[retro_chic]

So today my boss called me in to talk to me and said that one of the client's we had a meeting with last week thought I was falling asleep during the meeting . I was very tired and my eyes were burning so I was blinking a lot but I really couldn't help it . I feel so embarrassed. My boss wasn't really angry about it but he just wanted to let me know so that I can make sure it doesn't happen again and I apologised profusely.

I often have trouble sleeping due to my depression and anxiety. Also one of the side effects of my antidepressant is sleepiness so that could be part of it too. I'm really trying to do everything I can to treat these issues (weekly therapy, Pdoc and meds as well as trying to practice good sleeping habits). I try to eat healthy and avoid too much coffee (usually just two a day) but maybe I should just have something sugary before meetings so this doesn't happen again.

I struggle a lot in meetings which are dragging on.

I've tried discreetly pinching the skin between my fingers. I also save a coffee for before meetings, but it only helps briefly.

I'm more focused if I'm the one supposed to take meeting minutes.

I find that drinking water during the day helps keep me hydrated and awake when I need to be. Sometimes sleepiness is dehydration....... Or at least for me.

[retro_chic]

Thanks for the replies . I try to drink a lot of water during the day but maybe having a glass of water to sip on during the actual meeting would help. I'm trying not to worry about it too much but it keeps popping into my head and causing little bursts of anxiety.

The taking notes suggestion is a good one. Maybe treat yourself to a nice pen? Levenger has gorgeous ones but even drug stores or stores like target have good pens that are cheap. I like rollerball or gel pens in multicolored packs.

4:00 pm was always the sleepiest office time for me. Ugh.

[rechu]

I had something like that happen at my last job. One day there was a major fire causing a lot of air pollution. It was so bad that a co-worker had to ask to skip the meeting to take care of her son who has asthma. I have serious respiratory problems, so I considered saying I wasn't going to the meeting because of it. However, the owner has anger management issues, so I went so he wouldn't get mad at me.

It was summer so we had the windows open overnight and were woken up at around 3 AM due to the smoke. After that I couldn't sleep. So, I was tired and generally feeling like garbage from walking to the meeting in the polluted air. I explained this at the start, so he wouldn't get annoyed. Even so, about half an hour in, he sneered at me and said. "you look tired, I hope I'm not boring you". What an ***. So again, I explained how I had felt badly and hadn't slept well because of the fire. Still, he gave me dirty looks for the rest of the meeting.

I agree with the suggestions to bring a glass of water and take some notes to keep yourself more alert. Also, now that you know people have an eye on you, you know to remind yourself to look like you are paying attention. Also maybe going outside for some fresh air right before the meeting can help. It often helps me.

[martin_thompson]

I think you should take a short nap when you need to. We are working about 8/9 hours long at office. So we may get asleep for five or ten minutes. And for this 5/10 min I think we should take a short nap and then take a coffee and go for the rest of the time.

[BipolarMama31]

I used to walk around my building before meetings to keep me alert. I usually have about 45 mins at a computer or meeting before i cant be there anymore.
So i would even suggest bathroom breaks every 45 mins just as an excuse to get up and walk around. Other people liked that i did that, bc these things would drag on forever.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk