What do you guys do to stay awake?

Taking short walks outside usually works sometimes for me. Music/internet radio seem to help a bit as well. But these don't lasts long. Neither does the candy/sweets/gum that I buy sometimes (however, they are useful during meetings!)
I believe that taking small naps is the best solution (15-30 minutes with sleep), but I'm often in situations where small naps is not an option.

I'm interested in hearing what you guys do. Office tips are wanted!

Energy drinks?

To be honest, making myself fall asleep is more of a problem than making myself stay awake. I haven't done any really long (i.e. > 24hrs) sessions in a few years, but I used to be able to do them regularly without issue.

At the office, I'm not tired, but I get restless and often take quick walks just to keep my mind fresh and focused.

Coffee doesn't help me anymore

This may only work for me, but being in a hot environment helps me stay awake. The colder it is the better I sleep, and oppositely the hotter it is the more I stay awake.

The hard part is staying awake after a short sleep. It is much easier to just skip sleep to begin with and catch up on it later. I don't find it hard to stay awake myself. Pretty naturally energetic.

Make sure you're in a well lit and preferrably noisy (music for example) environment. It helps for me, it feels more like daytime. Also, make sure you've got something to do. Staying awake with nothing to do is hard.

Last time I was awake for 42 hours.

The most interesting thing I tried was to play simple arpeggios on guitar - that possibly cleared my brain.

The rest was just enduring the headache and the pain of being awake for a long time.

A healthy amount of water might be of help too.

5-Hour Energy for me. Stuff works really good, even for longer than 5 hours. Perfect for me, since I hate the taste of coffee.

Coffee is my poison, but I can see that changing really soon. Occasionally I go off of it for a few months to a year, especially if I hit a really high 'required dose' of coffee a day (ex: 5 or more cups). Then I detox on green tea or something less caffeinated.

Originally Posted by Goldfish

5-Hour Energy for me. Stuff works really good, even for longer than 5 hours. Perfect for me, since I hate the taste of coffee.

My dad has recently decided to swear by that. I'm not so sure about it...does it have any negative effects, like increased heart rate or things like that (like energy drinks) or is it totally different?

It can be habit forming if you use it for, like 10 straight days or more (like I had to at one point...But I got off it pretty easily after an off day where I didn't use it), but really no...No crash, no jitters, 4 calories, no sugar, very little caffeine, very "natural" energy (not hyper energy, like the other drinks I used to use -Rockstar and the Sobe ones-). Sometimes at the end of the day, I don't think it wears off completely, so I just go for a walk around the block to tire myself out. Oh and the taste is iffy, but it's grown on me. I'd definitely recommend trying it once. I've gotten two people in my office to convert to it.

Those five hour energy drinks don't do anything for me...

Lately, I've taken to using a light therapy box and melatonin supplements to better control my sleep schedule. Working the night shift, and coming home in the dark, I get conflicting day and night signals. Hopefully this will be able to sort them out.

And failing that, I can always fall back on good ol' Mountain Dew!

Coffee doesn't help me, either!

I just play my favorite game..like PES

They keep me awake

I hardly ever try to stay awake; when I'm tired, I go to bed. But I guess I've had some experience in the past; relatively uptempo or intricate music usually helps, and doing something like tapping your foot on the ground repeatedly (lol insane) can help. A bit of movement to keep you focused or somethin', I dunno the physics.

I think your mental state also really has an influence on how tired you are as well. For example, when I have a lot on my mind and am really excited or anticipating something I find it hard to sleep. When I am bored, with nothing on my mind and am really not looking forward to anything I get tired easier.

So if you are having trouble staying awake, maybe try to get yourself amped up for something. It won't work all the time, because you might not consistently be able to do it, but it works a lot for me. May not work for everyone though. Different things work for diff people.

Also a late-night exercise might give you some energy. You may think it will do the opposite and wear you out, but a nice workout really gets me going.

COFFEE! lots of coffee and espresso! that will usually make me stay awake.

in the car on a long trip = caffeine + blasting air conditioning, ever try to sleep when your freezing

Originally Posted by DragoonKain

I think your mental state also really has an influence on how tired you are as well. For example, when I have a lot on my mind and am really excited or anticipating something I find it hard to sleep. When I am bored, with nothing on my mind and am really not looking forward to anything I get tired easier.

So if you are having trouble staying awake, maybe try to get yourself amped up for something. It won't work all the time, because you might not consistently be able to do it, but it works a lot for me. May not work for everyone though. Different things work for diff people.

Also a late-night exercise might give you some energy. You may think it will do the opposite and wear you out, but a nice workout really gets me going.

I also hear blatant denial does wonders for keepings one spirits (and mind) up in the lowest of times.

Hydroxycut Hardcore. Boy, did that ever end up being one of the worst ideas I've ever had, but it sure kept my ass awake, even when I wasn't working out. That rush stuck with me for the duration of the day, but it felt like my heart was about to burst through my ribcage and I had the jitters something fierce.

So maybe it's for super serious athletes, thus the "hardcore" part. I wouldn't recommend taking it regularly, but if you're in a pinch, there you go.

I'm interested in that 5-Hour Energy bullshit. I'd try it once to see if it worked.

A cousin of mine who stays in the US often asks us to buy her Extra Joss to keep here awake at work. The down side is that.. after the waking effect....you get VERY tired. I drank one once..... I didn't see the effect until I saw my bed. Slept like a stone. My brother drinks tea (not the herbal one). I..um have this immunity to caffeine...so the only way I can not sleep..is to make sure I am sitting up straight.

I don't drink coffee or energy drinks, so I just have 15-20, sometimes 1 hour naps to keep going overall. I have a friend of mine who has 3-4 hour rests every 8-10 sometimes 12 hours.