10 Steps to Stay Awake at Night [and] 10 Reasons Why You Can't Sleep

How to Stay Awake at Night
http://www.wikihow.com/Stay-Awake-at-Night

• 256,903 views
• 37 Editors
• Edited yesterday

Two Parts:Preparing to Stay AwakeStaying Awake at Night

Do you ever wish that you had more time to do the things that are important, but there just aren't enough hours in the day? You could hypothetically stay up all night working, but staying alert and diligent during the dark hours is difficult. See step 1 to get started planning your all-nighter.

Preparing to Stay Awake

1. 
   1
   Take a nap beforehand. If you know you're going to be up all night, then grab a nap in the afternoon. You will want to make sure that you don't sleep for too long and that you don't nap too close to when you would normally go to bed (try to take the nap 6 or 7 hours before your usual bedtime).^[1]
   • A half hour nap is good for jump-starting your system. If you go too much over that, you'll get into a deeper sleep and will feel groggier when you wake up. If you go too much under that you won't get enough sleep to help.
   • An hour and a half nap can help make up for lost sleep, in that you usually get through one sleep cycle in that amount of time so it can help you feel less sleepy, especially if you've been pulling a lot of all-nighters.
2. 
   2
   Get some sun. Daylight (and sunlight) influence our circadian rhythms (which govern our sleep-wake cycles). So, before you pull that all-night event, spend at least 30 minutes outside in the sun and in the daylight. This (and the fresh air) will help keep your sense revitalized.
3. 
   3
   Drink lots of water. Dehydration can make you feel sleepy and cause you to be tired. Combat this early, before the night sets in, by drinking lots of water. It's especially important if you're going to be drinking coffee, because coffee can aggravate your dehydration, which will make you crash harder.
4. 
   4
   Grab a friend. You'll stay awake much easier if you have someone to help keep your brain stimulated with conversation and presence. They can also help check that you're on track with your plan to stay awake.

Staying Awake at Night !!!

1. 
   1
   Drink something caffeinated. Coffee or other type of caffeinated drink can give you a much needed energy boost to get you through the night, especially if you pace your coffee drinking so that you don't crash heavily and painfully in those hours between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. which is when a lot of people fail.
   • Coffee takes about 15 to 30 minutes to kick in, but the benefits from it can last 3 to 4 hours. If you plan on drinking a cup of coffee every few hours, you'll keep pretty awake and energized.
   • When you stop drinking your caffeinated drink, you will crash heavily. Avoid it either by spacing out coffee drinks, or by utilizing other staying awake methods.
   • If you don't want to drink caffeinated beverages, drink very cold water and sip on ice chips. The coldness can help to keep you awake and alert.
2. 
   2
   Make the atmosphere cool. To sleep, your body prefers to be at a warm temperature, so the warmer the temperature of your environment, the more you will want to fall asleep and the harder it will be to stay awake. Turn on a fan in your room, if you can, or open the windows.
   • If your environment is too hot and you can't cool it down, consider taking a cold shower. That will give you a boost of alertness.
   • You can also apply cold compresses to your head and wrists.
3. 
   3
   Get up and move around. Moving around and taking a break helps get your blood flowing and keeps you from feeling sleepy. Scientists found that exercising could be more effective than some medications for increasing energy and reducing fatigue (this does not mean that you should stop taking medication, if you're on some).^[2]
   • Take breaks from your computer screen. Staring at your computer screen for hours and hours on end can cause eyestrain and make your sleepiness and fatigue worse. Relax your eyes for a few minutes each hour, either by closing them or looking at something else for a while.
   • Exercise. Try and get at least 30 minutes of exercise. This will increase your energy level and help you stay awake. Whenever you're feeling a hit of drowsiness, go for a brisk walk or do some jumping jacks.
4. 
   4
   Switch tasks. Monotonous work (doing the same thing over and over and over for an extended period of time) can be just as bad as sleep deprivation for staying alert. This means, when you feel yourself getting drowsy, switch tasks to something more difficult that requires greater concentration.
5. 
   5
   Eat a healthy snack. Low blood sugar can make you super groggy and sleepy and foggy, so you'll need to keep your energy level up with healthy snacks. You especially want to eat snacks that will give you more energy to burn for a longer period of time.^[3]
   • Eat things like yogurt and granola with fresh fruit, or peanut butter on a whole wheat cracker and celery. You'll want protein, healthy carbs (like oats), and lots of fruits and veggies.
   • Avoid sugar. While sugar can give you an immediate burst of energy, it very quickly wears off, leaving you more fatigued and foggy than you were before.
6. 
   6
   Keep the lights bright. Light stimulation to your eyes slow your biological clock. These lights hitting your receptors will delay your circadian rhythm, changing your biological clock to restart later and later. Be careful, as this may lead to a prolonged change in your sleeping schedule.

- - -

10 Reasons Why You Can't Sleep And How To Fix Them

http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2012/10/11/10-reasons-why-you-cant-sleep-and-how-to-fix-them/

Comment Now 

Follow Comments 

Having trouble sleeping?  Below are 10 of the most common reasons why with suggestions on how to correct them.

1. Your room isn’t dark enough.

Ideally, your bedroom shouldn’t have any lights on, especially light emitted from a TV or any electronic device. When your eyes are exposed to light during the night, your brain is tricked into thinking it’s time to wake up and reduces the production ofmelatonin, a hormone released by your pineal gland that causes sleepiness and lowers body temperature. Light emitted by electronic devices is especially troublesome because it mimics sunlight.

2. Exercising too late.

If you exercise within three hours of trying to sleep, you’ll overstimulate your metabolism and raise your heart rate causing restlessness and frequent awakenings throughout the night.  Try to exercise in the morning or no later than mid to late afternoon, which will result in sounder sleep.

3. Drinking alcohol too late.

We tend to think of alcohol as a sleep inducer, but it actually interferes with REM sleep, causing you to feel more tired the next morning.  Granted, you may feel sleepy after you drink it, but that’s a short-term effect.  Here’s a great video at WebMD about alcohol and sleep.

4. Room temperature too warm.

Your body and brain wants to cool down when you sleep, but if your room is too warm you’ll thwart the cool-down process.  Having a fan in your room is a good idea because it will keep you cool and produce a consistent level of white noise that will help you fall asleep. Just don’t get too cold, because that will disrupt sleep as well. (You can also trycooling your brain.)

5. Caffeine still in your system.

The average half-life of caffeine is 5 hours, which means that you still have three-quarters of the first dose of caffeine rolling around in your system 10 hours after you drink it.  Most of us drink more than one cup of coffee, and many of us drink it late in the day.  If you’re going to drink coffee, drink it early.

6. Clockwatching.

Though it’s hard not to do, don’t look at your clock when you wake up during the night. In fact, it’s best to turn it around so it’s not facing you.  When you habitually clockwatch, you’re training  your circadian rhythms the wrong way, and before long you’ll find yourself waking up at exactly 3:15 every night.

7. Getting up to watch TV until you’re sleepy.

This is a bad idea for a few reasons. First, watching TV stimulates brain activity, which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen if your goal is to sleep soundly. Second, the light emitted from the TV is telling your brain to wake up (see #1 above).

8. Trying to problem-solve in the middle of the night.

All of us wake up at times during the night, and the first thing that pops into our heads is a big problem we’re worried about.  The best thing you can do is stop yourself from going there and redirect your thoughts to something less stressful. If you get caught up on the worry treadmill, you’ll stay awake much longer.

9. Eating protein too close to bedtime.

Protein requires a lot of energy to digest, and that keeps your digestive system churning away while you’re trying to sleep — bad combination.  Better to have a light carbohydrate snack.

10.  Smoking before bedtime. 

Smokers equate smoking with relaxing, but that’s a neurochemical trick. In truth,nicotine is a stimulant.  When you smoke before trying to sleep, you can expect to wake up several times throughout the night; much as you would if you drank a cup of coffee.