Ever had a teacher that talks really softly and can’t get his mic to work? Maybe your professor uses a font designed by ants for his slides? I mean, big words and little letters. Perhaps he has a voice that sounds like it came from Oklahoma? Yeah, it’s flat. Ha! Me too. Somehow I stayed awake.
Photo credit: Natthawut Kulnirundorn for openphoto.net CC:Attribution-ShareAlike
Ok… Fine… most of the time I did. Here are some of my top tips for staying awake in the most boring of lectures:
1. Move your pen
Don’t tap, just move. Working on your pencil twisting technique (as long as you don’t make noise) requires enough concentration to do the trick.
2. Count things
No… don’t start counting sheep. Keeping your eyes peeled for something real may help you say awake. How many times does he say “um” or “the” or “grade?” Or, better yet, practice the power (or the multiplication) tables on the back of your notes.
Image from stockvault.
3. Drink
Coffee doesn’t have the corner on the wake-up market. Water works just fine. A little liquid down the throat is great at keeping your body awake. (Just not alcohol. Seriously)
4. Nervous Dance
If you don’t have a nervous twitching problem, now may be the time to go get one. But seriously, twitching your neck, silently tapping your foot, or something else that will easily get dismissed as just a nervous habit will keep you awake just fine.
5. A clean face
For me, a bath makes me feel more relaxed and ready to doze off, but a cold water in the face or a drop on each eyelid is great at keeping you awake. As the water evaporates, the water takes your eyelids up too.
6. Stretch
No one will get on you for streaking your neck or other muscles. A little exercise in class can make the sleepy bugs go away, just don’t start doing push ups.
7. Exercise Before
Every day when I go to school, I have to walk to the bus. Most think that exercise tires you out, but neurological research shows that it produces a brain chemical known as dopamine that helps significantly in the learning process and keeps you awake. Some times, when I drive to school I have the hardest time keeping my eyes open because I didn’t get good exercise.
Something else?
There are definitely more than seven ways to stay awake. Got any more to add? Let me know.
Filed under: engineering school, Life & Leadership Tagged: | class, College, Life & Leadership, sleepy, study skills, tips
No alcholhol? Sounds like the voice of experience. LOL
Coca-Cola, Mom and Dad swear by it
Try scratching your palms with your fingernails…it sounds weird but it actually can help perk you up.
For afternoon classes, don’t eat a huge lunch beforehand. Bad idea.
And one last thing. The color of your blog makes me want to dry heave! Burnt orange…bleh!
I kid, I kid.
Y’all crack me up… No, I my only experience was a sip of Dad’s wine, and it was gross stuff. (he also let me try beer; same result) I never got the point to drinking dead stuff…
And, yes, I like burnt orange, in case you couldn’t tell.
> Brian
Hahaha! Those are funny.
Hmmm, let me see which ones I already have down… 
) and 6. 
lol!
Numbers 1,2,4 (definitely!
~Joy
I struggle with getting sleepy in church and while judging debate rounds (and I guess I used to in class). I practice point 3, drinking (water for you wierdos out there).
I also stand up in the back during church to stay awake.
I find that bouncing my leg up and down with rapid repetition helps a lot. Now it doesn’t really matter if the lecture is boring or not, I’ve formed a habit. Even when I’m studying at home my leg is continually bouncing …. and driving my younger sister nuts. I try to stop, but it only lasts for about a minute.
If you professor isn’t anti-chewing gum in class, mint gum is THE most amazing remedy I’ve found to almost falling asleep in class. I’m not even joking. I’ve tried water, I’ve tried moving a lot, I’ve tried taking notes, stretching…mint gum is seriously the most effective thing I’ve tried. One second I may be *thisclose* to falling asleep, I pop some mint gum in my mouth and WOW. I’m awake and attentive, at least for the rest of class.
I’ve never tried regular mints, but I’m guessing they’d have a similar effect if your professor is anti-gum.
I never thought I would agree with this opinion, but I’m starting to see things differently.
guess i’m not gonna sleep in class today!! ^_^