You were meeting your college pals after a really long time and as it used to happen in the good old times, you all decided to crash at a friend's place and continue your ‘catching up with the happenings in each other's' life late into the night, in fact the catching up continues till early morning! And now you are back at the office at 9 am having stayed up till 7 am, running on a mere 2 hours of sleep.

Turning on your computer, you find yourself nodding off to sleep in the midst of replying to a mail by your boss! You pinch yourself, widen your eyes as much as you can, sit upright in your chair… and soon you are snoring away to glory again. You awaken to find a mail from your boss asking why you haven't replied to the earlier one; it's quite clear that you need help and that too desperately

But there's no need to lose sleep over your turning into a sleepy head at work, as we have some very simple and easy tips for you, which will keep your sleep at bay when at work.

• Do not get comfortable:

What's the first thing that you do once you become sleepy? Find a comfortable spot and an equally comfortable position to nod off happily, right! Do the exact opposite, if you don't want to sleep in your office; find the most uncomfortable chair around, a broken chair will work wonders in such situations.

Choose a chair that will make you sit upright, force you to keep your back straight i.e. won't allow you to slump your back and get comfortable on your chair as it will only make you feel more sleepy. Don't rest your chin or face on your palms, as this position will also make you bend forward and be comfortable, thereby making you sleepier than you already are.

• Get Chatty:

If you are feeling sleepy when at work, it's a good idea to start talking. Talking helps you to direct your thoughts on something else than your own sleepy state, to put it simply talking with others distracts you, and in this case it is a much needed distraction.

One way of doing this is rather than sending the mail to your boss, go and personally talk to him. This will ensure that you get up and move around i.e. your body becomes active and blood gets circulated all throughout the body, driving away the sleep.

• Listen to music, the garish kind:

Hate rock music or the unavoidable Bollywood songs; listen to them, that too loudly albeit on your ear-phones, it is a sure shot way of driving away your sleep when at work.

Listening to something that you do not prefer, keeps you distracted from focusing on the fact that you are sleepy. Plus with unwanted music being played, you will want to tune it out and what better way to do so than with work! So, plug in those ear phones, crank that volume up and watch the sleep disappear.

• Don't hog at lunch:

Most of us are guilty of filling our stomachs to the brim whenever we fill slightly hungry. But doing so when you have been battling with sleep won't be such a good idea as whenever you fill up your stomach with a heavy lunch or dinner, the blood gets directed to the stomach to aid the digestion process. With a major chunk of the blood being directed towards the intestine, the blood supply to your brain is reduced and as a result you begin feeling sleepy.

To avoid sleeping when on the job, it would be a good idea to have small well distributed lunches. Do remember to keep the portions small in these ‘lunches' that you will be munching on throughout the day to avoid nodding off when at work.

• Be Sunny:

If you arrive at work in a sleep deprived state, you are surely going to sleep away the better part of the day, to avoid this sit in a sunny corner of the office. Open the windows and blinders, letting the sunlight stream in and over you, occupy a sunny corner of the office if possible for the day.

Our body's internal clock or the circadian rhythm is regulated by its exposure to bright sun light, so if you are feeling sleepy, exposing yourself to sunlight will help you get rid of the sleepiness that has been hounding you through the morning.

• Use the stairs, instead of the elevators

If you find yourself feeling sleepy at work, take to the stairs. Run up and down the stairs, instead of using the elevators as this is similar to cardio exercise and will increase your heart beat and send blood rushing to your muscles. With an increased heart beat and revived blood circulation, you can kiss your sleep good bye and get back to work, and in case you begin feeling sleepy again, all you have to do is just jog up and down the stairs. To read more about How to stay awake at work, without coffee! by Medimanage.com