My wife and I are new team drivers and love the industry. However, we're having difficulty SLEEPING IN A MOVING TRUCK. Does anyone know any secrets to lickin' this problem short of drugs and outright dogass exhaustion ?! Is there a special mattress that would help ie. Tempurpedic or something that would ease the rock 'n roll?
Thanks in advance for your help!:smt111
SLEEPLESS
Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by billlippold, Oct 25, 2006.
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when i teamed with an exgirlfriend of mine we used that egg crate foam. seemed to help, but it still wasn't the same calibur of sleep one can get with the truck parked. we had a Volvo which I think is the smoothest riding truck out there, and I still recall being bounced around on the mattress a time or two. of course that was usually when it was my turn to drive and she wanted my butt up outta that bunk!
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I dunno I would have a problem with sleeping while someone else was driving just out of fear of being killed. But than again I hardly ever let anyone drive me around, fear of being out of control maybe.
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I used to team with my wife, so I'll throw in a few thoughts.
Yes it is hard to sleep in a moving truck, and no you'l never get as good a night sleep as if the truck were parked.
I don't know how teams do it nowdays, we used to split-log 5 on/5 off.
I found it was much easier to sleep 5 hours at a time, rather than longer. I know you can't split log anymore, I just can't see doing it any other way.
We had a volvo and a freightshaker FLD condo for starters. The volvo was decent, but the FLD was like riding on a trampoline. We then moved into a Pete 379 and WHOA what a difference! This thing was like riding in cadalac compared to the others. I slept much better in the pete, volvo was a distant 2nd, and I'd never team in one of those FLDs again. The room was nice, but that was about it. Not sure how the newer anteater frieghtliners are.
I used two pillows,one for my head, and one tucked under my arm and shoulder. This kind of braced me against the rocking and rolling.
I tried earplugs, but those made more noise rubbing on the pillow than the truck made to begin with.
No matress will stop the overall motion of the truck, and the bouncing of the air-ride. But I bet one of those space-foam matresses would be better than nothing.
Bottom line is you just have to get used to it, and get used to sleeping differently.
Oh lastly, I used to stop the truck around 4 AM and she'd start up around 6 AM, giving us 2 hours a night without the movement to sleep. Those two hours were better than heaven! -
UNfortunately, you're just going to have to get used to it.
When I was driving team, we would drive 10/off 10 (before these new logging regs) and it helped because we were just plain tired when we bunked down, but it would still take a little time to fall asleep. -
I used to have to lie on my side facing the back of the sleeper,and sometimes roll on the other side. We teamed for estes for 6 months. When 1 of us fueled up,the other would grab a shower. I would grab us a takeout and then eat on the road. just the oppsite when we got to switch place near toledo the othe one would fuel and ck truck and the other 1 would shower,then we both sat down at truck stop and ate together. my friend wanted to drive 10, I talked him into split 5 and 5. We sat up and helped each other switching trailers,He went back to bed at estes while I checked freight coming off or going on. Sometimes we would shower at estes in west middlesex pa. very good to us there. Its easier to sleep just 3 hrs at a time once you are used to it,We used to sit up together for 2 hrs while driving until sleepy then go in bunk. not supposed to but it worked great for us. If you can't lie down for 3 hrs and drive 5 you need to drive a cab or something else. even if you didn't sleep well you can last 5 hrs. thats why I favor the 5 and 5, they do 5 and 6 now. Its really safer and 1 driver doesn't get bogged down and the truck always has a fresh alert driver. When I tried that 10 hr shift,running team,you get so tired,its not like your alone sleeping for 7 8 hrs at standstill. When I did 10 those last 2 hrs were hell trying to stay alert. good luck to you guys.
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My husband and I were a team for almost 2 years... and I found that three things helped us with the sleeping situation. #1. With the new rules, you are usually so tired, you're gonna sleep. #2. I had that bunk mattress feeling like a five star hotel bed. Soft , clean sheets and a down feather mattress pad.....and the best..#3. Tylenol PM. A pothole could throw me a foot off the bunk, I'd wake up, sure, but go right back to sleep. We ran hard and believe it or not, now that I'm off the truck, I miss the motion and hum of the road.
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it is difficult indeed to sleep while the rig is moving. however, slower speeds may help somewhat. i think you should be as tired as possible, do not drink ANY CAFINATED BEVERAGE, and certainly DO NOT GO TO SLEEP ON A FULL STOMACH...........
since we cannot break up the sleeper berth times like before, just try your best is about all that can be said. maybe try "shift" driving, meaning one person does all the daytime driving, the other does all the night time driving, instead of driving when your 10 hours is up...........which can be at any time in the 24 hour period....... -
Get a space foam mattress, good sheets, space foam pillows. Peterbilt has them and I am sure you can have one custom made, Be prepared for sticker shock, they aren't cheap but there is no price too high for good sleep. Since you can't split the driving time to 5/5 anymore it's going to be really hard. Get on a schedule and try hard to stick to it, some times you can't but try your best. I read until I could sleep when I was training students, which is VERY nerve racking to say the least. Some people fall asleep watching TV so maybe a movie in the DVD player. I always ate a light meal salad etc, took a shower and got relaxed as much as possible before I tried to sleep. Another thing you could try is stopping the truck the last few hours before dawn and park. Those hours are the best for sleeping. The load is not worth your health, if you can't get adjusted in say a month then you may not be able to run team. I don't sleep over 3 hours anyway so it's not really an issue for me, but I know it is for many people. Good luck and be safe out there.
Until next time,
Happy Trails
Nightwind
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