Sleep Acclimation?

I agree with staying away from drugs (legit and non-legit). Spend some time on the front end of your run doing some solid trip planning. Figure out ahead of time where you're going to stop, will there be a way to get food, go to the bathroom, etc... Google maps is invaluable towards this. Know exactly what exits and roads to take long before you get there so that time will not be wasted on searching. Sleep at your shipper and receivers places or along side the street. This will maximize your logbook as well as give you better options on what particular time of the day you are gonna have to run.

Learn the art of the power nap. If you have to stop and sleep for 20 minutes do so. Believe it or not it can wake you right up. Don't try to sleep longer (if its just a power nap) or you'll end up going into a deeper cycle of sleep (REM) which is much harder to come out of.

Above all... If you're dog tired, get off the road and sleep. A company that puts a rookie on something that is JIT (Just In Time) is foolish. It's OK to be a rookie, ALL of us were at one point. The company should know better and make absolutely sure that they are sending you out on loads that break you in a little easier. The fact that you're aware of this challenge and inquiring early is a good sign that you've got some common sense. You'll be fine

Good Luck and congratulations!

 

For you it may just take some time to get use to a different sleeping pattern,sleeping in the trk,being away from home ect.Sleeping aids like over the counter medicine may work but in time you'll become immune to it.It took me 2 months to get use to it.Now if I was to go back OTR I sleep better in the trk then home.Intime you'll be able to sleep no matter what time you take your 10 hr brk.Also with Werner believe me you'll be able to get the sleep you need.

 

People are different so there is no one size fits all remedy.
You natural circadian rhythm does not understand route planning , JIT deliveries or HOS rules.
For those who are able to just switch off and sleep I envy you , some cant do this and yet they still need a job.
To do this as safely as possible some would need a little assistance I would assume.
In an ideal world I would agree that you must stay away from any sort of drugs even over the counter drugs.
In an ideal word no one would be expected to be nocturnal.

As for the old way , I only took caffeine tonics much the same as the "energy drinks" now days except in larger doses.
For a year I was on a gig where I would leave on a Monday morning sleep 6 hours Tuesday night , then six hours on Thursday night , then Finnish up 11pm Friday night.
Load up Sat morning then start again Monday morning.
It did ruin my health but I think only eating every other day or so probably had more to do with it.
Not the wisest way to do things from many perspectives but I had bills to pay and didn't see any other options at the time.
Now days my drivers are told to rest if they are tired.
Better late than never.
Twice I have had to go tell a wife her husband had died in an accident.
Both had kids as well.
I would rather tell a customer their load is late a hundred billion times then have to ever do that again.

 

It's funny ( not ha,ha), that with all the "we're concerned about safety and driver fatigue" garbage pushed down our throats as "new HOS". No one making the rules seems to understand (or care) that people can't just adjust their sleep times from day to day. Which is exactly what these rules force people to do.

You may be on a day time run today. Sleep tonight, make the delivery in the morning and then have to hang out most of the day till you can load. Then the pattern changes and you'll have to drive at night. It's nuts sometimes.

I personally don't use a any type of sleep aid. I can fall asleep on my own when I need to. For myself I just close my eyes and go to a different place inside my head away from the thoughts of the job. I like others have said sleep better in the truck than I do at home. Sad but true.

Like a previous poster I'm in a place where I'm not jumping through hoops to keep this or any job. When you're young and new it's usually not a spot you are in.

 

Hey now leave FMCSA alone.Afterall they know so much about trucking and the drivers.So does companies for that matter.

 

I use walmart brand sleep tabs 5 bucks for a hundred, All it does is make you drowsey enough to fall asleep. but it takes a couple of hours to work for me, an i take 4 at a time, always been a hight owl. Its diphenhydramine hci 25mg

 

I hardly use sleep aids but I have some in the truck just in case, I have a bottle of the off brand from Walmart, have used a full dose 2 times in the last 3 months or so and maybe a half dose 1 or 2 times. For the most part I can get myself to sleep, if you take the pills they recommend getting 8 hours sleep which I agree with, I had trouble sleeping a couple weeks ago so took 2 pills, 4 hours later I was being sent messages that my load was rescheduled several hours earlier, I told them I could not drive and went back to sleep since I felt drugged and tired.

Normally I dont accept too many graveyard loads since I have to plan a little more for those getting a nap in before taking off in the middle of the night but I normally dont get offered too many of those, not sure if its the areas I manage to be in or the planners just remember I decline them. Sometimes I have a hard time staying awake in the middle of the night so I dont accept them for safety reasons.

I also stay away from most stimulants these days, before going to trucking I was a several pot of coffee a day type of person among energy drinks etc, now I get a cup of coffee maybe once a week unless im at home then i drink it daily. You will be surprised how much better you feel after cutting out a lot of that stuff, I think cutting out most soda and coffee was a huge part of my weight loss so far.

 

thats the one I buy, works just as good as the expensive stuff.

 

I still have some Max Alert Ephedrine pills that I bought legally OTC at a Flying J long ago. They must be over a decade old but still work. The cashier counter was loaded with stay awake pills where nowadays all these 'energy' drink shots occupy that valued real estate.

I wonder if it's still legal to possess them since I bought them legal.

 

These work very well. We keep a couple bottles on hand at all times. My only thing even though they are all natural is that if I go to sleep on my own, I sleep all night. If I take a melatonin tablet I tend to wake up once or twice s night even though I still wake refreshed. For those who have never taken them before, be sure to follow the directions on how to take them because you don't swallow these like a normal pill. If you do, it won't work.