Night driving issues, sleepiness

I drive at night, its what I do and prefer. Sleep before your shift, keep fresh air coming into your cab, stay hydrated (drink plenty of fluids), Drugs prescription or not is taking years off your life, no load is worth it. Bottomline if your sleepy stop and take a nap.

 

I pulled a reefer for several years and then went to dry van. Dry van suited me much better, very few night runs, alot more drop n hook, and daytime deliveries, easier to clean out, no reefer breakdowns.

 

There’s no one good answer. I prefer running at night. Rest all day, come out like a Vampire when the sun goes down, run till 2-4 am. Sleep till noon or so, try not to get up against the 8 ball. When I’m tired, I sleep, I don’t care who gets mad about it. My life. My choice. My Liability, My Responsibility.

 

I just drink coffee at the start of my trip + get my full sleep. You don't want to drive when you're sleepy. You will hallucinate and the more deprived you are, the more convincing it'll be until you find yourself in a ditch. It's takes getting used to.

Pros to night driving
-You'll always find parking since you'll be shutting down around 1 PM.
-No traffic. Perfect when driving to new places. You can take your time.
-Cooler temperatures

Cons to night driving
-Prone to getting sleepy more easily, even if fully rested due to unchanging scenery.
-When it rains, it can make the white line markings invisible
-Morons love driving with their high beams on 24/7
-Nobody to talk to since everyone is sleep

 

When running the Houston / SoCal loads I ran till about 14:00 parked till midnight. Low traffic, easy parking. Now I run between 16:00 and about 2:00 am but its local shuttles, hard to call it work. But I do get to back into a dock 6 times a night.

 

You get sleepy, drink a red bull, then do a couple of laps your truck, if that dont work, take a nap

 

Don’t over sleep during the day thinking you need a lot of sleep. Sometimes for me it’ll make the night shift worse if I sleep too much. I’ll average 6 good hours of sleep. If you take a nap set your clock for 10-15 min anything more will make it worse. Talk shows will keep you awake or calling someone on the phone. Coffee has been the healthier way and most effective then monster or red bulls sugars will crash you. Use sugar free stuff like stevia. 5 bucks for 100 packets at Walmart. Regular sugar will make you sleepy. Carbs is your enemy at night. I don’t eat either during night driving. If your hungry you won’t be sleepy plus the coffee curbs my appetite. Eating spikes your insulin so when it comes back down it causes sleepiness and relaxation. Stopping and walking around helps. Also it takes about a month to get used to nights. It’s a process you can’t just jump into it and adapt.

 

Cash register? Back in the 60's we got them from the tire guy or fuel jockey! 20 blue ones for 5 bucks! That's what a friend told me!

 

Regular night driver for years. The only 100% cure is good sleep discipline. If I’m feeling wide awake at 06:00 and need a little help nodding off, I’ll drink a glass or two of Jack and Coke and I’m right as rain.

 

Irregular sleep patterns , like in refer trucking , are so bad for your health you just cant believe it.
Its worse than the sitting , its worse than the lack of exercise.
If you run like this for long enough it will take years , maybe decades off your life.
This is no joke. They are finding out every day just how bad sleep deprivation is for humans.
Tell that dispatcher to pound salt. Your health is worth more than .50 a mile.