9 ways around it

So for readers with newborns — or really anyone who has to go to work without enough sleep, here are the nine things I discovered during my most sleep-deprived days that can help you get through a workday with some semblance of productivity, even when you’ve had almost no sleep:

1. Set your alarm for the last possible minute; every second of sleep counts when you’re this sleep-deprived.
2. Eat breakfast. Especially a breakfast high in grains and proteins, with little sugar.
3. Drink four cups of coffee. Heck, even five.
4. Get outside, and get natural light as soon as possible.
5. Find some time to exercise — even just a token amount.
6. The earliest part of your day will be the part when you have the least effects of sleep deprivation. So tackle the hardest things on your agenda first.
7. Skip meetings. I should have on that 45 minutes of sleep day — although it did make for a pretty decent story later.
8. See if you can scrounge and somehow take a 30-minute nap during the day.
9. Last but not least: This whole thing is a one-day solution only. Be sure you get your seven to eight hour minimum of sleep the next day.