What's the most importance factor influencing your sleep quality?

Chalk me up for Temp Humidity. This is the best time of year for sleeping in the truck for me, windows open, perfect Spring temperatures. Sometimes in the Summer going through a northern state like Montana will just have to shut down in the middle of the day and jump in bed to savor the coolness without the engine running-- this is after a week or 10 days of 110 degree days down south or something.

 

The solar powered roadways thing was a bit of a farce. Basically impossible as the original proposal dictated. And entirely impractical. Even with technology 20years ahead, the bare physics of it don't come out well.

Here's someone with a PHd explaining why, forget if he's a chemist or physicist, but he does some interesting stuff, regardless of if you agree with his other views.

 

Temp & humidity.

 

The vibration & sound of the big motor actually was preferable for sleeping, but now that they've outlawed idling the occasional sound of a refer or apu motor is all we get.

Best thing for sleep? 24 hour shipping and reviving companies. So that if we're driving all night to get somewhere in time we don't have to wait until 9am to get unloaded!

Prime example: shipper A wants me there at 9am and takes his sweet time loading me. I depart around 1 pm. I need to cover 420 miles before I run out of hours, about 8 hours with light traffic. But since I came on duty at 8am I have to be off the road by 10 pm. I can get there by 9pm but they're closed for the night. So I have to stop at a truck stop mid-route, about 3 hours away. So now I need to FORCE myself to sleep at 5:30pm so that I can get up at 2:30 am (9 hours in the bunk, :30 on each side for bathroom & eating)

Actually that's a pretty light hypothetical, I've had worse.

 

Sorry, I watched this the day you posted it. A lot of points I had never considered. Wouldn't it be something though, perfect roads and infinite energy.

 

Same thing as post 14. Being forced by ignorant bureaucrats to attempt to try to sleep when I'm not tired. Conversely, being told I should be well rested after trying to take ten hours off duty when I wasn't tired. There is what messes up my sleep patterns. I believe the only person too myopic to comprehend this would have to be a bureaucratic ideolog. Reagan was right about this. The scariest words ever spoken were "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help".

 

Did anyone mention sex swings?

 

Mattresses in trucks are horrible.

Size of mattress is too small as well

Having to wake up at 3am because you're cold and to start the truck to warm up.

Inadequate insulation, especially freightliners.

Being parked next to a loud refer

Inadequate food which makes it harder for the body to assimilate while you sleep, keeping you up longer

 

Heat / humidity. I sleep well down to about 10 degrees, up to about 70. Above that, I'm a sweaty mess.

Safe, available parking is second.

 

They sell real good mattresses made for trucks,
When I started with Crete in 2008 they bought the good mattresses, and every time I switch trucks I wrestle this one out and leave the new "cheap" mattress in the truck I'm leaving. The ones they buy now are made out of plastic and have hardly any cushion.
It's still good. When it wears out I'll go to Freightliner and see if they still sell this kind.

I like the 14 hour rule and my 10 hour break.