how to stay awake while reading | 8 ways

how to stay awake while reading

Reading is an act, meanwhile, readers are leaders. But there is one particular enemy that doesn’t want you to read, what is that enemy? The enemy of your books is actually called Mr. Sleep.

Do you always feel asleep while reading? If your answer is yes then let me show you how to stay awake while reading

how to stay awake while reading

If you are a type that always feel asleep whenever you pick your book to read, panic no more! This article is for you. You are not the only one in this shoe, it has been happening to others but you can get ride of it and make you academic envious and bright.

No matter how brilliant you are, you can never do without reading but there are many enemies of your success in which sleeping is part of them.
We are in a digital world meanwhile, you are expected to be digitalized.

Also read: 15 easy ways to make money as a student in Nigeria

Let me tell you a secret, why are you not sleeping when you are reading on your pc or smart phone? Yes, it is difficult for you to feel asleep while reading on phone or pc because it is a new way of reading for this new generation. Bet me, you will not feel asleep while reading this article then how come do you feel asleep while reading textbooks? The point is that, the digital world makes the material come alive.

 This is my point, though I am not discouraging you from reading textbooks but am just trying to unveil the fact you need to know.
If you want to stay awake, then convert your material to electronic and grow digital. We are no more in an analogue age, everything need to be modernized.

You can start reading online or converting your hard copy books to soft copy and you will see the difference. Though, it is important to learn how to stay awake while reading textbooks too in which am going to lay emphasis on in this article. This post can even guide you on how to stay awake while reading a boring book. Can't stay awake while reading? Read this post to the end.

While do I always feel asleep whenever I want to read?

The right answer to this question will also be considered in this article. Base on my own research, I figured out that: you are prompt to be asleep whenever you eat too much food before picking your book to read. Nevertheless, you can also feel asleep when you try to cheat nature; yes, of cause! If you are not sleeping for about eight hours in the night then don’t blame your body. Your body will demand of those hours you collected from it.

You also need to note that if your mind is not in what you are trying to read, then you will find it difficult to stay awake; if you are not in mood of reading then keep aside that book and fix another time for it. Mind you, it is better you read for two hours and you assimilate than reading for four hours without gaining anything.

The point here that you are feeling asleep while reading because you are not sleeping enough in the night and also your mind is not in what you want to read.

As I said earlier, you are feeling asleep while reading because you don’t make the material to come alive.
You will stay awake while reading mostly when you are reading a soft copy which include reading with your phone or personal computer (laptop or desktop).
I start by naming the reasons why you fell asleep because; a problem realized is half solved.

8 ways to stay awake while reading 

• Don’t read on bed
• Read when you are most awake
• Read the interesting part of the book
• Train your brain
• Sit down properly when reading 
• Be an active reader
• Don’t eat heavy food before reading
• Sleep for seven to eight hours within twenty-four hours 

If you can do these things above then you may be free from bondage of sleeping when reading.

As they are listed above, let’s do justice to them. This point above are based on my own experience and journalistic research and I hope they will also work for you as well. I personally have been a beneficiary and a living testimony that is while is found it useful for you to benefit from it too.

However, there are many ways to stay awake while reading but I only figure out eight which I feel they are the best and important to note. 

1 don’t read on bed: though it works for some people to read on bed but it is not advice able to read on your bed because there is vulnerability of getting asleep easily. Let take a look at it, library is for reading, chair is meant for sitting meanwhile, bed is meant for sleeping. 

Once you are on your bed, your brain quickly registers it that you are in the perfect place to sleep, therefore it begins to shut down for sleep to come. If you are reading on bed before, stop it and look for a reading table.

2 Read when you’re best awake: stop reading in the mid night if you are not always awaking during the night. In this case, I will advice you to know yourself and look for that time you are always awake. Like I said if you feel asleep in the night, why can’t you block a time in the afternoon and read then sleep in the night. The quality of night sleep cannot be replaced. If you feel like reading in the night and sleeping in the day, then I am hereby discouraging you to quit that habit. Your body need night rest.

Importance of night sleeping

The importance of night sleeping to both your health and other things can never be over emphasised. Sleepless night makes your body to be vulnerable to sickness and make you body system to be weak and make way to host sickness. 

This is an advice many people will never tell you; If you want your health and brain to be sound, then start sleeping for seven to eight hours in the night. By sleeping in the night, you will be able to stay awake during the day to read. 

There is a lot to say about this but let me quit here and focus on those how to stay awake while reading. Time is money, your time means a lot to me I will find time to deep more on this in my next post. 

4 Train you brain: Seriously, your brain needs training. The way you train your brain will determine how it will respond to stimuli. train your brain and let it know that reading time is not the time to sleep.

You can actually accomplish this by living your book and do other things when you are feeling asleep, by this when you come back to pick your book to read, your brain will start realizing that reading time is not sleeping time. But if you feel asleep with a book in your hand, your brain will register it and believe that picking book to read is a sleeping pill. 

There are many other ways to train your memory, but let continue any way.

5 Sit down properly when reading: Don’t sit as if you are eating while reading. It is advice able to sit properly on your reading chair and face your book which is supposed to be on your reading table.

Don’t trivialize this point, the truth is that you will end up sleeping when you underestimate or belittle how you sit while reading. 

For that moment you are reading, it is not the time to sit majestically. If you are reading sit like a student who is sitting close to the invigilator in the examination hall.
Don’t sit and rest your back on the chair, sit up and focus solely on reading. 

6 Be an active reader: when you are active when reading, you will find it difficult to feel asleep. Don’t just pick your book and read like an extensive reader, read intensively and make sure you are studding rather than reading.
It is better to study your books than to read then why?

When you are reading you may be reading for entertainment or reading without memorizing but when you are studding you are reading, jotting and the same time doing research and asking yourself question to test yourself. 

Now tell me, can you sleep while studding? I mean reading, jotting, researching, researching and testing yourself with various question.
You are sleeping while reading because you are not an active reader who is very studious and studding effectively. 

If you want to remember anything, then take time to study it. If you are reading, try and write down any definition or formula you read and try to write it off hand. After that then start questioning yourself about what you have read. 

If you read anything without studding it, it may only store in the short-term memory which may be forgotten within some minutes, but when you study you will lay emphasis on a point so that it will move from sensory to short term memory and later enter the long-term memory which can be remembered for years. 

Also read: 15 study strategies for college student 
I say once again! Be an active reader to avoid sleeping while reading.

7 Don’t eat heavy food before reading: yes, this is what you need to know! I don’t say you should not eat but don’t eat heavy food or eat too much before picking your book to read. If you quote me wrong, then try it and see what will be the implication of that. Curtail the size of food you eat before reading to avoid sleeping while reading.

Be prudent, don’t eat junk food or eat anyhow. Your body needs food to survive but limit the way you eat before picking your book to read.

When you want to read, eat small food and drink some water then pick your book and read after forty-five hours of eating.

8 Sleep for seven to eight hours within twenty-four hours: I have conversed this earlier but it cannot be over emphasised because of the imperativeness.

Sleep in the night and read in the day. However, to me it is a wrong idea to read in the night and sleep in the day or not sleeping at all. Note that around ten to eleven pm, your body and brain will start to shout down for night rest after the stress of the day.

Sometimes we may even feel asleep while reading because of stress. If you stress yourself too much then you don’t need to blame yourself for feeling asleep while reading because it is natural.

Normally, going through stress is normal thing for everyone but you need to learn stress management strategies because if you stress you body, you may end up getting sleep when reading.

Conclusion
If you are always feeling asleep while reading, take advantage of these 8 ways to stay awake while reading. You have note it all it left for you to stick to them and make good use of each of those point listed above.

However, we have clarified how to stay awake while reading in the write up above in which I hope you have learnt a lot from them.

I have done my part buy sharing my knowledge for you to gain and learn from my past experience and my journalistic research, I hope you like the article? If yes then do good by sharing this post to your friends and love ones to also benefit from it. Just a little time.

What is your suggestions? You may have some suggestion, clarification or questions, if at all you have that is nice, please do well by using the comment box below.
What are your own strategies? Comment below.