Recently I’ve been working long hours and not getting enough rest. Even though I know better, I’ve just pushed through.

My deadlines were tight and something had to give. Unfortunately it’s been my sleep. 

As sleep wasn’t an option I had to find quick fixes that worked for the short term without being too harmful to my long-term health goals.

Let me share them with you.

• When Sleep Is Not An Option
• The Problems With Not Getting Enough Sleep
• Quick Stay Awake Fixes
• Review
• Be More Productive

When Sleep Is Not An Option

There are times when getting any qualitative sleep is just not possible. Whatever the cause the reduced amount of sleep that we get eventually makes us feel tired.

The best option is to get more sleep. But when we can’t what should we do? 

The Problems With Not Getting Enough Sleep

Not getting enough sleep is a sure fire way to kill your productivity! 

Sleep loss equals loss of productivity:

•  It can make you forgetful
   ZhiweiGuan, XuwenPeng, JidongFang  

• Tiredness can cloud your judgment
  William D.S.Killgore, Ellen T.Kahn-Greene, Erica L.Lipizzi, Rachel A.Newman, Gary H.Kamimori, Thomas J.Balkin
  
• Lack of sleep makes you act stupid or at least impair your brains functioning 
  Michael H. Bonnet

And it seems that more people are willing to concede that tiredness is affecting their productivity at work:

Tiredness and fatigue epidemic is affecting employee work productivity

Quick Stay Awake Fixes

Okay, so what can one do? I found the following tips helpful, but the number one fix is to get more quality sleep and schedule your work priorities appropriately!

• Take a break every 20 – 25 minutes
  Step away from your desk, go for a walk or talk to a colleague.
  
• Work standing up
  if you have a desk that can raise then great. If not, work leaning on a cabinet or raised coffee bar
  
• Use a gadget
  Set the alarm on your smart phone to alert you every so often, or if you have an Apple Watch use an app like V-CAF . It senses when you’re likely to fall asleep and alerts you automatically
  
• Drink coffee or an energy drink
  Just be careful you don’t have too many and stay under the 400mg limit (or 3 to 4 cups of coffee per day)
  
• Drink water
  By keeping your brain hydrated you help reduce the effects of tiredness and increase your ability to focus

Review

Hopefully these tips will help you be more productive when you are feeling tired and have a tight deadline.

Don’t forget:

• Make sure you have a short break every 20-25 minutes
• Work standing up
• Use gadgets and apps like V-CAF to alert you when you’re most likely to fall asleep.
• Don’t drink too much coffee, but have some non the less
• Drink water to help you focus 

Be More Productive

Thank you for reading this article.

But what’s more important is that you take the steps to prioritize organizing your sleep patterns so that you get more qualitative sleep.

In the meantime I hope that you find my suggestions useful.