Sleeping during the day can be embarrassing, find out why you can become drowsy and what to do to prevent falling asleep in the least appropriate situations.
It happens to everyone and all the time or at least once in a while: falling asleep in the wrong place and time. If you are with friends or family it can be funny but in a meeting or conference it is a huge mistake.
If you frequently fall asleep everywhere, it is better to get a medical check-up to rule out sleep-related health problems such as insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome. When you suffer from sleep problems you can attract other health problems like high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and obesity.
What makes you drowsy
- Finishing eating and high temperatures, heat and being satisfied are two stimuli that together make you feel relaxed, which increases the desire to sleep for a while.
- When you feel overloaded, If you have a lot of things to do, you don't have much time to sleep. Better to lower your workload a bit and do some things really well than to live chronically without being able to sleep..
- Being in a moving vehicle, it is because the movement promotes waves that incite to sleep.
How to avoid drowsiness
- Go sleep early, It is better to go to bed early than to wake up late because the hormones that regulate sleep are strongest between midnight and 7 a.m. Also the morning light gives your body the signal to wake up. Change the schedule, duration 15 minutes earlier than you currently do and thus you increase other 15 more minutes, until you reach a schedule that works.
- Eat a light lunch so you will feel like a little more energy after lunch.
- Get up, if you are falling asleep on the bus, in a waiting room or conference, stand up and go to the bottom where you can take a few steps. It's harder to fall asleep while you're standing.
- Draw or take notes if you are in a meeting or conference, being active will help you avoid sleep, your mind will be thinking about writing and it will eventually help you to hear what is being said.
- Take a nap, a restorative nap of 20 minutes can help you stay awake during the day. Of course, do not nap so late because it will be difficult for you to sleep at night.
- Drink coffee, note that the effect of caffeine lasts 8 hours and that drinking a lot of caffeine also has other negative effects such as anxiety and rapid heartbeat.