I will not be sleeping tonight. Does anyone know how to stay awake and alert for up to 48 hours?

Turn lights up all the way, no hats. Light coming from above your eyes resembles sunlight. Sit on the edge of your seat, never recline or lie down.

Change seats every 1/2 hour, even consider standing. Wear few clothes. Single shirt, not a warm sweatshirt.

Take off socks, keep your feet on the carpet/floor. Foot movement will stimulate the skin. Socks/shoes deaden this.

Stay cool, not warm. Fresh air from open window. Or make one of your sitting position outside or in a doorway or window.

Drink lots of water. You can't fall asleep with a full bladder. Alternate water with fruit juices and caffeinated beverages.

Small snacks. Don't overload on a lot of one thing. You'll crash an hour after eating a box of Girl Scout cookies.

Fat, high protein snacks take longer to digest. They also make you feel "full" or sated without eating large quantities. My favorites: roasted peanuts, beef jerky, BBQ pork rinds, frozen bacon.Be sure to eat some yogurt to reduce that burning sensation.

Don't go gung-ho on home-baked treats. Eat a whole batch of cookies over the course of a couple hours, and you've consumed the equivalent of 2-4 eggs.(That means malodorous flatulence for some people.) If you're just trying to stay awake (not performing some work or a task), pick up a good engaging book. I can read a book from end-to-end without stopping.

If it's not so good, or if you need a change of pace, every hour or so trade off with watching CNN or doing puzzles. Gives your brain something different to do. You won't be lulled to sleep by a slow book.

Plus, the constant switching stimulates your brain to expect more puzzles later, even if the current reading is a little boring. Don't stretch. That's how mammals relax before sleeping.

If you're getting stiff or sore, walk around the house.Do windmills with your arms. Squats. The activity gets your blood moving and helps stretch your muscles better than any pulling motions.

After the excercise, drink alot. The food/drink sensation drives away the relaxation/sleepiness that might follow exertion.

One of the safer ways is mate' tea. The compound in it is not caffeine, but a closely-related compound, so it keeps you alert without making you jittery. It did a good job keeping me alert driving when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and had to stay up for about 36 hours.

If you know about pregnancy, you'll know that most people struggle to stay awake at all the first trimester. So my feat was pretty unusual. Other things: stay out of dark places, because it will react with the melatonin in your system and make you sleepy.

Milk products could make you sleepy. And if you have much sugar/starch at all, it will at first give you a little rush, but then you could crash and feel your sleepiness even worse than it was before. Protein doesn't do this.

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