How do you stay awake

CuriousMe · Sep 4, 2006

I work and go to school full time. I work 4pm-11pm Saturday through Wednesday nights.

I confess, I depend on caffeine to keep me going. I don't drink coffee, but I drink tea and energy drinks (Vault is my current favorite). I know that I have faaaaaaaaar to much caffeine during the day but what can I say, it works!

My summer session ended a week or so ago, and my fall term doesn't start till Sept. 25....so for this month off where I'm only working full time, I went cold turkey on the caffeine. I've only cheated once, and it was just a cherry pepsi....so no hard core stuff :)

Best of luck!

Peace,

Cathie

shellsgogreen · Sep 4, 2006

i feel your pain - i've had to work through two semesters and i'm sort of shocked that i got through it...heh...

i probably don't socialize as much as i'd like:chair: , and when i do have off i try to really organize my time well

and of course, coffee....:chuckle

have a great semester!

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Sep 4, 2006

Have tried energy drinks twice in my life, both times i felt like i was having a heart attack.

Last year of school (actually both years), i got about 3-4 hours of sleep a day (slept 8am-12pm), then did 12 shifts for work 3-4 nights a week. Classes started at 4 pm 2 days a week, then clinicals 2 days a week (i didn't work those nights). Caffeine left me feeling worse, which is why i avoided it, adn drank water.

Jelli_Belli · Sep 4, 2006

I have clinical Mon. and Wed. from 8-4, lecture on Tues. from 8-12, and Pharm on Fri 8-11. I work 12 hours nights so I work Thurs, Fri, and Sat. nights. I don't have too much trouble finding time to sleep because I've gotten used to only sleeping about 5 hours a night. What I have trouble with is the fact that I have to stay up well over 24 hours on Sunday so I can switch to sleeping nights for my school week, and then have to stay up over 24 hours on Wednesday night so I can sleep Thursday day before going to work. I quit caffine last year because I was diagnosed with a heart murmmer, so that made it so difficult to stay up. I finally got a routine going that works well for me. On Sunday's I stay busy by grocery shopping, cleaning house, and going out with my girlfriends. And on Wednesday nights I keep busy with my fiance making up for all the "nookie" we didn't have time for during the week:blushkiss .

I guess what I am trying to say it just find the routine that works for you. They repeated over and over in orientation how we wouldn't be able to work full time and do well in school but I know I can do it because I've been doing it for 4 years while I got my bachelor's degree. Just, what ever you do, stay as far away from your bed as possible when you have to stay up!

nanay · Sep 4, 2006

dont know if others do this also but whenever i feel sleepy after minutes or hours of studying, i turn on the television, watch for like 10-15 minutes, then go back to reading/studying.

or, log in to allnurses.com :wink2: , thats what im actually doing right now. i started to feel sleepy few minutes ago, now i feel wide awake again. in 5 minutes, im going to go back to my studying/reading again.

JoniL&DRN · Sep 4, 2006

Am I awake? I'm starting my fourth week of the semester and frankly it's a blur. I have lecture all day Monday 0700-1530 (with a couple of breaks) clinical Thurs and Fri. 0545-1440 so I work Tuesday nights and Saturday nights 1800-0630. I sleep when I can and study when I can and clean my house and *try* to see my kids and husband whenever I'm not schooling/studying/working/sleeping.

I try to not eat all junk (but I do eat a fair amount) and yes I do partake of a diet pepsi (or two or 12). The thing I do when I get really tired at work is I run the stairs. I'm really not in good physical condition but taking three flights at a brisk pace wakes me up every time. The endorphins I imagine.

Are we all just trying to survive this thing?

4tnerzwife · Sep 5, 2006

I drink lots of

Vault energy drink, it doesn't make me shaky. I had an ulcer last semester so I try to lay off the coffee. Try a multivitamin too-it helps me! Oh, and the will to survive! :)

EMTandNurse2B · Sep 5, 2006

Coffee

Tea

Mountain Dew if above fails

Brisk walk

Brief nap

Housework

Bright lights

Hard chairs

Toothpicks to prop eyes open (Hey it at least looks like you're studying!)

Anything else I can find to do to help!!!

I go to school full time, commute an hour each way, have a part-time job tutoring, am trying to get another part-time job with an EMS company, and volunteer on the local Fire and Rescue Dept. All that besides just trying to survive!

Carecrazey · Sep 5, 2006

I'm glad I'm not the only one having a hard time staying up. Thing is I'm not working right now but plan to do so soon, so this is really SCARING me. If I'm having trouble and I'm NOT working what is it going to be like when I do? The whole schedule thing worked for about two weeks, when some unforseen circumstances (nothing extremely major) cropped up and threw everything out of wack. I'm having a rather difficult time getting back into the swing of things, any advice?

:confused:

Bala Shark · Sep 5, 2006

Can you not work that many hours..Nursing schools in the traditional setting advices students not to work too many hours because school demands a lot of your time like studying..Some students can handle full time work and going to school at the same time but some cannot..

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 5, 2006

i went through this every time i was in school (had to work). first of all, when you find yourself sitting down and getting drowsy, get up and start moving around! especially if you are at work. most jobs i had someone could be fired for being found sleeping on the job. i worked as an aide when i was in nursing school the first time and i was an rn when i went back for my bsn. i would get up and make rounds on patients or start cleaning up around the nurse's station. if you are working in a patient care facility there is always something that needs to be done. i was known to take nodoz, particularly an hour before tests and before getting in my car to drive. vivarin is just a double dose of nodoz. the hardest for me was sitting in classrooms after working a night shift and having a morning clinical. i sat with friends and asked them to "elbow" me if they ever saw me nodding off to sleep. i also compared my class notes against theirs to make sure i had gotten everything from the class. instead of lunch breaks i took short naps and had friends wake me up. i ate on the run--things like fruit, which is better for you anyway. then, when i got home i died and went to sleep. if i had to get up at a certain time, i had three alarm clocks i set to go off, never at the same time--staggered time in case i turned one off and went back to sleep. one of them, my treasured mickey mouse alarm clock that ran on batteries, rang very loudly for an hour if not turned off. i kept each alarm clock more than an arms-length and more away from me and at different locations forcing me to have to get up to turn them off. i also was known to drink a large quantity of fluids before sleeping to assure i'd have to get up. that, however, didn't always work as i'd planned because i was often a bit dehydrated from my day to begin with!

i had remembered reading about thomas edison and how he never really slept, but napped all the time. he swore by it and lived his entire lifetime that way. one of his employers was so angry at all the napping that he did that he ordered him to send a telegraph message to him at regular intervals to prove that he was awake and doing his job. one of his inventions involved an automated telegraph message that was sent to his boss at regular intervals so his boss could be assured he wasn't sleeping on the job while old tom was slumbering away! very ingenious man.