Night Driving Tips Request

I chew gum to stay awake, also stop and get out once In awhile and get the blood flowing. I'm the same way. After about 2am I'm done but I never usually have to drive that late so I'm lucky

 

Sleep less? Oversleep will mess you up. Try 7 or 6 hours.

 

The doctors and scientists have stated that your body automatically wants to sleep between the hours of 1am @6am . the best thing is to do what Nate said. pull over and walk around the truck a couple of times to get the blood flowing.

 

ditto on the walk around, chew gum, especially peppermint gum, keep the cab cooler than you would normally, pace yourself with the caffeine, slow steady drip of it better than all at once...eat apples....sunflower seeds will get you fat and break any fillings you got, listen to interesting things, not just mindless music...sleep for 20 mins at 1 am....

 

I found when I was doing night time runs from October to January that getting up and exercising the very first thing before I showered and started my day made a huge difference. The other thing that helps me is the red lights in the truck. I turn those on at night and I helps the body think it's daytime. I eventually bought me a led rope light that have be more light and allowed me to control the brightness. I put that light up along the top of the cab where the trim piece is so it's shining up instead of down like the red lights in the cab.

Like someone else said, get out every couple of hours and walk for 10-15 minutes. Also drink the caffeine slowly.

 

What works for me is I do not look at any clocks or how many more miles I have to go. I am just doing a job, and it is dark. Sort of puts my brain on auto-pilot. I can drive all day and right through the night but as soon as that sun starts coming up I am spent.

 

Hot tamales candy...take a BC powder...keep head moving.....

.....or the greatest one of all that a driver with the handle of "lickity split" told me....empty a sleeve of saltines into your pants.

 

15 years of night ltl here... The biggest tip I can offer is listen to your body. If your tired, stop. Don't try to push through. Plan your run accordingly; off ramps or rest areas for you to stop at. Stop before you get tired. Otherwise, you will micro sleep. Basically your eyes are open, but your brain is asleep. Don't eat too heavy either. Light snacks. Don't use those pills. They are really only a strong cup of coffee. Get good sleep during the day. Use a sleep mask, ear plugs, a fan. Unplug your phone. It took me a good 4 years to get my body use to nights, I still stop for a nap nightly.

 

The sleepy always hits me around 4-5 am right before it starts to get light. A 20 minute nap does help a lot. Don't go much more than that or your body will want to go into a deeper sleep cycle and you'll be even more tired. At least that is how it works for me.

And be careful how you set your alarm. My phone automatically switches to show the time zone it is currently in. One time I set the alarm going by the time on the dash clock and slept for an hour 20 min instead of just 20. It burned up the rest of my on duty time and cut into my drive time so I barely made it back to the barn.