Eat a healthy, balanced diet. People who are not eating properly or who have issues with weight often suffer from poor quality of sleep.
2. Set a consistent sleep cycle. Consistency can help when getting “more” sleep is not an option. Sleep experts recommend at least eight hours of sleep a night to function properly, yet a full third of American adults sleep six hours or less nightly during the workweek.
3. Maintain a regular exercise schedule. Any consistent physical activity should help. Regular exercise increases blood flow and brings more oxygen to the brain.
4. Cut down or eliminate caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine consumption, especially before going to sleep. It can take up to 6 hours to get caffeine out of your bloodstream. Any of these substances before bedtime can affect how you rest.
5. Recognize warning signs: These include drifting or weaving in your lane, tailgating, missing your exit, head nodding, excessive yawning, or rubbing of eyes. Take a break if you experience wandering or disconnected thoughts, yawn repeatedly, have difficulty focusing or keeping your eyes open, or find yourself missing traffic signs or tailgating other drivers.
6. Pull over (in a safe area) for a short nap and then take a walk to stretch and wake up. On longer trips, schedule a break in a secure place every two hours or every 100 miles, and stop sooner if you show any signs of sleepiness.
7. Avoid caffeine. Caffeine is not a miracle stimulant to help us perform better for longer. In reality, coffee is an adrenal stimulant. Adrenal fatigue can increase tiredness. It is often a result of chronic stress, such as that which a person experiences when driving an 80,000-pound vehicle across long distances among a variety of hazards.
When the body has used all the cortisol in our adrenal glands, it tells us to rest. Coffee is essentially an override button to that command. Pushing the body past its limits is not healthy, especially when a person uses an outside stimulant such as coffee to do so. The body will not perform as well with artificial stimulants as well as it would with nature’s best booster: sleep.
8. Drive during the time of the day when you are usually awake if you’re planning on driving a long distance. Falling asleep at the wheel often happens when you’re driving during the hours when you are usually sleeping.
9. If possible, have someone accompany you and talk with that person while driving. It’s a good idea for your passenger to stay awake too so that they can let you know if you are showing signs of sleepiness. Do not talk on a cell phone, as that is dangerous behavior in itself.