I need tips for concentrating in class

I need help with concentrating in my nursing school courses. More specifically, I need to tackle the sleepiness factor. I am of course referring to physical (and mental) alertness during a class. How does one stay ‘awake’ and focused when all your eyelids wanna do is close?
It’s not that the material isn’t riveting and key to my education *cough *cough*. Nooooooo. Not. At. All. My mind is not wandering due to boredom or due to attention challenges.

No.

Nope.

Ever happen to you? Never happens to me.

….

So here’s my question.

How does one stay focused on the material being provided in class when your eyelids don’t wanna cooperate? I know that we’ve discussed the NOC shift and tricks of the trade for staying awake, but this is a different sort of animal.

I find a heavy sense of irony when you put a nurse in a classroom. Here you have a professional ‘doer’ — someone who is constantly moving (running most often), never stays in one place or area for a very long time and always has an overabundance of stimuli coming at them from every direction.

So where is the one place you should not place this creature?

That’s right, in a quiet environment where there is only one source of stimuli (the presenter/professor/instructor). While you’re at it have them sit in this environment for very long and extended periods of time (I’ve had classes that are 4 hrs. long).

Most 2nd degree nursing programs and those RN-BSN programs are all structured the same way. They are trying to meet the needs of the busy full-time RN (not a bad thing at all). They understand that they are working full-time, usually have a family and many other responsibilities outside their work and home. So they try to minimize the amount of ‘time’ commitment by offering classes that meet only once a week for a large chunk of time, as opposed to the traditional college coursework that involves meeting 2-3 times per week for 40-50 minutes per class. Same amount of ‘total’ time to get your degree, just a lot less ‘relative’ time spent on campus.

Any-hoo..

Back to my original question at hand.

How does one keep the laser-sharp focus and mental alertness in the classroom when all you wanna do is take a nap?

I myself seem to be chewing a lot of gum right now and sipping frantically on bottled water, but as you can guess from me asking the question, my methods aren’t very effective?

Any suggestions??