I am making a long driving trip starting tomorros @noon. I am supposed to be avoiding caffeine. Usually I take No-Doz, so this is going to be out.
My husband and daughter will be with me, but typically I do all the driving (can you say control freak?). We will be listening to tapes, etc., but I could go to sleep doing anything. If I let my husband drive and even if I sit in the back seat I will be so nervous there is no way I could go to sleep. So, driving–could fall asleep; no stress in the back seat–wide awake.
Does anyone have any other suggestions? I will probably drink one caffeine drink, but not more.
It’s too late to get caught up on my sleep. Plus I just came off five days of my parents visiting which literally made me sick on Saturday. I don’t think I can take another visit from my mother, but that would be for another post.
Sleepy in Ohio
(driving to Grand Junction, Colorado–then to Farmington, New Mexico)
This probably isn’t the advice you’re looking for, but when you feel very sleepy at the wheel, the only good idea is to stop and rest; loud music, open windows and other workarounds, even including (legal) stimulants such as caffeine, may only give you the illusion that you are safe to drive.
You’re messing with the Angel of Death. If you’re that tired, pull over to a safe place and take a nap. Let the hubby entertain the kids in a truck stop if you have to, or just let him drive.
I’m the main driver on all our long trips, and it’s the job of the person in the co-pilot’s seat to keep the driver awake. Tell stories, play the alphabet game, sing songs. No Cat’s Cradle with the driver, as entertaining as that may seem.
As a friend of mine pointed out, “You think drinking and driving’s been getting some bad press? Bah. It’s sleeping and driving that you really want to avoid.”
One coffee, one bag of in-the-shell sunflower or pumpkin seeds, one caffeine-free soft drink.
Drink the coffee straight away and keep the cup. Keep popping the sunflower seeds, letting your teeth and tongue shell the seeds and remove the kernel. Use the empty coffee cup to hold the shells if your window ain’t open. The soft drink, of course, is to take care of the thirst induced by the salty seeds.
If it’s just road-induced drowsiness, you won’t get sleepy if you’re mouth has something to do. Really, it works (it’s a technique shared with me by a long-haul trucker.)
However, if you find yourself getting tired anyway, pull over and take a catnap. A nap of as little as half an hour will refresh you amazingly.
And, BTW, if you can “fall asleep doing anything” you might want to get checked for sleep apnea. That pretty much described me a year ago, but since being diagnosed and treated, life has been a lot more alert.
Please, listen to everyone! If you start to feel a bit sleepy, and hubby’s not too awake himself, start looking for an appropriate place to pull over (like a well-lit convenience store), and when you find one, just pull over for a while. Just a couple of hours of fitful sleep will do wonders, then you can get a cuppa joe from the store and get on the road again.
Very good advice, here. Sunflower seeds work, cigarettes REALLY work, short sleeps work. In my driving all around everywhere days, I would keep up a constant supply of nicotine and bottled water. My normal schedule was to drive 20 hours, sleep for four. I could go for days on end like this. These days, when my gf is travelling with me, I stop every 100 miles for a smoke break. It doesn’t work as well (about 16 hours a day is my limit now).
I too find eating a good way to stay awake. Once I figured that out, I then had to figure out how to not eat too much. I happen to love pretzels and would eat a whole bag in a stint.
My way is to nibble. I will eat the outside of the pretzel off and try to get the whole outside off before eating more. Hey, it’s weird, but it makes time go by. That and a drink, I can drive for quite a while.
Also, plan some stops about every two hours. Find a rest stop, etc that you can stop at to take a stroll etc. It is amazing how your body will think that you can stay alert for a few hours etc. Until it doesn’t care. Then nap.
I also agree about napping. There was a radio ad once that said, if you can’t let one eyelid nap. If I’m tired, then it is time to nap.
I also will keep the air conditioning cooler in the car, warm air will drop me like a light.
I used to try pain too, but that eventually gets more annoying than wakeful.
Okay, I normally don’t drag this story out, but it seems appropriate at the moment.
My cousin and her husband were killed when a sleepy truck driver hit them head-on on Christmas Eve. Her leg was found 100 ft. from where her body landed. On a barbed-wire fence. Their son’s back was broken. The kids were never the same again.
To echo what the others said, take a nap.
But if you find your attention wandering after many hours behind the wheel, drink a Red Bull. At least with me it has the effect of bringing back my focus.
I’m going to echo the sentiment of others here and suggest you let your husband take a turn driving. It’s better to be stressed out in the back seat than putting your family, and others’ families, at risk.
My father is an emergency room doctor. Sometimes after working the night shifts at the hospital, he’s exhausted on the way home. One morning he managed to sleep straight through a red light and hit another car. Luckily, no one was hurt; however, this was very, very close to being a disaster story.
Please, please, please don’t let that happen. My dad got incredibly lucky not to have hurt anyone, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t. It’s not worth the risk.
Loud, angry music (Nine Inch Nails works well)
Sunflower seeds/gum/toothpicks.
Beverages (caffinated or not). If nothing else, the always-full bladder will keep you awake.
Occasionally if you start to feel drowsy, pull over, get out, and RUN around the car 5-6 times. Then resume your driving, and turn the music up another notch.
The problem with being tired is that you can fall asleep with no warning at all. One minute you’re awake trying to keep your eyes open, the next you’re at the ER on a stretcher and hubby’s just been pronounced dead. The best thing is to learn to be a good passenger and share the driving. I went on a 6000 km trip with my wife and we swapped every 2-3 hours. We swapped sooner if either of us felt tired.
As others have said above, things like redbull or coffee will work if you’re feeling a little tired just from the boredom of driving, but once you get to the point where you are tired AND short on sleep, nothing will stop you from napping.
Oh and a 20-30min nap is long enough to make you safe again, if you have a sleep for longer than that, make sure you give yourself at least 15mins between waking up and driving to allow your body to get with the programme. You know how you can wake up, answer the phone, have a conversation, and remember none of it? You need to give yourself time to get through that half-asleep phase before driving again.
