Night driving issues, sleepiness

@Moose1958 is absolutely right about circadian rhythm. When I was younger I could do a night shift or two but my bio-clock is early am to early evening. I told my dispatch I cannot drive between 00:00 and 04:00. I can't stay alert. They respect that for safety reasons.

 

Sudafed
Generic drug name: pseudoephedrine HCl
Pseudoephedrine is a sympathomimetic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes. It may be used as a nasal/sinus decongestant, as a stimulant, or as a wakefulness-promoting agent in higher doses.

I use this to stay awake. Get them at Walmart pharmacy. Don't need a prescription, but do have to sign for it.
I've taken 10's of thousands of them over the years. Pulling reefers coast to coast.

 

There are hacks to the body you can do to buy time. Ultimately you WILL to go sleep, even with eyes open in extreme fatigue. Ive had that happen when loaded and coming up on people who probably would have been killed if they did anything other than what they were doing (Flag crew, 4 lanes worth closing 95 wholesale and ordering me off the highway with flags. The flags saved them.)

After trying anything else and everything else including snow angels whoo... if I am still tired then I pick my favorite dispatcher and get angry with him. Go over the sins one by one and get it out of my system.

The funny thing is when morning comes along and I have to deal with the bad dispatcher alls well. I let him go on blissfully unaware of the issues unless I made a decision about our employment situation. Anger done right brings in the body's chemicals that will crank you up and takes years off your life. I might not get to 60 but I go happy. OR... I might get to 110 and god help the staffers assigned to wipe me. UGH. Some of my family were like that. We buried them deep. /paraphrase.

 

When I did do a lot of night driving I would stop two or three times a night and did 100 jumping jacks 20 or 30 push-ups always made me feel good for another three or four hours!

 

Pull up next to a 7-11, bag of ice.

Find big pitcher. Water it.

Pour over head. get all wet and cold.

Thats worth a few hours if done right.

If you ignore the stares of people who think you have begun to lose it mentally or something.

 

I used to buy these special toothpicks and they worked wonderful cant remember what they called them or even where I used to buy them

 

More pleasant to just schedule your shower stop for 0400.

 

I drove nights exclusively for 18 years. I tried every possible schedule. The safest, most restful schedule is maintain a night schedule every day of the week, not just work days. Switching from a night schedule (work) to a day schedule (weekends and family) will cause you to give up about one full sleep period every week.

At the end of your last night of work for the week you can stay awake and do daytime activities and chores. This will usually cause you to go to sleep later than normal, sleep longer than normal, and guarantee you start your work week with less sleep, be more sleepy than during the rest of your normal work week.

At the end of your work week you can sleep at your normal bedtime but get up when friends/family start their Friday night. You get less sleep than normal and, once again you will likely sleep longer the next day and this will mean you are not ready for sleep the next night.

ANY schedule I tried besides maintaining a "normal nightime" sleep schedule caused sleepiness. The lack of sleep will make your body crave foods and drinks that will cause you to gain weight and you are on your way to sleep apnea, if not diabetes and heart disease.

You can take Melatonin hormones which will bring about sleep, if not cause you to sleep through your night. You should start off with the lowest possible dose. I recommend 1mg. Be aware that taking melatonin, which your body produces, will quickly cause your body to shut down it's melatonin "factory". You will become dependent on it and will escalate your dose for the same effect. One side-effect of taking too large of a dose is Melatonin is night sweats and nightmares. This is why I recommend you start melatonin use at 1mg, you may need to cut pills as 1mg tablets are much less commonly sold than the 3,5, 10mg tablets.

You can also avoid melatonin and begin using a sleep aid diphenhydramine. This chemical is sold as allergy relief, like Benadryl, and as the sleep medicine in Tylenol PM, overt-the-counter sleeping pills, or ZZZquil liquid, which is like Nyquil, but without the cold-remedy medicine. The liquid ZZZquil works pretty fast, but like melatonin, you may wake up a couple hours after you fall asleep.

I made my bedroom dark and cold like a cave and always ran fans to block outside noise. In the truck I will wear certain earplugs. You are driving a very large commercial vehicle. The people on the road are depending on you to be rested. Your sleep is more important than all of the minor chores the rest of the world will try and pile onto you. It's your job to get enough sleep. BTW, I stopped drinking caffeinated coffee during my last 5 years of night driving. Caffeine is a losing game. It will delay your sleep or disrupt your sleep. I would recommend anyone driving nights limit their caffeine use to 1 coffee when they first wake up and none later on.

Most people switching to nights will try every combination of schedules and sleep and wake aids. Maintaining a night schedule worked best for me. If you are married it may cause a divorce.

 

Methamphetamine is tested for in every DOT drug screen. It was the meth people used before crystal meth

 

I'd rather be unemployed than pull reefer loads. Once you get treated well by customers the thought of showing up at a grocery warehouse sends shivers up my spine. I'm also not paying anyone to unload their own dang freight.