Dosing off

That's interesting. I never thought of this too much. Nowadays, I drink plenty of water instead of sugary drinks, mainly to curb my apatite. This actually may be a good explanation. I don't really feel sleepy any more. Of course, after a long day of work I may but not like before, a few hours after wake up. And yes hot tea, iced tea, but I skip sugar. Gatorade tastes good on a hot sweaty day, but I dry not to indulge too much because of sugar.

 

Now we get deep.

Sugars created or ingested into the body goes to the brain first over anything. The brain somehow requires it as a fuel. If I remember our Police they carried bars so that if someone was overcome by heat in Marylands high humidity situation that sugar plus drink will knock em right soon enough. I should know, Ive been carted to the hospital usually with a giant icee drink loaded in one hand as a weapon against heat stroke or exhaustion. (I was on a Kart track, racing three others that night in 80 degree/80 humidty plus the exhaust so... plop.)

The gatorades I drink has about 21 gram of sugar. Now I don't know what the daily recommendation of the stuff is in total. The body requires fluid in any way you can get it into it. The electrolytes, Sodium (Particularly this.. some sodium blocking medicines hurt the heart by stripping it of salt) and chemistry comes into play also with your body's systems.

Course the burning of the hell fire heat here in the Arkansas, I swear I must have done something wrong in a different life prior to this one... so fluids all the time for me, the more the better I drove. But not too much. There is such a thing as water toxic. If you fed a baby a half gallon it will kill it. If you gave gallons plural to a adult it will kill that person too. If that person is not doing labor and sweating it out.

 

Is it just in driving that you doze off? How about at a movie theater or waiting for dinner at a restaurant? If it's at other places, it may be a medical problem. If it's just driving, it's mental. IMO, that makes it more dangerous.

 

Yep. You need a referral to a doctor who specializes in sleep disorders. Could be narcolepsy too.

 

Narcolepsy is a very dangerous condition, if this is to be discovered you have a problem. It's a valid medcal condition, literally day time sleepiness.

 

I agree. There is a difference when you on the road with a sleep deficit due to neglecting the required dose of sleep dictated by your body from being notoriously sleepy despite having a regular sleep that's biologically required. If the latter is the case it does seem serious, because you cannot adjust it by improving your .... let's say resting hygiene. If this is notorious and frequent then I would be worried.

 

I have spent quite a bit of time learning about proper hydration and electrolyte balance, and as someone else said, it is normally recommend to, even on really hot days, alternate water and Gatorade, because otherwise your body has no way to get rid of excess salts, because you are taking in more constantly.
Giving the body pure water allows it to flush and purge what it needs to.

On the other side of things, drinking just plain water when you are sweating or peeing a lot, will often lead to low electrolyte levels, which means the body can't use the water you are drinking.
I experience low electrolytes as a full tummy of sloshing water, but still being thirsty, getting weak if I am laboring in the sun or whatever, and drowsy, etc.

This is what David sunflower seeds are for! Lol

Or alternating Gatorade and water.

The simple way to check your hydration level and electrolyte level.

If your pee is nearly clear, you are hydrated, if it is darker than nearly clear, you are badly to severely dehydrated. (Google urine color dehydration, to see how bad you are lol)
To check electrolyte levels, drink a large drink of water (like a couple of cups, so your stomach feels pretty full) then wait 15 minutes and shake a little and see if you can feel water sloshing in your stomach. If you can feel it , you need salt/electrolytes. A full Stomach of water should be absorbed within 15 minutes, if you have the electrolytes.
I call it the Hulu Test lol

Sometimes when I feel I am low, I just pour some salt in my hand, toss it to the back of my mouth, and drink a lot of water. Perks me right up.

Every body is different, so find what works for you

 

I had the same issue about two years ago. I'd fall asleep anywhere and everywhere. Behind the wheel, while unloading, at the dinner table. Everywhere. I'd work all night, sleep all day, and still be exhausted. Weekends were spent sleeping 16-18 hours at a time. In fact, it nearly led to a divorce.

So I went to the doctor for my CDL physical, and mentioned what was going on. They pulled a bunch of tubes of blood and sent it to a lab. Two days later they call me and tell me to get to their office immediately. Fearing the worst, I was sure they were gonna tell me I was dying or something, I went in the back room, and there were two very menacing looking syringes on the counter. The doctor walks in, doesn't say a word, grabs the first syringe and jams it in my arm. I begin to protest as he grabs the Second one and does the same thing. Now I'm pissed and ready to kill.

I ask what that was all about, he calmly replies "vitamin b-12, your levels are not even registering on our lab reports". He then tells me to come in every day for as week for shots, and go get b12 supplements, and take them.

After two days, I felt human again. He couldn't explain in English what exactly caused this, but did tell me it is very bad when the levels are that low. So now I take a 1000mcg supplement every other day, and I feel like a million bucks.

 

Good on you for getting it checked out.

 

But the Gatorade is too sugary. At times, I buy at Walmarts a pack of Dietary supplement - Emergen-C - not as much sugar but does seem to contain lots of unnecessary and dubious staff. The obvious drawback of drinking too much fluid is having to urinate to often. It just can't be easy.