How Do You Stay Awake When On 2 Hours of Sleep?

Eye drops work great. Drink a lot of water and have an apple...not much more you can do

This happened to me quite a bit during school. For me it was coffee and forcing myself to power through. Try walking around a little when you feel yourself crashing a little. Everyone is different though so it's hard to give advice

dark chocolate and something spicy

Caffeine pills

You don't

caffeine and lot of water help but sitting on desk makes you feel sleepy anyways.

drink something with caffeine and take right after it a quick 20-30 min nap, caffeine won't have time to absorb so you shouldn't have problems in falling asleep but you can't get any REM sleep (= waking up somewhat refreshed, not dozy).

Keep your mind active by keeping it interested. Browse a hot topic on WSO, flirt with that Tinder match you scored last night. Do these things as frequently as possible but not to the point where priorities get discarded. Switching up a schedule with something different and new can help draw short-term attentiveness when tired.

A bump will do just the trick

Options backed by science that I use:

1) EXERCISE: This is a basic physiological response to thousands of years of evolution: if prehistoric humans fell asleep while running from danger, chances are they wouldn't live very long. When your body is exerting physical energy, it signals to your brain that now is the time to be alert and focused, not to drift off to dreamland.

2) CHEW GUM: Several studies have shown chewing gum can increase alertness, and it may even improve intellectual performance. Help yourself even more by picking a mint flavor. Mint increases cerebral activity and smelling peppermint may improve your memory.

3) DEEP BREATHING: Breath in deeply for 5 seconds. Hold for 20 seconds. Breath out for 10 seconds. Repeat 5–10 times.

im assuming lack of sleep clouded your judgement but the doctor could have hooked you up with some great pharmaceutical remedies to perk you up

Browse WSO.

In my summer, the week before offers, the FT's took us out and got the interns blasted. Next day we came in wicked tired. No new staffings. Was falling asleep at my desk.

Didn't want the bad optics of nodding off every 10 minutes ("fishing" at my desk) so I would occasionally print one random page just to get up and walk while looking busy. By the end of the day had about 20x copies of the same income statement page of some rando company.

A friend of mine (who was also an intern) remarked: "Wow, you are crushing it!"

Grit, passion for what you're doing

Have a conversation with someone intelligent, even if the subject of conversation is mundane. In my personal experience there are few more powerful (natural) brain energizers than facing down a live human being with a dynamic mind.

In my analyst days, when grinding late night and I felt the doze coming on, I'd try and get on the phone with buddies that I knew would probably still be up on the west coast. I'd catch up with them for 20 or 30 minutes and then get back to the grindstone. That would usually give me a second wind and help refresh the brain by taking my mind and focus out of the office for a little while.

This is a joke right? 2 hours and you can't say up? Adderall and red bull. Throw in a few 5 hour energies.

Chew gum, works a lot... just make sure you don't chew to loudly. You could also probably take the stairs rather than the elevator

Lol so you still think you can succeed without drugs eh...

caffeine pills ftw

Find an unoccupied office and powernap under the desk, Costanza style.

Some days you just gotta do you.

Drinking around 5 cups of coffee a day, for me at least caffeine doesn't do the trick when I'm really tired. Nicotine, on the other hand, does the trick every time. Get some strong nicotine gum or order some snus and get a nice buzz going whenever you have a situation like that. As long as you don't overdo it or aren't overly sensitive to nicotine it'll work as a nootropic so should also help you push through long days even after good night of sleep if that is what you want.

It's Friday. Coast.

In general I would advise against caffeine pills. Those things are really unhealthy for your heart and very easy to OD on. Focus on getting to bed at a reasonable time.

You are not awake on 2 hours of sleep, you're just functioning. I've had conversations with coworkers where a 3 minute talk led to me thinking about clouds, and them walking away puzzled.

You nerds aren't hardcore for forcing yourself to stay awake/be in the office longer.

Hmm...I sound cranky, must be the lack of sleep.