How to cope with a sleepless night and the day after it

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Who likes to go sleepy? Nobody. But you have to. All night long, you can study tickets for the exam, finish the project, wait for boarding a delayed flight at the airport. This must be experienced. How - read this article.

No one denies that even a small shortage negatively affects the body. Mood deteriorates, the brain works slower, metabolic processes are disrupted, the risk of obesity and diabetes increases. Unfortunately, no amount of fighting spirit will help you make the right decisions if you don't get enough sleep. Even stimulants like coffee won't make you think better.

But you can prepare yourself for the night's wakefulness as well as possible. How to stay awake and survive the night away from bed and recover as soon as possible? So…

How to get over a sleepless night

1. Try to get enough sleep for the future

It is not always possible to plan a sleepless night, but if you guess that you will have to suffer, prepare the body for the load. If you already sleep a little, and then do not sleep at all, the negative effects of such a regime will only accumulate.

But if you usually stick to the regimen and rest within the normal range, from seven to nine hours, then one sleepless night will not hurt. And if you sleep longer for a few days before the night marathon, then the consequences for the body will be minimal.

2. Take a little nap

Yes, the article is just about how to stay awake. But sometimes 20 minutes is better than nothing. If you can get some rest, it is better to give preference to a short nap.

Two problems. The first is the risk of sleeping longer. The second, just as serious, is the inability to fall asleep. Well, how to interrupt for 20 minutes if your head is full of chores, tasks, tickets? Lie on the floor in the Shavasana yoga pose. Even if you are not a fan of meditation and other things, just lie down on a flat hard surface, spread your arms and legs to the sides, set the alarm (20 minutes!), And then relax your muscles one by one, starting from the toes to the crown of the head. Consciously, forcing yourself to be completely liberated. It will take two minutes for such a relaxation. Another 18 you will either sleep, or at least just rest.

If possible, sleep for an hour or an hour and a half. This will wake you up after REM sleep and feel refreshed.

3. Turn on the light

We need darkness for the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. If you don't want to fall asleep, add light. For example, a light source located near the eyes (table lamp, monitor) will activate the brain.

4. Ventilate

We sleep better when the room is cool, that is, the temperature is kept at about 18 ° C. If you want to be cheerful, the room should be neither warm nor cold. 23-24 ° C is the temperature at which you will not get sleepy.

5. Take a cool shower

Sometimes the thought of getting into cold water wakes you up. It is necessary, it is necessary to wash (at least) if an invigorating shower causes panic. The action of the method is short-term: there will be enough charge for half an hour or an hour, then you will have to go through the procedure again. But remember that she is.

Replace your face wash and shower with ice cream or popsicles. No more than once a night, so as not to conflict with the next paragraph.

6. Avoid sweets in favor of normal food

The candy will respond with irresistible fatigue in a few hours. Sweets will not help to retain energy: sugar will sharply raise the level of energy, and then the forces will leave you just as abruptly.

Better to eat foods that provide you with energy for a long time. For example, light foods high in protein. What kind of food is it? Nuts. Eggs. Again nuts. Eat it with vegetables and fruits.

Don't put anything heavy and greasy on your plate, temporarily forget about fried chicken legs and hamburgers. And instead of having a full meal once, snack in small portions throughout the night to keep you energized all the time.

7. Drink coffee, but in small portions

Coffee, of course, is a stimulant, but the dose of caffeine should not be exceeded.

A couple of liters of coffee invigorates just like a couple of cups, it's not just the quantity. The main thing is not to drink the entire dose of coffee at once.

When there is a night without sleep ahead, you need to focus on tasks. Drinking more than two cups at once will overexcite the nervous system and lose concentration.

Therefore, when you start to get tired, slowly drink a cup or two, it is better to chew something while doing it. Then, after four hours, you can go for a coffee supplement.

When your coffee quota (which is four cups a day) has already been reached, switch to water. With sufficient fluid supply to the body, each cell works better, and it is much easier to focus on work.

There are also folk remedies for cheerfulness. For example, tincture of eleutherococcus or ginseng. Add them to tea (in therapeutic doses!), They are natural tonics that will help fire up the brain and make it work.

8. Better to chew

Chewing gum increases activity and may even improve brain performance. Help yourself and choose peppermint gum. Peppermint promotes brain activity and its aroma improves memory.

By the way, about smells. Essential oils of mandarin, lemon, orange, rosemary also invigorate. Do not like flavors and oils - just seize your sleep with oranges, or better - a fruit dessert with citrus and mint.

9. Get up and walk

Take a short break every 45 minutes for a short walk. If you drink a lot, as advised above, then you will have to constantly go to the toilet, so use the forced break to walk a little more.

This is especially important if you work all night at the computer. From time to time, do the well-known exercise: take your eyes off the screen and focus on a distant point.

Instead of doing a little warm-up, do a massage. A full body massage will turn you off, but it is better to stretch individual points. Neck, ears, head, fingers - restore blood circulation in these areas to make it easier to think and move.

10. Pick an active background music

Save nature sounds, mantras, lullabies and romantic music until the next day. Tracks that are too monotonous, even sharp and loud, will also not help to keep cheerful. Create a dynamic playlist to dance to. At three o'clock in the morning over the synopsis there will be no time for entertainment, but he will not be able to sleep either.

11. Make it inconvenient

Sit in an uncomfortable chair. Straighten your back, attach gadgets and set reminders. Just no chairs, sofas and soft pillows. Stools, flat floor - these are your workplaces. Keep your body toned so your brain doesn't relax either.

12. Find vivid impressions

When a sleepy veil covers your eyes, you need to wake yourself up with an emotional bomb. Talk to someone whose views are obviously opposite to yours, and on the most sensitive topic (you can arrange a discussion in the comments). Open a link to a resource that you truly hate. The task is not to get carried away and not to prove to the opponent that you are right by all means, but simply to get a dose of adrenaline and open your eyes wider.

How to survive the next day

All attempts to artificially add vigor can only be a temporary measure.

You do not add more resources to yourself when you pour energy into the jar. You are simply helping the body burn its own fuel by working two or three shifts in a row.

Therefore, throw all your strength into recovery.

1. Do not drive

Research suggests that a sleepy driver is no better than a drunk driver. So if you have a sleepless night on your schedule, get someone to give you a lift to work or take public transport. Until you get at least four hours of sleep in a row - no driving.

2. Be patient until evening

If you do not want to destroy the normal regime, do not go to bed during the day. Otherwise, you risk falling asleep so much that you will only open your eyes in the evening. And then it will be much more difficult to return to a normal schedule. If you sleep, then at night: 20, 60, 90 minutes. Not more.

3. Set aside coffee for later

When your hands reach for a can of coffee and energy drinks, resist. Even if you drink coffee six hours before bedtime, caffeine interferes with rest. In the morning, you need to drink a couple of cups, but after 4:00 pm, tie up with trips to the coffee machine. Otherwise, despite your nightly adventures, you will sleep poorly.

4. Give up multitasking

Better to pick two tasks and work on them one at a time. When you feel that you no longer understand what you are doing, take a break, and then sit down to another task. Don't do them at the same time - your brain just can't do it fast enough. But he also cannot be busy with routine work. The same actions will pull you into sleep, and a new task will activate your thought processes. Leave yourself room to maneuver to keep your thoughts in good shape.

5. Keep drinking and eating vegetables

Yes, yes, yes, drink water! We are aware that this is the most popular advice when it comes to health. Well, follow it at last.:)

If we don't get enough sleep, we are drawn to high-calorie foods and eat more often than usual, although physical activity is reduced. Therefore, by the way, regular lack of sleep with a high body mass index.

Eating right is especially important when you're not doing well with the rest of your regimen.

The way out is to crunch vegetables and fruits, nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants will protect cells until you can provide them with normal recovery.

6. You need to do at least some exercises

It is better to pull iron on another day, as well as to run many kilometers of distance. But they will help to get through a difficult day and disperse sleep. Well, after light exercise, even an overworked brain will sleep better.

7. Eat little. And don't drink

A tired brain will crave pleasures, and the easiest way to get them is in food. The dangers of overeating have been known for a long time, so you will only feel overwhelming fatigue if you eat an extra bite.

And advice from the cap: don't drink anything alcoholic. Lack of sleep + alcohol = disaster.

Scientists have long known that alcohol in general has a detrimental effect on sleep, so if you want to recover from yesterday's night run, even a glass of wine will be superfluous.

8. Break your schedule and sleep more

Even if you are chronically sleep deprived, you can improve your condition by sleeping for 10 hours in a row. This sleep will help you regain your motor skills, and you will feel much better in the morning.

Outcomes

So, if you need to survive a sleepless night, remember that the body will not be ecstatic. This means that in other areas you need to take care of your health: proper nutrition, sufficient amount of liquid (and not alcohol), both at night and the next day. Plan for an opportunity to recover and take breaks from work.

Nothing will happen to you from one such night, of course. Maximum - you will be annoyed for a couple of days.

But chronic lack of sleep affects health, but that's another story.