Staying focused and alert for 8 hours

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Stargazer43
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28 Oct 2013, 7:06 pm

I am a few months into a new job, and I absolutely love it! My only problem is that, coming from an academic environment, I'm finding it really difficult to stay focused for 8 hours a day. Usually in the morning I will be good until about 11 or 12, and then I start to slide downhill from there. After lunch I start to get sleepy and work at about 1/3 my normal efficiency, and get distracted easily. I get plenty of sleep at night, but it doesn't seem to help much. When I was in school I would get the exact same way, but since with school the vast majority of my work/studying was done at home, I would just take a 30-45min nap and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go. Unfortunately, I can't do that on the job :(. Plus, the fact that my job involves sitting down at a computer for most of the day doesn't help.

So, does anyone have any tips for staying focused and alert for long periods of time?



LostInEmulation
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28 Oct 2013, 7:27 pm

Caffeine


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28 Oct 2013, 8:08 pm

Raiseable and lowerable desk so you can stand/sit.



JitakuKeibiinB
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28 Oct 2013, 8:21 pm

Adderall?



1401b
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28 Oct 2013, 9:46 pm

Having permission at work to have a nap may be considered a Reasonable Accommodation.
If that works then I'd try it. Maybe talk to you doctor, a letter from him could help.


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thewhitrbbit
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29 Oct 2013, 10:16 am

Are you allowed to take breaks? I sometimes take a walk around the building in the afternoon to refresh.



glow
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29 Oct 2013, 2:00 pm

If you're not allergic to it, coffee. Otherwise, alertness can be improved via means of classical piano music.



cavernio
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29 Oct 2013, 3:01 pm

Afternoon dozies seem to be commonplace across plenty of cubicle workers. Ideally if you could manage to take a nap, do it! I strongly suggest staying away from caffeine as it's addictive and you can have withdrawal and can also start to need more to get the same effect. Like, you don't want to have to drink it on weekends because if you don't you turn into a crabby, snappy person.
My husband gets up and buys an afternoon snack. It requires him to walk around for a few minutes and move about, definitely a good thing, plus it's a mental break. And then he gets something yummy to boot!

Quite frankly though, unless you're being told you're not being productive enough or you're failing to meet deadlines etc, I wouldn't worry about it. I doubt anyone's 100% productive in a thinking job for 8 hours/day. Just doesn't happen.


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JSextonSCCigar
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01 Nov 2013, 4:34 pm

I've found that lowering the lights, having a good desk fan, and having a noise maker help. I can dim the lights, put on my sunglasses, turn on the fan and my noisemaker (in my case, either a music album or WhiteNoise) and largely tune everything out while staying awake and focused. Usually. Some days are harder than others. :/



LucySnowe
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02 Nov 2013, 6:28 pm

I like taking a short walk around the block to help me clear my head every now and then (and then sometimes I trump up an errand to run to give me an excuse to go out). If you're allowed to take breaks, this is something I'd suggest trying.