3rd shift driving hours

Pros... Less traffic, easier to find parking at end of you driving day (mid morning), fuel islands nearly empty, can battle mother nature without as much fear of the idiots on the road, fewer scales open, traffic lights all green through main streets.

Cons... Dark, cold, less visiblity, longer wait for roadside services.

 

no kidding, it can be tough. i went to work each night (mon-fri) at or about 7:30 PM, and got back in my house about 5-6 AM..
sleeping during the day is tough, you;d want to keep your bedroom as dark as possible.

it is also said that you want to STAY on that sleep time all 7 days of the week, but i never could, once i got home on a saturday morning i was like that energizer rabbit, and kept on going till late at night, then went to bed.

night time i loved it, cuz very little traffic, but lots of construction, so taking detours is a huge possibility.

driving at night can tire your eyes, and the oncoming bright headlights (not even the high beams) of on coming cars/trucks will blind you

jerks coming up from behind you will blind you as well in your mirrors.

weather conditions require extra care with driving.

so night time can be more tiring at first, and after all my years of doing it, your sleep pattern will be messed up, for a long time afterwards.

 

I always been told when your driving at night there are certain times that your body will want to sleep and it changes person to person.
When I got a little to tired I'd pull over and walk around my rig i might have to do it once or twice at certain hours then I be good for the rest of the trip usually

 

i think that is called circadian rhythm, and that is usually from 2 AM to about 5 AM

What is Circadian Rhythm? - National Sleep Foundation

 

You need glasses that will stop LED light, blue light, other light pollution related problems for night time. Any first class eye doctor has a shop that has a range of this.

Night running requires some planning. And pre-sleeping. For example I slept from 11 am until 6:30 today and that's my daily sleep. Im good until 4 am in the morning. Just as well, will be up anyway in storms. And I don't have a proper sleep cycle. I sleep 6 hours when I need to at my age.

In your trip planning you always have a place picked out that you can get some rest. Remember ELD is there for you to rest. It loves you when you are in sleeper. But the dispatcher might not. Make a new appt time. But don't make a habit of it. They have fired me in the past for daring to rest when the unspoken company policy says you sleep next week and falsify paper logs.

Plan your meals carefully. Do not be big and heavy. It will put you to sleep. Literally graze on protein stuff. As in nibble. Used to have food trucks in Philly where they throw a bag ful of extra subs with steaks, onions and cheese etc. A pile of them for 10 bucks. Nibble on that with decaf drinks. Caffinee is not something to be used lightly.

Smoking, coffee etc makes it worse.

But bottom line. Remember this if anything. When you finish a good sleep. 8 hours or whatever and you get out of bed ready for the day, you have about 15 hours give or take before your body starts working you back towards sleep again. There is nothing you can do about that. Get some sleep then. If you been up all day waiting on phone, you WILL NOT be driving tonight. When they finally get you the information you waited all day for, tell them you are going to bed. Tomorrow you will work on the load and they will need to make new appts.

And go to bed.

If you get white line fever, you will know this when it happens. Find a legal parking spot and GO TO BED. Use enough time to get to what is called REM sleep (Dreaming for you) and back. That completes one healing cycle of about 4 hours more or less. Thats beneficial and safe sleep. Anything else trying to stay awake? you might hurt yourself, kill someone or worse. And then regret it from prison etc.

Most of my trucking life I have battled sleep because my company has no time for that. Thats a form of abuse. These days I will get some sleep when it's time to do so. Day or night. No one will get to tell me I wont sleep tonight. And unfortunately there is alot within the industry that will need to change to improve.

 

For me once that sun starts creeping up over the eastern sky just enough to remind u its almost morning, thats about the time i start looking for a place to lay down for a 30 break . i always get incredibly tired at the break of dawn. I find myself less stressed out and more relaxed with trucking when im running nights. During the day its all the little things that seem to irritate me like the jackwagins clogging the fuel island, too much traffic,car wrecks, random brake checks.... All that stuff really irritates me during the day. Luckily those are all fewand far between running nights with the exception of the fuel island. If i have to fuel at loves ive just come to expect it will be 3 deep no matter which time of day it is.

 

I am the same way when that sun starts up, if I have run all night, especially if it is in my eyes.
I do not have much trouble here in the summer, because it stays daylight all night, it is a little more tiring than daytime running, but not much if I can get a nap during the day before I head out.