How do you guys stay awake?

I sleep well every night. I’m in the truck four nights a week and don’t do all nighters anymore. I pull tanks, and it keeps me on a regular schedule. My testosterone levers were very low as I found out during a checkup recently. Got that squared away and I no longer sleep during my 30 minute break. I’ll driver 300-400 miles non stop before stopping for my 30, always been that way for me.

 

When I started it was the meat haulers that had the toothpicks,the betty's and the crosses.
Those swinging beef drivers smokin into Chicago and the butcher's would cut it and send it back south or east. That was hard core trucking.
Those cats rolled.

 

Get some good toothpicks is what I use

 

If I feel tired I start looking for a rest area to take a 30min-1hour nap. Nearly impossible to stay awake driving through 100miles of cornfields at 2am being the only truck on the road of hours. I think my dispatcher hated me because I took so many naps haha. Never impacted my ability to deliver a load on time. Just meant I had less potential miles for the week. I value my health over money. You can always find a better paying job. Once you #### up your body though that's it.

 

A good audiobook keeps me awake while driving, keeps your mind busy.

 

When I started out I would play the alphabet game whenever I started to lose focus.

The idea is to read the road signs finding each letter in turn. Usually played by multiple people with only the first person to call getting to use the sign. With only one person I would note the mile marker and then see how quickly I could get thru the alphabet. Then I would start over and see if I could do better on attempt 2, so on and so forth.

A lot of times you're not actually tired, just bored so forcing your mind to do something can rejuvenate you. Running thru squares (2^2 is 4, 3^2 is 9, 4^2 is 16) or number doubling (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64) works as well. Or listing the presidents in order, naming the state capitals, really anything that forces your mind to engage itself.

 

Not a Dr...
Make sure to keep your red blood cell count in order.

 

Yep, a 20 minute nap buys me at least two hours of alertness.

 

Some really good posts here. Some time ago I got into a reading rabbit hole about sleep requirements. Two things really stuck:

1. The power nap is truth. Over 20 minutes but not more than 45 minutes is the definition. Presuming you're already exhausted, you first go into the deepest recovery state of sleep. However, you wake up before getting into REM sleep, which you would end up waking from even more tired than you were in the first place.

2. If you wait to pull off for a power nap until you're super drowsy, it's probably too late. Micro sleep is real. You swerving onto the rumble strips wasn't because you didn't catch it in time. No, it's because you actually fell asleep for a few seconds. It's involuntary and coffee or energy drinks won't stop it. If anything, the stimulants make it less obvious and hard to notice. Very dangerous.

Do a search on "sleep deficit" and "micro sleep." You'll see some amazing stuff you may have already experienced and didn't realize. Bottom line is: you can't run a sleep deficit for more than a day or so. Eventually you'll have to put your head down for 7 hrs or whatever your normal fully rested amount is, or your body will force it at the most inconvenient time. Possibly moments before you stop upside down.

 

Heard Such from MANY DRIVERS, Pond to Pond from 1999 thru some recent Years gone.
Never did a Toothpick, just inhaled BC Powders and Slammed Mountain Pew until High Test Coffee and a STOKE or 2 werked betterer.
The Vibrations as well the hallucinations (mainly at Dark-30) eased off enuf to park up & git a few hours of what seemed satisfactory rest and come to or wake up and wonder onto/into what Ramp, Field, Truck Stop, Wrist Area I arreved.
~cheers!!~