Just like the title said, I’m reading a finance book and it’s about to put me to sleep. I’m at work so I can’t catch some z’s (by the way, why the heck do we call sleep z’s?) nor can I step out and by some coffee until my break in a few hours. Is there any remedy that you guys use to keep yourselves awake while reading tedious and boring material?
Thanks.
Frequent breaks is the only way I can do it. If it’s something I really need to learn, which is the only reason I’d be reading such a boring book in the first place, I try to take lots of notes. It helps me learn it, and the physical activity keeps me a bit more alert.
Catching zs? I can only guess that it comes from the comics, where a person sleeping would have zs coming out of their head.
Frequent breaks, plus standing up. For some reason, I can stand in my office and read something tedious far more easily than sit and read. Plus I get a stack of those little plastic paper clips and break them into tiny pieces. I think maybe that occupies the part of my mind that needs to do something.
This is going to sound strange, but reading slightly under my breath, somewhere between mouthing the words and whispering, really works for me. If the material’s especially boring, I do so in an accent, say British or French…
When I really have to read something -that- boring, sometimes I drink a lot of water so I have to pee and can’t doze off. Of course, then sometimes you find yourself reading a paragraph and not registering any of it because you have to pee.
And a little like the “take notes” suggestion - try after each paragraph summarizing it in your own words in your head, so you can’t just let your eyes move over it and not take it in.
Not that I’m blaming you in any way, we all must do what we must do, but I really want to grab people who make us do stuff like this and say,
“Life’s too short to be reading this crap! Why are you making me do this? It’s gorgeous weather outside, I’m only young for a while, let me go have fun!”
Aargh. Sorry for the hijack. 
Try turning the book upside down and reading like that.
I have had this problem ever since I started college. Here are all the things I have tried to do:
Drink water- While this did make me feel better it could not make me stay awake while reading anything I had no interest in.
Sugar water- This is no good because it kept me awake for a short while and then made me really tired. For this to work you would need a constant supply, which is unhealthy and habit forming.
Coffee- Gods gift to mankind. It works best without sugar. It might not taste good at first but you can get used to it. Problems include stained teeth and it might reach the point that you will not be able to function without it.
Lollipops- A constant supply of continuos sugar. If you can handle so much sugar it will keep you vivid during your reading. The problems are that you will be taking in too much sugar and not even the chocolate related sugar, which may allow your body to increase endorphin flow, but the sugar that just makes me feel bad. Headaches and depression from lack of sugar all in the second day of continuos lollipop sucking.
Sugarless chewing gum- This is what I found works best. The movement of your mouth will keep your mind awake and focus. Some people find gum chewers to be disrespectful, so a small social stigma might follow with this tactic. Other than that it works pretty well.