What do you do to stay awake, alert and focused at work? Sure you can start guzzling caffeine drinks and popping energy supplements - but you'll be setting yourself up for a major crash. You need to pace yourself and moderate your intake of coffee, energy drinks or whatever your caffeinated beverage of choice may be.

Waking Up:
0-1 cup - Before your drive to work. You really don't need to waste your caffeine boost to drive to work. Listen to music or drive with the window open to wake you up.

Starting Work:
1-2 cups - Go ahead and drink 1 or 2 cups.

After Lunch:
1-2 cups - Usually you are dragging after lunch, so you'll need a cup or two in the afternoon to help you finish out the day.

It is imperative that you stop drinking coffee 1-2 hours prior to the end of the work day so you can let your caffeine buzz gradually fade as it gets closer to bedtime and then you will be able to actually fall asleep.

So to sum it all up, moderate your intake and stay awake on 5 cups or less per day, pending of course that you haven't already built up your immunity to caffeine and require larger doses, in which case you may need to reset yourself and follow our detox program in an upcoming article.

Bonus Tips:

Here are some common decaffeinated tips to stay awake throughout the day:

1. Stay hydrated - drink lots of water or vegetable juice.
2. Stretch every 15 minutes
3. Take mini-walks
4. Eat small snacks