It is more common for you to do a daily commute, but sometimes we have to travel at night or plan to travel to Vegas or another destination early in the morning when it is still dark. It is during this time that you are the drowsiest and then driving becomes dangerous. Here are a couple of tips to staying awake while driving.
Take a Nap Before
Sleeping or napping before a long drive will prevent you from feeling sleepy and will energize you enough to hopefully get you to your destination. The benefits will increase if you eat something nutritious before hand so your body will have time to digest those nutrients.
Take a Nap During a Drive
You can always just pull aside to take a quick nap if your eyes start feeling heavy. You shouldn’t spend more than 20 minutes asleep so you aren’t hogging the emergency lane.
Have Some Caffeine
Coffee and energy drinks will definitely keep you awake, but it comes with a cost. After a couple of hours, the effects will wear off and leave you feeling drowsier. If you are not traveling over two hours, caffeine should do you justice.
Partner Up
If you can, have a passenger drive for a while so you have time to rest up. It is best to alternate every 2-3 hours so that no driver starts daydreaming or gets drowsy either. Allow each person to sleep and wake them up 10-15 minutes before you want them to drive so that they get over their grogginess.
Chewing Gum
Chewing gum does help, but it is one of the least effective ways to stay awake because the cool or minty flavor will fade quickly. The flavor is also in such a low dose that it may have little effect to you.
Keep the Window Open
If you roll down the window, the cold air will keep you awake because you will feel a constant cool breeze on your face. This is effective but can get annoying because the cool air will eventually make your whole body cold.
Play Your Music Loudly
If you feel like you will get tired soon, you can play your music loudly so that your mind cannot go to rest so easily. If music is loud enough, then your mind has a hard time finding the right conditions to sleep. Do note though that this will only work for so long before your mind doesn’t care about the noise and just wants sleep.
Keep a Podcast On
If you run a podcast during a long drive, it will make the drive seem shorter and will keep you entertained (thus making you stay awake). We recommend a comedy podcast because laughs will make you stay awake the most.
