how can you keep your biological clock?

Youll adapt to it. Will take ya a few weeks, but eventually youll learn to sleep anywhere anytime. Really, it aint that hard after youve just driven 10 or 11 hours. Youll be tired enough...

 

You learn to deal with it and sleep when you can.
I have to run all night tomorrow night so I'm staying up tonight to adapt. Then it ain't so bad.
I call 4-6am the witching hours. No matter how rested you are, you get sleepy them hours. I always allow myself enough time to take a 1-2 hour nap if need be. That always refreshes me good enough to finish the trip alert.

Getting wired on caffeine helps too! I like them little Starbucks Doubleshots.

 

Drive a flatbed. Regular hours is one of the bennies.

 

Your question is one of the biggest reasons to allow us to split our sleep to a way that works with the natural clock. Having drivers conscripted to driving 10 or 11 hours simply because the log book says it's legal isn't always the safe thing to do. Unfortunately, the way the rules are currently written, we have to do this all the time if we are to stay 100% legal. We don't always have advance notice regarding the schedule of the next load, so often, we drive under heavy jet lag on short notice.

Some say you just get used to it. I say for me personally, I have never gotten used to it. I do it, but when I have to run during hours I'm normally dead asleep, caffeine and loud music become my best friends. Safe? Probably not entirely. Legal? Absolutely. Because the rules were written by people who don't understand the shipping industry.

 

The witching hours for me are between 2100 and 0001. That's why I prefer to start my day at midnight. Strange huh? Yeah if I start out about 1900 I know I'm gonna be in trouble about 2300. Once I break over midnight though, I feel I can make it.

 

you never get used to it, you work with it. stay away from any beverages with caffeine in them, about 2-3 hours before you are going to sleep. eat a VERY light snack before bedtime, as to not upset your stomach while you try and sleep. keep the truck as dark as possible when sleeping. now here comes the harder part........when you are home. you will most certainly go to bed at night......right........??

well that day or two, or if lucky three, will mess you up all over again.....!!!

our bodies were conditioned to sleep at night, when we were in our mother's womb's. after all, she slept at night, so did we. then for years and years, we continued this "conditioning" up till we became truck drivers. we cannot erase many years of conditioning.

when you get sleepy, pull over and take a brief nap of about 20 to 30 minutes, then get up, and go. do not fight sleep. eat light meals and stay away from the caffeine before bedtime, preferably 2-3 hours before.

 

Yeah, that's the worst part is when you go home and try to sleep! They should have an episode of "Sunrise Earth" at a Flyin J. I wonder if that would help at home?

 

if you want to be in trucking you just have to get used to it, I actually prefer running overnight as all the dummies and 4 wheelers are off the road, you just learn to live on less sleep, and coffee becomes your best friend

hell I have driven all night and watched the sun come up and not went to bed until the sun was coming up the next day many times. a 15-20 min nap does wonders, and when I get so tired that I start halucinating and see things on the side of the road that are not really there it is time to pull over and sleep, I know what my limits are.

 

May I suggest that the correct term is "circadian rhythm"? I think of biological clock as referring to a longer period such as fertility.

Anyway, truckers need to have nap time that does not count against their available work hours. They need to be in control of their own work/sleep cycle while still meeting the needs of the industry. They need to earn a living without using the maximum available hours of service. We need a slight return to service competition and less wage competition such as we had before Deregulation.

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/circadian-rhythm-disorders-cause