually goes: wake up at 2am, internship from 3:30am - 9am, Calculus from 10am - 12:30pm, study-homework-study, waitress if scheduled, eventually collapse in bed.

I'm lucky if I get 4 hours of sleep a night. By the time last Friday rolled around, I felt like I got run over by a bus.

So what the hell do you guys do to keep yourself awake when you're dead tired? I'm talking beyond the obvious solutions of coffee and energy drinks. Are there any kind of foods (that aren't loaded with sugar) that are stimulants? Should I be concentrating on eating more carbs to store up energy?

[doug]

I still try to get out as much as possible at night with a full time job which leads to mornings sneaking up on me.. what I usually do is just drink a cup of black coffee when i get to the office with some fruit (natural sugars) and im wide awake. if i put sugar in the coffee, i get jittery.. and if i do cream or anything like that I just get a stomach ache.. black is the way to go, gets in your system real fast..

[InLoveWithBoost]

by doing what i am doing now.. sitting on my computer lol

[natethegreatt]

caffeine sucks for class

get a multivitamin
or b-complex
or 5 hour energy

[jcr557]

the answer is (5 hour energy drink) that wawa sells.
atleast you get 4 hours.
i use to work overnight at shop rite from 11pm-730am, then had class from 9 till 3, of course with little break here and there and then 4 to 10 work and then work again at shop rite and did that for 2 semesters. so yea give those energy drinks a try.

[Bauer]

I am kind of in the same boat except I can typically manage 6 hours of sleep. Staying awake in class is pretty hard. My class is at night though. I really don't do anything different as to what I eat or anything. I hate coffee so that's out. It's just hope to stay awake. (I also have an advanced calculus class right now)

At work on the other hand, I can't fall asleep. I am on my feet moving all day although I would love to find a corner to hide in every now and then. I do sleep through my lunch break everyday!

Good luck with calc, I personally hate it.

-Bauer

[ScubaSteve]

Four hours of studying for Calc? Which level is it if you don't mind me asking? Exercise always helps me stay awake and alert for class. Caffeine and energy drinks distract me too much but exercise always wakes me up and allows me to think clearly. It's easy for me though because I bike to class every morning.

[Rush]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

Four hours of studying for Calc? Which level is it if you don't mind me asking?

My major requires three calculus courses -- this is the third one, thank God. I don't think I can take much more of it, I almost set my book on fire last semester. We're onto stuff with three dimensional vectors and dot products and cross products with matrices and curvature and myeeeegh. No idea what's coming later in the course, though -- I can't even think that far ahead.

The real kicker is the fact that it's a 4-credit course shoved into a 5-week period. It's a LOT of work, and major information overload. I just had my sixth day of class -- and we've already had graded homework assignments every night and two quizzes, and our first exam is tomorrow morning.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by Rush

My major requires three calculus courses -- this is the third one, thank God. I don't think I can take much more of it, I almost set my book on fire last semester. We're onto stuff with three dimensional vectors and dot products and cross products with matrices and curvature and myeeeegh. No idea what's coming later in the course, though -- I can't even think that far ahead.

The real kicker is the fact that it's a 4-credit course shoved into a 5-week period. It's a LOT of work, and major information overload. I just had my sixth day of class -- and we've already had graded homework assignments every night and two quizzes, and our first exam is tomorrow morning.

Yeah summer classes are a pita that way. Calc III is only the beginning of my math courses though lol. Calc tends to be my easy class because my other classes are all calc based so I need to know it and apply it. Believe it or not most people enjoy calc III up until the end of the semester when it gets crazy.

[Rush]

^^ Yep, I don't really think the material is all that difficult. It's just that it's SO much of it SO fast. That's the killer.

Just got word today that there's at least another two days coming up that I have to drag my ass out of bed for work at midnight, instead of 2am. And y'know what -- it's funny how those two hours seem to make all the difference in the world. You wouldn't think there'd be a HUGE difference between getting 4 hours of sleep versus getting 2 .. but there definitely is, at least for me.

The one bonus of being so exhausted all the time, is that I didn't get my usual 'just before exam time' jitters when I took my Calculus test today. I was basically like -- just give me the ****ing thing, I'm past the point of caring.

I'm really not one to take a ton of pills and/or energy drinks. I mean, if I drink too much coffee, I get really high strung and feel like I'm going to have a heart attack, and thinking becomes even more difficult rather than easier. I don't even want to know how I'd react to pills.

[Renegade_]

Originally Posted by Rush

I don't even want to know how I'd react to pills.

You don't get things like adderall or something to use all the time, you use it on days when you have like 2 hours of restless sleep to get you out the door. The rest is coffee and stoking yourself out to get some adrenaline going... Thats usually how I augment it.

Usually I tell myself to just stay the **** awake, get my **** done quick so I can go home and crash and I usually sleep better after that since I waste energy I don't have haha

[DPancoast]

I do drugs.

nah Im joking. I just eat and take breaks

[TROLL]

Maybe you should get off of TST and get back to work!

I agree with the exercise thing... a half hour of being active a day should give you more energy actually, get the blood flowing. Or the other thing I was thinking about is, can you cut even one shift a week off of work temporarily? Your sugardaddy can give you some money if you need it...

Stay tough though... temporary situation and you'll get through it.

[4DR_DB7]

I gave in... beginning about Soph year of high school, I just openly slept in class. Not blatantly like snoring and stuff, but I would just put a book on my desk, tilt my head down so as to avert my eyes and close them and doze off.... made it thru college that way too! lol.

Now, I'm a manager.... and I still occasionally doze off at my desk. haha.

you just need to get more sleep at night probably... i know thats the deal in my case. I just don't want to get more sleep. I'll sleep when I'm dead.

[97TurboDSM]

vitamin b, as much as you can find. complex carbs also for energy. i think once you get accustomed to your schedule life will be much easier. when i was working 16hr days in a huge, non-air conditioned warehouse it took a week or two for my body to get used to the pounding it took day in and day out. just make sure to keep your schedule consistent and you should be fine.

PS. move to lancaster

[lexii.]

I tried a 5 hour energy shot for the first time the other day, and they actually work. When my class/work schedules get overloaded, I normally eat peanuts, they seem to keep me awake. Lol, and I also drink alot of water. It's hard to sleep when you have to pee. =) Plus, a venti ice water at starbucks is free. Aha

[c0nfl1kt]

Exercise(run at least 2 miles and lots of small repetitions of hill climbs) and eat big meals full of vegetables, protein and at least one big ass potatoe.

[Omar_MSP]

eating plenty of iron and having multi-vitamins over time help you concentrate. good luck buddy!

[KrautFed20V]

I get usually ~ 2.5 hours of sleep a night, I eat fruit, and stuff high in sugars, also to "get me up in the morning" i usually take excedrin (helps my ankle pain as well) and drink a 24 oz coffee. Multivitamins help, as well as exercise. At least you know you won't be doing it for long. I may be doing this for quite a few more years.

[Vypurr]

I feel bad for everyone here. If I don't get atleast 6+ hours of sleep each night I get cranky! lol