Unpleasant doesn’t go far enough to describe the feeling of being so tired that you want to sleep, but at the same time also needing to stay awake! It’s such a horrible experience that sleep deprivation is recognised as a form of inhumane treatment:

“/These methods, sometimes termed “disorientation” or “ sensory deprivation“ techniques, were not used in any cases other than the fourteen so indicated above. It emerges from the Commission’s establishment of the facts that the techniques consisted of …wall-standing; hooding; subjection to noise; deprivation of sleep; deprivation of food and drink./

/147. In its report, the Commission expressed the opinion….(iv) unanimously, that the combined use of the five techniques in the cases before it constituted a practice of inhuman treatment and of torture in breach of Article 3 (art. 3); (v) unanimously, that violations of Article 3 (art. 3) occurred by inhuman, and in two cases degrading, treatment”/

Stress and duress, Sensory deprivation techniques comprised torture , Stress and duress – Wikipedia

In an earlier post I questioned why you would want to do this to yourself. One popular reason is because of work or study commitments and in this post I’ll explain a few tips and techniques to help you get through a “must stay awake” session.

Please keep in mind, these are short term solutions and not meant to be used regularly. Many of the techniques suggested can put undue stress on your body and have long term health implications.

• Caffeine – The Go To Stimulant of Choice
• Stimulants
• Alternatives
• Review
• Afterword

Caffeine – The Go To Stimulant of Choice

The most consumed stimulant on plant Earth, caffeine is the clear winner when it comes to consuming something to help us stay awake and alert. Sure there are other stimulants that work, but nothing is as popular and accepted as harmless as caffeine.

Research and personal experiences seem to be in line with this assumption. For example, when I was studying for exams, or had a very tight work schedule, I used caffeine to keep me alert and get me through the tiredness.

In an article for Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, Volume 20 by Andrew P. Smith titled, Caffeine at work, Andrew confirmed that:

“The results from the first study showed that those who consumed higher levels of caffeine reported significantly greater increases in alertness over the working day and a significantly smaller slowing of reaction time. The results from the second study demonstrated significant associations between caffeine consumption and fewer cognitive failures and accidents at work. After controlling for possible confounding factors it was found that higher caffeine consumption was associated with about half the risk of frequent/very frequent cognitive failures and a similar reduction in risk for accidents at work.”
“Overall, the results from the three analyses show that caffeine consumption may have benefits for performance and safety at work”

Smith, A. (2005). Caffeine at work. /Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental,/ /20(6),/ 441-445.

Stimulants

Overextended owner-operators regularly drove up to eighteen hours a day and often were “not out of their clothes for a week at a time.” The Safety Council elaborated on the variety of methods truckers used to stay alert. Beyond the conventional reliance on caffeine in all its forms, commercial haulers turned to seemingly anything smelling or tasting foul enough to jar their exhausted senses

Derickson, Alan. Dangerously Sleepy (p. 114). University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc..

The problem with stimulants is that there can be a tendency to overly rely on them to get us through the tiredness. This in turn leads to us needing bigger dosages to achieve the same wakeful results, to the point where we need the stimulant to just function normally.

And then there’s the fact that consuming caffeine doesn’t actually make you perform better, but does just enough to get through the difficult patches. Combining regular caffeine consumption with sleep deprivation can lead to some dangerous but not unexpected results.

The consequences of this behaviour were always bad. After several days of short sleep, drivers experienced hallucinations. They manifested plain evidence of shift work sleep disorder, nodding off during conversations or while carrying out routine tasks in terminals. One wasted man had the good fortune to have a helper accompanying him to advise him when he tried to park his rig in the middle of the road. Others had worse luck. Numerous collisions involving sleepy haulers came to light. In one case, the operator ignored a crossing signal and drove into the side of a moving train.

Derickson, Alan. Dangerously Sleepy (p. 115). University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Alternatives

What are the alternatives given that most of us at some point will have to work, study or look after someone whilst being extremely tired? If it’s just a short term (one to three days) stretch, then consuming no more than 400mg of caffeine within a 24 hour period can help. But if you want to avoid caffeine then the answer given by a Sailor that took part in a study to examine the factors that influence serving sailors may provide us with a good place to start.

“If I don’t have a good rest at night then I’m going to be groggy and angry… I was actually getting more work done after I actually took a nap or slept. I realised I was making a lot of mistakes (when sleep deprived), too. When we switched to that (napping), my mood got better. My work quality got better”.

Schmied, E.A., Harrison, E.M., Dell’Acqua, R.G., Perez, V.G., Glickman, .G., & Hurtado, S.L. (0020). A Qualitative Examination of Factors That Influence Sleep Among Shipboard Sailors. /Military Medicine,/ /AdvanceArticle,/ 1-1.

• Nap
  Whether you are working late or through the night, or during the day, if you are feeling tired, take a nap. Not only will you feel better but a 20 minute nap can help you be more focussed and productive, boosting the quality of your work.

“Current evidence suggests that taking naps of ~ 20 min decreases the sleep pressure”

Murillo-Rodríguez, E., Yamamoto, T., Monteiro, D., Budde, H., Rocha, N., Cid, L., Teixeira, D., Telles-Correia, D., Veras, A., Machado, S., Imperatori, C., & Torterolo, P. (2020). Assessing the Management of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness by Napping Benefits. /Sleep and Vigilance,/ /4(2),/ 117-123.

• Get up and Move
  Stretch and go for a walk. By getting your heart pumping and body moving you help yourself become more alert compared to just sitting down. To increase the benefit of both your exercise and napping, go for a quick brisk walk then have a 20 minute nap!

“Sleep leads to the enhancement of memory, and physical exercise also improves memory along with beneficial effects on sleep quality…”
“Our results demonstrate that short-term exercise and a nap improve recognition memory over a nap or exercise alone.”

Mograss, .M., Crosetta, .M., Abi-Jaoude, .J., Frolova, .E., Robertson, E.M., Pepin, .V., & Dang-Vu, T.T. (2020). Exercising before a nap benefits memory better than napping or exercising alone. /SLEEP,/ /43(9),/

• Tiredness Indicators
  When tired it can be difficult to acknowledge just how tired you are. The stress of work or study related issues mixed with tiredness can be motivation enough to just plough on until you get what you need to do, done. Unfortunately this can lead to the detriment of the quality of the work that you put out, and may be dangerous. By the time you are reaching for caffeine, it’s already way past when you should have stopped and taken a break. Luckily there are tools like our app V-CAF Stay Awake Stay Alert, that can alert you to when your alertness levels drop so that you can get up and walk before taking a nap. A simple to use Apple Watch app that works with your body to alert you when you’re tired, V-CAF is available on the app store now.

Review

Caffeine works but should not be used to keep you awake for prolonged periods (one to three days at a time only) and you should limit your consumption to between 200mg and 400mg of caffeine per 24 hour period.

When tired, take regular exercise breaks and naps to help relieve the build up of tiredness and to help get a quick boost to your focus and mental abilities.

Track how tired you are and be alerted to take regular breaks rather than just grinding your way through.

But the best tip of all, when you can get as much good quality sleep as possible!

Stay safe ?

Afterword

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago”

Friedrich Nietzsche, source: When We Are Tired, We Are Attacked by Ideas We Conquered Long Ago – Quote Investigator