The Smith Stalker

Tired?  Yeah, so are we.  Like most college students around the country, Smithies seem pretty sleep-deprived.  The easy solution would be more sleep.  Sometimes, though, it’s 2 in the morning and you still have three pages to go.  What do you do when you can’t let yourself sleep, even though your body is demanding it?  Try one of these suggestions and hope you can motor through one more hour!

1. Drink a cup of coffee and take a 20 minute nap.  It takes about that much time for caffeine to kick in, so you’ll wake up kinda naturally and feel refreshed and ready.  Still set that alarm, though.

2. Go for a short walk around the campus.  Listen to loud music on your mp3 player of choice and empty your mind for a bit.  The colder it is outside, the more awake you’ll be.

3.  Dance like mad for a few minutes.

4. Get a massage from a generous friend.

5. Look up some yoga positions online and try the kind that won’t put you to sleep.  Rolling like a ball is a good one.

6. Consume something full of vitamin C, like an orange or a glass of EmergenC (PLUS: will prevent getting scurvy).

7. Put on something scented, like some cologne or perfume.  The smell will wake you up a bit.

8. Run up to the top floor of your house.  Run to the bottom again.  Get your heart pounding, just beware of sleeping housemates!

9. Hold some water in your mouth.  Your facial muscles will try to stop you from drooling continually, keeping you alert.

10.  Bite the inside of your cheek.  Ow.

11. Take a shower.  Near the end, turn the facet so it’s as cold as it will go while still keeping up some water pressure.  Keep it like that as long as you can stand it.

12.  Challenge someone to a thumb war.  Your adrenaline will spike.

13.  Drink lots of coffee and/or tea.  Oldie but goodie.

14. Put on some flavored lip-gloss.

15. Suck on some ice cubes and/or some lollipops.  Both at the same time would be kind of weird, actually.

16. Grab a jump rope (if you can find one) and try to jump 50 times in a row.

17. Chocolate-covered expresso beans.  Mmmm.

18. Watch a (short) high-energy, preferably hilarious youtube video. Ask friends for suggestions.

19.  Eat something crunchy, like an apple.  Pretzels and rice cakes are also good late-night snacking foods.

20.  Eat something hot, like a fireball or pepper flakes or whatever else you can get your hands on.

21.  Chew some gum.

22. Dress up like a superhero. Your friends may laugh at you for years to come, but the sheer absurdity of it will keep you awake long enough to finish the paper.

23. Throw a shape! Every 5/10/20/whatever minutes get up and hold a ridiculous pose as long as possible.

24. Run outside around your house a few times. The bigger your house is, the more points you get.

25. Jumping jacks.