Driving Between Midnight And 6:00 A.m. And Stay Awake

Even if I have plenty of sleep I will see only dark after midnight and become drowsy. So what can I do to keep myself alert and refreshed all the time while driving, if I must drive nights?

Even if I have plenty of sleep I will see only dark after midnight and become drowsy. So what can I do to keep myself alert and refreshed all the time while driving, if I must drive nights?

Well, this thread on Caffeine Naps happened. You would have to try it for yourself and see if you experience any benefits in it. After testing it out, it works for me. It's in my toolbox.

Patrick, above and beyond, if your company and the general nature of your loads allows you to stay on something close to a regular sleep schedule, that's your best bet. Having said that, the body naturally wants to sleep at night, even if you can routinely sleep during the day. Trust me, that's my life as a linehaul driver, until I can land one of those coveted daytime linehaul runs. Irregular sleeping patterns are your biggest enemy.

Get a bluetooth headset called a Blueparrott, link it to your phone so you can call anyone hands-free and make a habit of calling all your trucker buddies and talking to them while you drive. If you don't have any, start exchanging numbers at work. Call dispatch. Who cares? Tell them what the weather's like. One of my trainers, who drove linehaul , had at least 10 friends he would call in a night. Same guys, every night. Blah-blah-blah, it didn't matter what they talked about. Same old story with each guy, too. It didn't matter. It just kept them awake and alive. One driver buddy's daughter had just had a heart transplant, so there was a lot to talk about there. One week, all that trainer talked about was the dang neighborhood Christmas light contest he won. Gossip about other drivers (oops. Did I say that?) or update one another on the weather and driving conditions. Who's got chains on? Which is a better route? How bad is the wind? la-la-la ...If you worked during the day, you'd talk to people. Find people to talk to. One of the things you don't want to get into is that silent watching of the white lines going by and no other stimulation - sounds more like hypnosis, doesn't it?

Good luck. Stay safe.

-mountain girl

6 String,

That is a very beautiful Freightliner you have for your profile photo. I love the color scheme and there's nothin' like a good Eaton/Fuller-10.

-mountain girl

PULL OVER when you get too drowsy. Take a LESS THAN AN HOUR nap (45-50 minutes). Usually does the trick for me.

I used to do a lot of "marathon overnight" driving. I actually love driving those hours - but wouldn't hesitate to grab a quick 45 - even if I had to do it a couple of times a night.

A lot of this will begin to work itself out with PROPER TRIP PLANNING and TIME MANAGEMENT. And that comes with EXPERIENCE.

Most guys will trip plan to get within a couple of hours (at most) of destination, so they can get their 10 in, and leave out at 4-5 am to make a 7-8am delivery. You can also use the 8 hour "split", to save on your 14 clock, and get close enough to use your remaining 11 to get to your shipper.

Darkness releases "sleep hormones", it's part of the bodies natural rhythm and regulating mechanisms.

But still - this is all about time management and proper trip planning. If your runs are having you running days - chances are you won't have "the clock" to be running these hours for the most part. So it's more likely that running during these hours is going to be the exception, rather than the rule - unless you're running teams and get stuck with the mid-watch all the time.

Rick

Totally agree with Rick S. I'm not even close to being good at the time-management thing but he's right-on.

-mountain girl

Patrick, I have to say I agree with both of these ideas . . . as a matter of course I have a couple of friends (Ken C and Daniel B) from Prime (who also haunt TT) that I regularly call and "chat" with . . . with Ken it becomes a "stream of consciousness" type of conversation- we don't say ANYTHING of consequence but we talk for hours . . . this works at night and during the day as well . . . we keep track of what our loads are and where we are so we know if each other needs that talk time to stay awake OR just to make the time fly by . . . I also have a routine where I almost always take two 1-hour naps somewhere in my 14 hour clock and it refreshes me beyond belief . . . set a routine like the two mentioned in this thread and it will go a long way to helping the night (and daylight) hours fly by . . . I also partake in 5-hour energy drinks occasionally to help reduce the "sleepy-time" blues, if you know what I mean . . . never developed a taste for coffee (disgusting stuff!)

Jopa

6 String,

That is a very beautiful Freightliner you have for your profile photo. I love the color scheme and there's nothin' like a good Eaton/Fuller-10.

-mountain girl

Took that photo back when I first went solo. I was up in Providence, Rhode Island at a hotel.

Sunflower seeds will become your best friend at night..... Only time I eat them is night driving the crunch and the hand motion wakes me up....