Solar Powered driving and how to defeat the night with or without caffeine.

I went most of my life without drinking coffee. I did for about a total of 3 years and realized how much I hated the adverse effects it had on me. One thing that I found is it was actually making me more tired in a short period of time after it gave me a quick jolt of energy which was also causing problems with me. If I am in real rough shape I will drink a 5 hour energy or a zipfiz energy drink but most of the time good old water works best for me. I am just the opposite as far as a running schedule. As soon as that sun comes up I go down for the count.

 

Night driving for me had always been brutal.

My eyes just don't adjust to darkness that well and headlights on the trucks I drove never seemed bright enough unless they were on high beam.

That's one of the main reasons I got out of otr. I didn't feel safe to drive when it was dark.

When I was with my trainer and the sun came up while driving for a few hours I felt like I was going to fall asleep at the wheel.

My trainer called it vertigo. From what I know, that's not really what it's called but whatever it is, my brain was tripping out.

If I drove during the daylight hours I could run like a raped ape.

 

The best thing is plan ahead and get rest before you start a night shift. Turn the phone and laptop off and get to bed. Even a few hours nap can be enough to give you the energy to get to sunrise.

Avoid sugary drinks, especially ones with caffeine, as well as energy drinks. They all have a short term boost followed by a crash.

Healthy snacks are better for energy and keep you busy too. I keep trail mix and peanuts on hand. Carbs from cheese crackers, dry cereal, and the like can help too. Obviously not good to make a meal out of, but better than sugary drinks and candy.

If you absolutely can't stay alert, forget about the schedule and make time for a 30 minute stop. Better that than drifting off. I've read a bunch of studies on the topic of short sleep periods. The consensus seems to be that a 15-30 minute catnap is the second best thing to a full sleep period. It's a short enough time that you don't fall into REM sleep and struggle to wake up, and just long enough to provide some benefit. My personal experience is a 30 minute stop with a 25 minute nap buys me about 90 minutes of awakeness.

Some times when I've gotten enough rest in advance, I don't have a problem. There have been other times I've stopped two or three times to get a load in on time. As a rule, I plan an extra two hours into a night driving shift just for that. If I don't need it, I deliver early. If I do, I'll at least be on time.

Another thing that can help is mastering the 8/2 split on your logbooks. It can help you "find time" to pull off and take a power nap if you need one.

 

I try to get as much sleep as I can before I do an all night drive as I've been driving in the daylight mostly the last couple years. However I do use caffene namely Red Bull, cant stand coffee. I also turn up the AC and radio and take breaks to get out and stretch.

 

I drive teams and I have always been the night driver. I like not having that much traffic to fight and it has other benefits as well, but that is not the topic so I'll stop that crazy train before it de-rails.

I have found that the best way to stay alert through the night is good ole fashioned 8 hrs of sleep, however it takes some time to adjust your body to a new sleep pattern. Even though my sleep pattern is adjusted and if I get plenty of sleep I do find myself fighting for dawn on the occasion. Incidentally that is actually one of the reasons I like night driving because I get that energy boost when the sun comes up.

Even with an adjusted sleep schedule and 8 hrs of sleep your body is still on a biological clock called the circadian rhythm. And during the hours of 2am-5am you are in what is called a circadian trough, essentially your biological clock is telling you that you are supposed to be asleep right now.

With that little science lesson out of the way I can continue by saying this: you are literally trying to fight nature and your body wants to sleep during that time and you won't let it, so naturally it will be hard. Humans have tried to overcome this for many many years and we have no way to "cure" it, we just have ways to combat it such as caffeine.

I always keep a stash of 5 hr energy shots within reach "in case of emergency". Just make sure that you break the seal on them before you stash them as they are a pain to open while driving. I drink coffee without adverse effects, but I never get anything larger than a 20 oz (large amounts of coffee seem to have an adverse effect) and I only drink coffee to wake me up initially and not to keep me awake that's what the 5 hr energy shots are for. Just don't make the energy shots a habit as they have a tendency to become impotent if you do. I only drink about 2-3 a week if that.

If you can find a place to park you can take a 30-45 min nap, but no more than 45 min because you will start to drop into a deeper sleep and when you wake up you may feel worse than before. Adult stores usually always have parking. I'm not saying you have to shop there and who cares what other people think you may be doing there. There tends to be ample parking there due to the very fact that a lot of people are embarrassed to be seen there, but who cares you just need a nap.

Very minty chewing gum tends to help me at times as well, but if all else fails search for a safe place to park and sleep. Better to be late than rolled over in a ditch somewhere.

 

I know exactly what you are talking about, here is what helped my get past the 3 to 6am deadly time:

Spicy gun or sour balls. Something that shocks the tastbuds, cinnamon or lemon.
Audiobook that I am really really into.
Talk radio that either I really like, or gets me angry. (Liberal talk radio would get me so riled up I couldnt sleep).
Using one of those hand excersize squeezers when I would start to feel the fatigue.
Roll the windows down for a breeze.

Hope this helps.

 

weird thing

before i started driving truck, i LOVED driving at night over day time

then running with the megas, i learned to drive 24hrs a day (literally sometimes)

now, i love best driving from 0300 till about 2100

but to answer your question, when i do have those nights where you MUST drive, believe it or not, even a nap before hand or coffee doesnt help

mostly, i drive until i can tell i need to stop, then i stop, nap for about 15min to 30 min, and then i am good for the rest of the night

so if i start at 1700, i drive till about midnight or so, then when i start scratching my head, i find somewhere to pull over, nap, then i am good till sunrise

no coffee, no walking around, none of that helps (and i love a good cup of Pilot Dark Roast) but i can still sleep right after drinking it

 

I found what worked best for me was a bottle of water, the window cracked slightly and the radio a little louder than usual. Something to snack on is essential as far as I'm concerned. A quick walk around the truck, a few jumping jacks to get the heart pumping or even walking into a TS for a quick bathroom break kept me pretty alert. Getting proper rest is crucial to driving all night and even then sometimes you just need to pull over and get that quick cat nap in. Because I was in expediting there were no set routes or schedules so every day was a little bit different. Learned quickly what worked and did not work for me. Experimenting (no, not with drugs) is your key here. Figure out what works for you and stick with it.

 

As you can tell, everyone is different. For me I use several things already mentioned. I try to keep my mind busy and try not to get tunnel visioned by watching the lines. Sometimes just enjoying the country I'm in works. I have a bartender friend in Cali who I talk to late at night sometimes on the headset. Interesting talk radio also works for me. Sirius has a audio book channel. If I find myself traveling at the same pace with another truck, I try striking up a conversation. Basically anything to keep the mind active. All of this is of course preempted by a good sleep before.

Personally I do my best to start my drive around 10pm..I prefer the night drive.