11 Tips for Powering Through Tiredness

Getting a good night’s sleep is important. Eight hours in the sack helps one maintain equanimity, health, and productivity. But, life happens and there are so many reasons why, from time to time, it’s impossible to get enough sleep.Sometimes, you will need to hit the office after a night of not hitting the sack. 

Remember, fatigue and tiredness are not the same thing, according to Psych Central. Tiredness is what happens when one doesn’t get enough sleep. It’s usually relatively easy to cure, with a simple antidote; justsleep more.

Fatigue, by contrast, is a response to physical or mental stress, or burnout. It manifests as tiredness, irritability, headaches, body soreness, lack of motivation, or immune dysfunction. Someone who suffers from tiredness may want to take a good look at how they can improve their quantity and quality of sleep, whereas those who suffer from chronic fatigue should see a doctor or counselor to address the root causes.

In any case, whatever is causing the exhaustion, it can be hard to put in a full workday without getting eight hours of sleep at night. Here are nine tips for powering through.

Get out in the sun  
Get outside and soak up some sun, explained the tiny buddha blog. Sunlight will give you a vitamin D boost and can help you feel rested. To maximize alertness after a sleepless night, spend some time out in the sun, or put on a bright indoor light.

Get moving 
According to Psych Central, exercise is invigorating. Try to start the morning with a gym session or an energizing run. Otherwise, make sure to take regular breaks for movement during the day. This can be something as simple as a stroll to the water cooler or can even incorporate floor stretches.

Keep distractions away
Being sleepy can impact attention spans. Therefore, it’s even more important than ever to keep all distractions from one’s desk. That means working from home if colleagues can interfere with work, or if you have to go into the office bring noise canceling headphones. Leave your  phone on airplane mode during work time. And, try to start the day by cleaning clutter and piles of paper from the desk, leaving out only what’s needed to work.

Push off those meetings 
Another reason why it may be better to work from home on a sleepy day. It’s harder to keep the crankiness in check on a few hours of sleep, according to tiny buddha . Tiredness makes it easier to lose one’s temper or say something that one will later regret. It’s probably best to push off any important meetings or confrontations, when possible, on a day that follows a sleepless night. People can also try emotional regulation strategies, like deep breathing, to keep irritability in check when fatigued.

Carpool or go public transit 
But, if you can’t avoid going into the office, see if you can find a ride. In 2000, nearly two million Americans fell asleep at the wheel. Although most only dozed off for a few seconds, at 60 miles per hour that’s enough time to go more than the length of a football field, and to involve oneselves in a serious accident. Fatigue behind the wheel can be extremely dangerous, so if someone didn’t hit the sack for enough hours, it’s ideal to avoid hitting the wheel if possible.

Take a power nap 
Try to plan for a 30 minute power nap. According to Psych Central, 30 minutes is the sweet spot. A five-minute power nap might be invigorating at the moment, but, like a shot of caffeine, the effect quickly wears off leaving the snoozer even more tired. By contrast, one might wake up feeling sluggish after a thirty-minute nap, but hours later, they will still be going.

A study published in Science Direct, suggests that after a nap you wash your face or go out in the sun.Another tip is to drink coffee before you nap so that the caffeine rush hits just as the snooze alarm goes off.

Scheduled breaks 
At best, even when not sleepy, people have an attention span of around a half hour. When tired, that number can drop significantly. You can try the pomodoro technique that has you work  for 20-25 minutes bookended by five minute breaks. It’s important not to forget to use a timer for the break so as not to overdo it.

Eat five meals 
Overdoing it on dinner can increase the feeling of fullness, lethargy, and tiredness. Therefore, after a sleepless night, tiny buddha suggests switching up three heavier square meals with five smaller ones. This will keep the body’s blood sugar at a more consistent level, and provide ongoing natural energy that doesn’t leave one feeling stuffed and tired.

Make tomorrow better 
Evaluate what went wrong the night before and if possible make changes to ensure that sleeplessness isn’t repeated. There are some factors, like a new baby who thinks 3:00 AM is playtime, that can’t be avoided, but often small changes — turning off the TV, starting a bedtime routine, a white or pink noise machine in the bedroom – can help with getting the Zzs needed to function.