run time vs sleep time

I don't "nap" between 22:00 and 03:00. I hit the sleeper during this time, I'm not coming out until 4 or 5 at the earliest, a "nap" cut short during this time period will only make the situation worse for me anyway.

 

I drink red bull.

 

I drink so much of that , it don't even work anymore. Lol

 

That's why I use it sparingly.

 

I've tried everything. Coffee, energy drinks, hard candy (this didn't work well)... Currently trying to detox on the caffeine... I've become so desensitized that I can drink a Monster Import or similar, just before hitting the bunk, and actually go to sleep.

An occasional coffee plus bottle of water seems to work for me. Won't keep me going if I'm exhausted, but can usually get me to the next stop or a place I can nap for an hour or two.

 

5 hour energy works well for me. I know you said you don't like the energy drinks (I don't either) but the 5 hour is more less a shot of caffeine without the hard sugar crash that Monster and others tend to have.

That said, I've learned, especially pulling a reefer the last three years, to never get a full nights rest when I don't know what I'm doing the next day. Always having a little sleep debt helps me get some needed rest when I have the need to flip sleep schedules. Did you get a full 9 hours sleep? I can go long past 16 hours awake easily when I'm fully rested.

 

This is funny right here!

 

I have always been the get still I'm out kinda guy but to much sleep is worse than not enough for me. The Red Bull and such I have never tried, I hate the jittery feeling. Carry a hand full of big wheel weights and a hammer, when you have to go but tired pick a spot and on a steer and weight it up. Hard to sleep in a truck that drives like crap lol. Honestly you should condition to it to a certain degree in time.

 

When i took nutrition class in college, they told us when you stay up late to study for them finals and you were tired, it was told to consume either of the following. Oranges, tangerine, bananas, ginger tea, gypsy tea, dark chocolate and almonds with a cup a water after consuming what you decide to eat. Your body will get natural energy for a good 3-5 hours. It worked. But sometimes ill get a monster and sip it slow, kept me up all night. Than crash in class.

 

A health warning on a can of Power Horse energy drink: "Consumption of more than two cans in a day may be harmful to your health. Not to be used for pregnant women, breast feeders, children under the age of 16, people with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, allergy to caffeine, and athletes during exercise."

Energy drinks may work but can reek havoc on diabetics or borderline diabetics & can overwork the heart and throw it out of rhythm.

That's just what I've read; dont drink the stuff because I use Metformin and also don't want my heart rate to fluctuate either.