Comments on: How to Stay Alert While Driving

on 1/12/2007 When driving long distance, take a lemon along. Poke a small hole in the lemon and suck from it when you feel drowsy. It's a very fast wake up.

on 3/22/2006 Check out books on tape or CDs from your local library or Cracker Barrel. The story or interest in the book will keep your mind involved and awake. Cracker Barrel has books on CD that can be returned at the next Cracker Barrel way down the road.

on 3/15/2006 Those that smoke know that it works! Stimulants such as coffee and cigarettes go well together. However, using a Nicorette gum and popping a 200-mg caffeine pill every couple of hours is probably a healthier choice for staying awake during driving. If you are a lucky one who suffers from ADD/ADHD, then you would know how well amphetamines work at keeping you awake. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and Amphetamine salts (Adderall) keep the college students awake for days during the exam week, and driving through the night to Florida during the spring break!

on 1/30/2006 This might be funny, but it works.
Stop at the store and buy the $1.99 beef jerky, make sure it is hot and not mild. If you're immune to hot stuff, then buy ultra hot.

When I eat it, I barely could fall asleep because it's so hot that I start sweating.

on 1/23/2006 If you are feeling sleepy and need to get to the next rest stop for a nap or coffee, hold a $100 bill out the driver's window. There will be no accidental nodding with that sort of incentive.

on 12/30/2005 Roll up your left sleeve, roll down the window and put your arm out the window. This wakes me up enough to know I should stop for a coffee or a nap. I'm a long distance truck driver. It works for me.

on 11/22/2005 Once you are sleepy the only thing you should do is sleep. Twenty minutes works for me, in fact I don't have to worry about sleeping too long, it just seems after twenty minutes I wake naturally. Then I exercise and get going again. But to keep from getting sleepy in the first place, I set a timer for 15 minutes and change from one alertness preserving activity to another.

on 11/22/2005 When I'm trying to stay awake, Jolt gum is the best thing I've found! It tastes like regular gum and it doesn't give me the jitters, like pills. 2 pieces equal one cup of coffee!

on 11/22/2005 Something I do a lot in the mornings (I wake up at 4am, driving from 5-6, when it's still pitch black out):
Open the window and take really deep breaths. The deeper and faster the better. Only take a few at a time though (something like 30 seconds should do), then when you start feeling a little drowsy again repeat.
Also I listen to a morning show, which helps if you can turn up the volume and really enjoy listening to it.
Also talking to your passenger (if you have one) helps. Harder to fall asleep when active conversation is happening.

The problems I've noticed are:
When my passenger (and girlfriend) is tired, and insists on laying across the front seats, with her head on my lap. Not a problem until I start feeling tired and ask her to sit up and wake up. Don't be afraid to do this; I mean, the options are basically Having your loved one annoyed with you, or having both of you barrelling off the road because you fell asleep.
Get your regular passengers comfortable with the vehicle (if they don't have one), and even more so you comfortable with them driving. This way if you get tired, or know you will be, you can ask them to drive the rest of the way (or for a little while, during which you can take a nap).

Switch up your drive: Don't always take the same paths, or same traffic densities. Even changing when you leave by 5 minutes to make it so you're not driving into work (or other things) with the same group every time. I found that driving on back, low traffic density, roads helps me a lot. Especially when they're highly populated with various animals. When you have to watch for deer running across the roads just as much as stray cats it helps a bit.

on 11/22/2005 When it is impossible to take your break, start singing loudly, and keep singing until you reach your place. The louder you sing the less drowsy or sleepy you will get.

on 11/22/2005 Take a bag of baby carrots on a long trip, you can't fall asleep while you're chewing!

on 11/22/2005 Don't trim your nose hair! Save them for when you are really sleepy. Yank one out and you will be wide awake for ten minutes. Do expect a few tears to help wash away the drowsiness.

on 11/22/2005 To avoid accidents due to sleeping behind the wheels, you can use the new device called "No Nap." This is an anti-drowsy alert system, which triggers as soon as you feel dizzy or drowsy, and thus alerts you or the passenger with you and thus avoiding accidents.

on 11/22/2005 Ever tried to sleep when you have to urinate very badly? It's hard, isn't it? If you have to use the bathroom and find yourself getting drowsy, don't stop at the nearest restroom. Keep driving until you can't hold it anymore.

on 11/22/2005 I found that during my 90 minute drive I wasn't tired, but the lull of the drive seemed to make my eyes feel extremely heavy where I could barely keep them open. When I call someone on the cell phone(using my hands-free ear piece to talk), the fog lifts immediately.