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Count Arioch the 28th
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### How to deal with not sleeping?

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Post by Count Arioch the 28th » Mon Sep 07, 2009 2:56 pm

Alright, there are a lot of college students and former college students around, so maybe you all can give me advice.
Due to my schedule, I get home from work at 12:30 am and have to be in Elementary Statistics by 8am, with a 1/2 hour drive. I am having issues with waking up and being alert by that time. Neither getting off earlier from work nor taking a later morning class are things I am able to do right now, so I have to deal.
Keep in mind that energy drinks make me vomit and have explosive diarrhea. I'd rather avoid any illegal drugs as well, not from a moral standpoint but more because I get caught when I break the law.
What can I do help me?
In this moment, I am Ur-phoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my int score.
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Maxus
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Post by Maxus » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:12 pm

That's a tough row to hoe, but okay.
Cut yourself a margin. Personally, if left to my own devices, it takes me about forty minutes to go from 'asleep' to 'functioning'.
It also helps to do something which makes you think (have I ever mentioned that reading this forum generally is what wakes me up in the mornings?)
But that takes time. Which you don't have much of.
But, yeah, put your alarm clock from the opposite side of the room to force yourself to get up each morning. From there, go right to breakfast and doing something with requires some kind of thought (Play a video game, read something, whatever).
If you have to be there at 8, the latest you should be waking up is 7. Which leaves seven hours of sleep, assuming you can turn yourself off.
If you have any gaps in your schedule, you could try to rest during them.
And there's the other option: Talk to your supervisor/boss about what's going on. Explain you'd be open to anything which let you get home earlier so you could sleep more, especially if it didn't cut your hours.
Last edited by Maxus on Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
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Count Arioch the 28th
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Post by Count Arioch the 28th » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:16 pm

the other option is not an option, I can't afford to have even one second cut.
In this moment, I am Ur-phoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my int score.
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Maxus
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Post by Maxus » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:47 pm

> Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote:the other option is not an option, I can't afford to have even one second cut.

Yeah, I know how that is...Could you ask to make up the difference on weekends or something? Or ask them to just move when you're working. Come in and leave earlier, I guess...
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Count Arioch the 28th
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Post by Count Arioch the 28th » Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:11 pm

I live in an at-will employment state within an anarchocapitalist nation. Asking for less hours is suicide, I barely can afford to consume 1200 calories a day. And if I don't finish college, that's pretty much how it's going to be. My hours are non-negotiable.
In this moment, I am Ur-phoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my int score.
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Maxus
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Post by Maxus » Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:02 pm

> Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote:I live in an at-will employment state within an anarchocapitalist nation. Asking for less hours is suicide, I barely can afford to consume 1200 calories a day. And if I don't finish college, that's pretty much how it's going to be. My hours are non-negotiable.

Makes me glad to have my bosses, then (they do try to work with people.)
But, okay, then you're back to sleeping whenever you can and learning what wakes you up in a hurry.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Crissa
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Post by Crissa » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:05 pm

Well, people who can afford it get prescriptions for Provigil or Modafinil.
-Crissa
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Cynic
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Post by Cynic » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:12 pm

I had this problem in college for a while. My wife (then girlfriend) was pregnant and I had no idea on how to support two full-time college students and a kid.
I started working a 9pm to 8am shift for Tyco medicals doing anything from moving stuff to assembly line. I then had a full load for classes from 9am to about 4pm.
I remember falling asleep in class repeatedly.
Few organic solutions that worked were dunking my head in cold water repeatedly. This at least kept me awake for a little while.
I drank coffee but it still is a killer when you need a strong strong cuppajoe to keep you going.
Tried OTC caffeine pills which work but are crazy dangerous as I realized to my crashing one day in a classroom and not being woken up for about 6 hours later by a night professor. It can be insane.
Chew gum, get a stress ball, whatever. Just try to keep yourself active with minute movements.
Really all this is good. but the shit just wears you the fuck out in the end.
I remember missing one day of work due to just crashing and was canned as I was a temp-worker in an at-will state.
So methods again would be cold water to the face. washing your face with soap, especially your eyes. You can try stuff like caffeine-gum or some such which gives you short bursts.

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Josh_Kablack
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### Re: How to deal with not sleeping?

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Post by Josh_Kablack » Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:45 pm

> Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote: What can I do help me?

1. Practice good "sleep hygiene" Bed is for sleep only do not eat in bed, do not study in bed, do not watch TV in bed. Go to sleep and get up as close to the same time as possible each day. Have a pattern / ritual for relaxing before you go to bed. This can be as simple as brushing your teeth, fluffing you pillow and counting to 100 or as elaborate as lengthy bubble baths and listening to self-hypnosis tapes - the key is to do something you find relaxing and to do it repetitively.
2. You're still likely going to be getting a bit less sleep than you need, so if possible, nap mid-day. 20-30 minutes can make a big difference, and even 2-5 minutes (which you can sneak during a bathroom break) can sometimes help.
3. If unable to nap, counteract your slumps with bursts of physical activity. If mornings are rough for you, force yourself to do pushups or jumping jacks as soon as the alarm goes off. If you crash mid-day work in a walk/ jog/ whatever you can sneak in around lunchtime. (I found stretching and some beginner kung-fu forms worked for me)
4. As much as possible, avoid caffeine and meals close to bedtime. Get your calories and caffeine in earlier in the day.
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Neeeek
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Post by Neeeek » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:49 am

> Crissa wrote:Well, people who can afford it get prescriptions for Provigil or Modafinil.
> -Crissa

Unfortunately, getting those particular prescriptions when you are the Count's age generally requires a sleep study, which is fairly expensive.
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Crissa
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Post by Crissa » Tue Sep 08, 2009 7:15 am

Hence the 'can afford it' tag.
People who can't afford it must use the lesser options of caffeine or meth~.
-Crissa
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Echoes
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Post by Echoes » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:17 pm

What is your schedule like after your morning class? If you have a couple of hours between that and your next class, you can try to catch a nap in between.
Other than the usual caffeine suggestions (which is not a long-term solution), try finding something that interests you that you can get into during the day between classes. For me, it was gaming: Magic, RPGs, whatever. If I had even 15 minutes between classes I'd play a quick game of Magic with friends.
Other than that, I'll echo the suggestions to try to grab your caffeine early in the day (unless you plan to nap in the afternoon, in which case I would advise avoiding caffeine at all), since the stuff hangs around in your system for 6-8 hours, and you don't want it to keep you from getting to sleep at night.
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Murtak
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Post by Murtak » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:44 pm

Have you tried music? Something aggressive, danceable which you like. You don't have to dance to it, just put it on, loud enough to hear while you do your morning stuff and start moving. EBM, Techno, Metal in a pinch, anything to get your body moving basically. I do this on days where my body insists I need another 10 hours of sleep and it works pretty well for getting me awake.
Getting through the day is another story entirely though.
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Count Arioch the 28th
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Post by Count Arioch the 28th » Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:44 pm

Well, yesterday I fell asleep driving to work from class. I've decided to drop my 8am classes. I might not graduate in time this year, but I won't graduate at all if I'm dead.
In this moment, I am Ur-phoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my int score.
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Sock Puppet
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Post by Sock Puppet » Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:44 am

> Murtak wrote:Have you tried music? Something aggressive, danceable which you like. You don't have to dance to it, just put it on, loud enough to hear while you do your morning stuff and start moving. EBM, Techno, Metal in a pinch, anything to get your body moving basically. I do this on days where my body insists I need another 10 hours of sleep and it works pretty well for getting me awake.
> Getting through the day is another story entirely though.

A friend of mine in college decided to give up coffee cold turkey. Instead, he would just listen to Iron Maiden on the way to class. He claimed that it worked even better then a cup of joe.
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