Do you find yourself reaching for several coffees per day? Do you work the graveyard shift? Are you just struggling to stay alert to get through your workload every day? Well, these five tips can help you stay awake throughout the day. 

1. Improve Your Sleeping Habits

It's easy to say, right? But improving your sleep is the most foundational element to your ability to stay awake during the day. If you don't have a sleep schedule and your ability to go to bed on time is weak and unpredictable, it shouldn't be a surprise that you find yourself getting fatigued during the workday. 

If you create a bedtime routine and stick with it, intentionally doing relaxing activities at least an hour before you go to sleep; and do it at the same time every day, you will find that your ability to fall asleep will naturally improve. 

2. Get Tested for Disorders That Impact Sleep

If you read the above point and thought, "yeah maybe in a million years," it's possible that something more serious is going on. You may have insomnia, sleep apnea, or an anxiety disorder. You may also consider getting a sensory processing disorder test. SPD affects a lot of aspects of daily life, but one of those is the ability to produce melatonin, the chemical responsible for making you fall asleep.

3. Drink Caffeine in the Morning

Caffeine, whether in the form of coffee, tea, a caffeine pill or an energy drink, is a great stimulant that will increase your energy and alertness, improve cognitive performance, short-term memory and focus. It will also prevent your body from feeling tired.  It's the one thing that the average working person cannot live without. 

Unfortunately, however, many of us have grown too attached to it, depending on it for our energy all throughout the day. The bad thing is that caffeine actually stays in your system for at least six hours. Health experts recommend not to drink caffeine after 2 p.m, or least eight hours before you need to go to sleep. Even if you're able to fall asleep after drinking caffeine late in the day, your sleep will be restless. Your body will struggle to go into REM sleep, the stage of sleep that is essential for cognitive repair.

4. Take a Walk on Your Break

Research shows that taking a brisk ten minute walk is more effective for boosting energy than eating a candy bar. It improves blood circulation, which can clear mental fog.

Also, exercise in general is effective for increasing energy and reducing fatigue. Exercising for at least a half hour each day both improves sleep quality and one's ability to stay asleep throughout the night. 

5. Brighten Your Work Space

Dim lighting can increase fatigue, according to research, whereas bright lights have been shown to increase alertness. Our circadian rhythm is our body's internal clock and it directly responds to light, making you feel more awake when bright lights are around. 

It's for this reason that you should also stop looking at screens at least 30 minutes before you go to bed. It interferes with your body's natural cycles and makes it harder to settle down. Another good option is to set a red light filter on your phone to turn on at least 30 minutes before bed. This will make it easier to fall asleep because blue light is much more stimulating on the brain than red light. 

Conclusion

Sleep is an integral part of your health, and creating stable sleep habits will not only help you get through work, but it will also bring positive benefits to many other areas of your life, such as physical and mental health.