hey guys!
ok, so when I found out I got my PhD it was the best thing ever and its the only thing i wanted to do when i finished my undergrad degree! However, I have just started and while I'm really into it, and can't wait to really get stuck into it, I'm finding the first few weeks a nightmare! For some reason I just can't concentrate properly and even after cancelling all social life in favour of a good nights sleep, I find myself falling asleep every afternoon at my desk! I'm feeling like a bit of a fraud right now, and I'm just waiting for my supervisor to find me out!
Is this normal for starting a PhD and any tips on staying awake?!!

I was like you just after finishing mu undergrad degree (although I was working). I think the tiredness can be put down to nerves (nerves also causes an inability to concentrate and make decisions). I don't mean that you're actually on edge, but on some level you're bound to be a bit anxious.

You're not alone in feeling like a fraud, either: keep reading this forums and you'll soon relaise everyone else thinks they are a fraud, too.

Apologies for the lousy spelling...it's hot and stuffy in my office today and I can't concentrate either

you know what juno, i think ur right! ive been so worried that i cant do it ive been making it worse! but no more! thanks! and btw, anyone know exactly what an envelope function is in stastical analysis?!

As you are nervous, have you been eating more things like chocolate bars, donuts, crisps etc or anything else sugary around 11am-12ish? Might explain your falling asleep 30minutes after.

nope, ive been drinking water so much im peeing like a mad thing, and lunch is usually a sandwich, earl grey tea, fruit and a wee freddo choc bar! but no matter what lunch is i fall asleep! :D ive tried the whole going for a walk thing and drinking coffee and lucozade and then avoiding coffee and lucozade, but i think im just meant to sleep!

It's so hot in my office today too and I'm sweating like a pig I usually take a nap for half an hour every day after lunch....it keeps me going for the rest of the afternoon

Are you just working really hard or late, or not getting much sleep (anxiety or late night)?

Hi would say it's the stress of starting the PhD. Any big change in your life is stressful even if you don't think it is/ it's a good change. I had the same thing with fatigue twice in the last couple of years, both times were just after moving house and only lasted a few weeks so hang on in there. It's very common, doctors even have a name for it: TATT (tired all the time) known to be caused my stress.

you know what? after a whole year of trying to stay awake between 2-3, i go to the corner of the library and take a 15 min nap. i dont need it everyday, but OMG does it help. there is no point fighting sleep...or you just knock over your carefully prepared cell culture...

thanks for all ur replies guys! ive had a lot of aother stuff going on aw well as the phd, which has been worrying me a bit so i guess its prob anxiety and the stress of things changing, everythin in my life is changing right now! but im just gona see how it goes and not fight it, if i need sleep i need sleep! think i might mention it to my supervisor too tho, just so he knoes where the snores are coming from!

ooh feeling great!
just out of a seminar, my supervisor sitting in front...slept the whole way through! looks like im not the only one! :-P

Hi algae,
drinking a lot, peeing a lot and fatigue are all preliminary signs of diabetes. I suggest you fast overnight and have a blood glucose test before breakfast. You can get this done at any Lloyds pharmacy free of charge. Just a thought.

Take it easy, and it's not that you're are gonna use any of your early stuff, well maybe some of it, but what really counts is the last 6 months. I can understand you thou...

Try to get, say, one new thing finished by the end of each day?

Try to see it as a 9 to 5 job? That should help, little inspiration is required at the start.