All protocols

When testing whether changing nap timing helps, use an on-off-on experiment: do your usual protocol, switch to the new earlier protocol for about two weeks, then return to the original protocol to see if problems recur.

For a 'nappuccino,' drink a quick espresso immediately before turning the lights out for a 20-minute nap so caffeine kicks in as you wake, reducing sleep inertia while preserving nap benefits.

If you get the afternoon postprandial dip and do not want to nap, get outside and walk around to increase alertness; the benefit likely comes from both physical activity and daylight exposure.

Coffee appears beneficial largely due to compounds in the coffee bean, including antioxidants, not just caffeine. Benefits appear U-shaped, so try not to exceed about 3 cups per day; beyond roughly 3 to 4 cups, benefits may decline. Decaffeinated coffee can provide many of the same antioxidant-related health benefits without the caffeine. If very sensitive to caffeine, keep intake to one cup.

Immediately after a nap, increase alertness by washing hands and face with cold water and/or getting bright light exposure. The cited study used cold hand and face washing and bright light at 2000 lux immediately after waking. A fuller 'nap plus plus' version is: drink an espresso immediately before a 20-minute nap, then upon waking wash hands and face with cold water and get 5 to 10 minutes of outdoor daylight.

After waking, splash cold water on your face and/or hands to promote alertness.

Before bed, use warm water and warming strategies for the extremities to support sleep onset via thermoregulation; specifically, wash face and hands with warm water and warm the hands and feet.

Get sunlight in your eyes in the middle of the day for mood benefits; this does not shift circadian timing.

When traveling or trying not to shift your clock, wear sunglasses and a brimmed hat to reduce light exposure and avoid unwanted circadian shifting.

Use the minimal effective dose with sauna and cold exposure; do not overdo either stimulus.

If overactivated or jittery during precise work, use rhythmic movement such as tapping your foot or another context-appropriate body part to dispel anticipatory energy and steady performance.

Parents can use a tracker on a child's phone to monitor where they are.

Parents, educators, police, and the public should enforce and regulate the U.S. legal age of 21 for nicotine product sales because teens were described as obtaining them too easily from vape shops.

Avoid vaping cannabis and avoid high-THC cannabis products, especially in youth, due to addiction risk, inhalation-related chemical exposure, and concern that cannabis may trigger psychosis in predisposed individuals.

For nicotine-addicted teens, discussed as treatment using a nicotine patch plus supplemental nicotine gum or lozenges; one patch is about 21 mg nicotine, and some clinicians use one patch with gum/lozenges because teens may be consuming much more nicotine than that. Mentioned as treatment for weaning off nicotine, not as a starting product.

Non-nicotine gum can help address the hand-to-mouth/oral component of nicotine withdrawal.

During nicotine withdrawal, use short distraction and urge-management strategies such as listening to a 3–4 minute song, running or doing something active, chewing on a plain toothpick, and otherwise getting your mind off the feeling until the urge passes.

During nicotine cessation, avoid parties or settings where friends are vaping because visual and smell cues can trigger relapse; instead, set up a social milieu with friends who are not using and involve family support.

Keep healthy snacks and water readily available as part of a supportive environment for teens trying to quit nicotine or other drugs.

Teach teens how to say no and feel good about saying no, rather than simply telling them 'just say no.'

Appeal to teens' concern for the environment by explaining harms from pods, plastics, benzoic acid, and secondhand or thirdhand aerosol.

If alcohol or other substances are involved, use a designated driver, sober driver, Uber, Lyft, or another rideshare rather than driving impaired.

Have one sober person at a party not only for driving but also to help prevent unsafe sexual situations, falls, or other harms.

Use condoms, get STI testing, and use birth control as part of safer sexual behavior.

Use comprehensive education rather than only 'just say no.' If a teen may engage in risky behavior, provide practical safety guidance and put safety first—for example, tell them to call for a ride if they've been drinking, teach negotiation and healthy relationship skills, discuss fentanyl test strips, advise against buying drugs off the internet, and emphasize not using drugs alone.

Provide condoms as a harm-reduction measure if a teen may become sexually active.

Carry Narcan personally and keep it available in public settings including schools, libraries, and bars.

Ask teens about their goals and aspirations, then link current choices and risks to those future outcomes.

Suggested as a possible buffer after sleep deprivation because caffeine may enhance hippocampal memory encoding; discussed as a plausible strategy, not yet directly tested as a rescue for sleep-loss-related encoding deficits.

If underslept and you have a choice of when to learn, schedule learning for the time of day when your chronotype puts you at your best operating temperature; for early chronotypes this may be around 10–11 a.m., for later chronotypes around midday or 1 p.m.