Pulled myself off the road this morning

What I do to help with nights is to get into a routine. I normally sleep 7 hours a day so I try to force myself to stay awake when I get home in the morning so that I wake up as late in the day as possible (thus keeping you fresh for work longer). Dark room, cooler temperatures and quiet help a lot with sleeping. I've tried "energy drinks" and coffee and it makes things worse if anything. Also leads to unbearable heartburn at about 2am.

 

lol is that what they tell you to get you to work those slave hours? Enjoy falling asleep at the wheel at your "unique" job, you can have it.

 

Dont beat yourself up driver. It takes time to run nights. I waw able to do it but that was after about 30 days takes time for the body to adjust. You need to take an hour nap at the least. I am a natural night person anyway. Worked 3rd shift in college on breaks. Did 10 years in office where most of the time I was getting off at midnight. Then got into trucking and started running night. You have to build your body into it. Take it from a night owl like me. Just start staying up till as late as you can. Then get good sleep then just repeat.

One trick is though, im off two nights a week, and I keep the same sleep schedule during those nights. So when I am off I am up till about 6 am as well.

 

@Beau ~ @NorthernMechanic is EXACTLY right, so are the above posters about not trying to "do stuff" during the day when you need your sleep. I'm a night driver, too . . . and the wife and I spend "odd" hours together when I get home.. she fixes me dinner when I get in at 2 am, I may tinker in the garage for a bit, and then I SLEEP before my shift starts. Rarely do I do anything BEFORE work, to stay fresh, as NM said. Best advice right there. It's a tough adjustment, but do-able. I love running my nights, better money and less traffic.
Kudos for you to knowing when to stop and be safe.
Thanks for that.

 

I do the SAME thing, weekends here. Good thing I don't have too many neigbors too close, LoL.

Great advice, C.J. ! be safe, all.

 

You did the right thing by pulling over ...
Night shift is hard on the body, you're immune system will be weaker, you're thinking will be cloudy and you better pay attention to your diet and there's a list of health issues involved with the night shift... not mention waking up dead

 

Don't let it get to you. There's no pride in taking out yourself or someone else because you fell asleep driving.

 

Couldn't agree more! I worked nights for almost 25 years it was alright while I was younger but the older I got the harder it got. 5 days on 2 days off and on those two days I would have to try to sleep a regular sleep and it always messed me up. It would take me till Wednesday to get adjusted again then Saturday morning after work it's always stay up or crash? No matter the choice it never worked out right. Nights are hard on a person.