Feeling sleepy? You can always have a cup of Bulletproof Coffee to perk up, or you can listen to your favorite happy songs when you need to get out of bed or keep working a few more hours.
It can be pretty tough to wake up in the morning, and it gets harder as the day rolls on. By the time you reach the end of a work day, you want nothing more than to fall asleep right where you sit.
Don’t let your fatigue catch up to you! Instead, use these simple, awesome tricks to perk right up!
- Drink a glass of cold water — Did you know that exposing your body to cold temperatures increases blood flow? By drinking a glass of cold water, you force your body to up its circulation–sending nutrients to all of the important body parts and waking you up.
- Rub your ears — It’s odd, but it works. Rubbing your ears gently stimulates one of the “chi points” used in acupuncture and acupressure. It’s Traditional Chinese Medicine, but it’s unexplainably effective.
- Drink green tea — Coffee is just going to leave you drained, but a cup of green tea is a much gentler kick that won’t tire you out. You’ll get a slow burn of energy, but it’s one that will be consistent all day long.
- Take a minty shower — Jump into the shower, and use a loofah sponge to apply eucalyptus oil. The loofah will increase blood flow, as will the steamy water and the minty freshness of the eucalyptus.
- Walk around — Sleepy or dozy? Instead of leaning your head onto your desk, pry yourself out of your chair and go for a walk. You’ll find that even just a couple of minutes of strolling around will help wake you up easily.
- Have a protein snack — Carbs cause your blood sugar to rise and fall, which often leads to fatigue and makes it harder to stay awake. If you’re feeling drowsy, have a snack with lots of protein and very few carbs.
- Hit the gym — Need to wake up? Taking your lunch break to lift weights at the gym is one of the best ways to perk up when you feel drowsy.
- Take a Tyrosine supplement — Tyrosine is an amino acid that has been proven to be effective at dealing with fatigue. You should consider adding an extra 500 to 1,000 mg of the amino acid to your day.
- Talk to a friend — One study by NASA found that taking a short break to chat with a buddy helped to perk their participants up better than napping did. Plus, getting up and going over to the friend is a great way to get out of your chair.
- Use blue light — Blue and red light are both proven to increase productivity and energy, but red light can be irritating. Use blue lightbulbs to wake yourself up and stay awake all day long.
- Add fiber — Did you know that fiber takes much longer to digest than empty carbs? If you want to ensure that your lunch doesn’t make you feel dozy and drowsy, get plenty of fiber to balance out the carbs.
- Hit the couch for 20 minutes — Power naps are no more than 20 to 25 minutes long, but they are supremely effective if you need to perk up quickly. You should be easily able to wake up after a short session of shut-eye.
- Chew gum — Gum helps to wake you up, but it also stimulates your brain. You can even try caffeine gum to double down on the energy boost.
