It’s Monday. Crappy, rainy Monday. Even worse, it’s that dead time in the middle of the work day when you no longer have lunch to look forward to, but 5 p.m. is way too far away to get excited. Despite a small snack and a short walk, I’m still drooping.
So I’m interested in finding out how Dopers wake themselves up in the middle of the day. Bucket of cold water? Gallon of coffee? Other suggestions?
Coffee. Fruit. Apples are good.
a spoonful of horseradish sauce or paste.
Take a walk to the server room, reboot a few random servers. The phone ringing will keep me awake the rest of the day.
Seriously I do take a walk to the server room. Not to reboot random servers, but to make sure the AC units work, nobody left cabniet doors open, etc. Lets me stretch my legs, and get some fresh air walking between buildings. If still dragging on the way back I will stop by the smoke pit, and chat with the smokers for a few minutes.
-Otanx
Perhaps some nuts? 
Strong coffee, followed by (or accompanied by) a cloth of cold water patted all over your face.
Seriously, though, how close are you to your boss? I remember one office job I had, the big boss had a kind of personal mission to get to know every manager personally (I was a manager) and he actually advocated hanging a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your office door in the late afternoon, laying your head down for 15 minutes, and having a ‘power nap’. Any way you could do something similar? Sometimes no amount of caffeine or cold water can take the place of a little snooze!
If it’s past 4PM, at least when it’s me, skip the caffeine and go straight to the cold water. At least if you hope to get to sleep at anything resembling a reasonable time tonight. If I drink caffeine too late, then can’t get to sleep until the small hours of the morning, it makes for a vicious cycle. . .
If you try a snack, try combining carbs and protein. Some multi grain crackers and cheese, yogurt with berries, etc.
My friend had a 100,000 volt stun gun sitting next to his alarm clock. The alarm would ring, he’d grab it and then hit himself. Boom, awake.
I drink a bottle of water. I find that tiredness is actually a bit of dehydration.
Second eating an apple.
I go outside just for a couple of minutes, to breathe some un-stale air and change the scenery. Even if it’s cloudy and rainy and wet, the temperature change can be reviving. And it’s nice to see that there’s a world outside.
If I’m getting severely sleepy–to the point that my eyelids are trying to close–I put a couple of drops of Visine in each eye. It seems to fool my eyes into thinking they’ve gotten some rest.
Cold water–colder the better–applied to the hands, wrists and neck, is also helpful.
In truly desperate cases, those 5 hour energy drinks–the little tiny bottles, not Red Bull etc–do actually work, but don’t drink one on an empty stomach.
Yeah, that’s what I do. Getting up and walking around a bit outside usually helps me wake up. Or least makes it possible for me to stay conscious.
I wish I knew. I am going to a lecture this afternoon, 3:00-4:30 and I would like to listen for the whole hour and a half. But I will fall asleep and I wish I knew how to avoid it. It is disrespectful to the speaker (who is a colleague and friend who never falls asleep when I talk) and I will also miss learning what he has to say. If I could get up and take a short walk, it might help. But I often fall asleep in the first half hour and wake a half hour later.
Hmmm. Would taking a small snack in with you be against the rules? I’ve heard some people say they keep themselves from falling asleep while driving by nibbling constantly. Obviously, you want something you can eat pretty slowly, and something that’s not going to be so noisy as to disturb those around you. Some animal crackers, maybe, or dried fruit? I’ve personally never tested the “stay awake by eating” thing, but I do know the only time I ever did fall asleep while I was eating, I was very, very sick.
Just a thought.
Thanks for all the responses. I’m going to have to put some of these into practice today - again. I think I’ll go outside and catch a quick nap in my car.