Wanted:Tips on staying up all night!!

aggiejason

aggiejason

Chillin' on Route 66
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
527
Greetings everyone. I'm a truck driver and I started a new job recently that requires me to stay up all night. I usually leave the terminal at about 10pm and arrive back at about 8am. I start having trouble staying awake at about 3am. I've tried all kinds of energy drinks and stuff but nothing seems to help. Anyone have any tips they could share with me? Legal suggestions only please!! :D
Thanks!
 
I'm currently working 2 jobs that have me doing 8 hours on, 3 hours off, 6 hours on, 5 hours off, and a variety of other combinations. generally I have about 5 shifts a week where I get 2 hours of sleep between each one. having to wake up at midnight after sleeping 2 hours suuuuuuuuuuuuucks.


I've found that one of the biggest things that helps me stay awake is keeping my heart rate up. I don't think that helps as your probably stuck in a truck, but if your finding it really really difficult, you may try stopping and running a half mile. Find some kind of hand excersizer or something that keeps you moving as you drive.


unless your talking about perscription drugs, caffeine wont really help your body "stay awake". I've found that it actaully makes me feel like going to sleep more when I'm truly tired. My body gets jittery and my heart rate goes up, but the dopamine and seritonin and all those good time sleep hormones pound my brain into sluggish sleep mode regardless of whats in my blood. The only thing I've found that will wake me up from something like that is doing really riggorus physical excersize. Luckily (though I hate the job), my night job is stocking so its not hard to stay awake, as long as I don't sit to long on my breaks.


Finding a diet thats not heavy but gets you enough calories to keep your body out of the nightime catabolic state can also help.
 
Do you get enough sleep during the day? If you're only sleeping four hours during the day, it'll be nearly impossible to stay up all night.

I worked nights at a coal mine for a time, and the guys there said it took them two years to get used to the night shift.

My current job has completely random schedules, and I often stay up for two or three days and nights straight. The first night is OK, the second night sucks, and the third night is completely miserable. As far as staying awake, drinking coffee, playing music, and playing cards on the computer work for the first night. The second night I nod off now and again. The third night, I'm lucky if I don't fall asleep for hours. Unlike your job, there are no negative consequences if I fall asleep in my chair...

I find it impossible to sleep 8 hours during the daylight, so working a regular night shift long-term would be out of the question for me.

Good Luck,
-Bob
 
Yeah a lot of my problem is trying sleep in the daytime. I make the room as dark as possible and cold as a meat locker!
 
I'm the same way with daytime sleeping. last year when I did seasonal at cost plus, I couldn't sleep more then 3 hours because I'd wake up sweating with the sun beating down on me through my curtain.


when you sleep during the day, do your best to not drink coffee or alcohol of any kind for at least 5 hours before sleeping, preferably 8 hours before. the idea is to get it completely out of your system so it doesnt effect the bodies ability to go into r.e.m.. a lot of sleep isn't necessarly "good" sleep. at times I've slept 8 hours a night but felt horrible, where as now with a good diet, excersize, and sheer spite induced willpower I'm able to get by on 2 hours at a time.

caffeine is a double edged sword when it comes to staying up, it'll get you there, but it can keep you there longer than is healthy.
 
Go back to being a teenager :D I have really bad insomnia so it's not that uncommon for me to not be able to fall asleep for a couple days at all.
 
aggiejason said:
Greetings everyone. I'm a truck driver and I started a new job recently that requires me to stay up all night. I usually leave the terminal at about 10pm and arrive back at about 8am. I start having trouble staying awake at about 3am. I've tried all kinds of energy drinks and stuff but nothing seems to help. Anyone have any tips they could share with me? Legal suggestions only please!! :D
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I was in EXACTLY the same situation back in 2001 doing linehaul for CWX, and I finally discovered a surefire remedy for the problem - I QUIT, and found a nice daytime P+D route!

Ah, but you say the money's good as you rack up the miles and you want to stick with it? Well the two things that would get me through the night were to simply pull over to the side of the road when I got that drifting feeling, and walk around it a couple times. After getting back behind the wheel I found that it would usually buy me 30 minutes of safe driving before I had to do it again.

Another trick is to carry a small portable alarm clock and set it to wake you up after a 10 or 15 minute power nap. I was able to just about instantly pass out, and after a quick deep badly needed sleep, I could most of the time make it back home just fine.
 
I'd find a new job, and fast. You don't want to deal with the consequences of falling asleep at the wheel. Remember, you might not be the only one that they affect.
 
Chewing gum helps stimulate the brain, a few blood curdling yells (why not you are alone in a truck at night) also helps, the quick blast of exercise (as previously mentioned), colder than normal temps, not varying to much from the work day sleep cycle on your off days (most important in the long run), sleeping with those dorky padded blinders to block out the light, and avoiding the caffeine several hours prior to bed (as previously mentioned). 5 years running on working until 5am. Three a.m. is the hump for me too.
 
Red Bull and more Red Bull will either keep u going or it might give u a stomach ulcer.... you could take a Cold Shower every 2 hours as well... or do what DeNiro does in Raging Bull and pour a pitcher of cold ice water inside your britches.... :yawn::p
 
Sunflower seeds kept me awake... something about the tedious cracking and spitting.... I worked 7pm to 5am for years and years and I found that I stayed alert better when I stayed on a regular schedule. It would take a month or better to get adjusted, but once adjusted I was ok. On my days off I kept the same hours because it was just too hard to switch back and forth. Foil on the bedroom window helps as well.
 
Try some exercise, get a Captain of crush gripper from http://www.ironmind.com or Amazon.com. Open the window a crack and breath through your nose,slap yourself in the face a couple times for good measure, we can't have you falling asleep at the wheel.
 
I run 1130 pm to around 10 am and have had the same problem around 3 am or so. Coffee and cigars help me, so does satellite radio (talk, not music, Air America will have you screaming at the speakers) or try using the CB. I used to intentionally start arguments on the CB to keep me awake.
 
Having spent much of my younger years (mid forties now), I had the same problem as I was attached to a stakeout squad for 4 years.It was brutal as many of these surveillance targets did nothing for hours on end.they were 24hrs on and 24 hrs off. Then I learned about 'Detective Candy'. Xtra Strength Excedrin and Advil. Two of each every four hours.Aspirin thins your blood and Excedrin has a bunch of caffiene.Since I'd be sitting all the pain reliever would knock down the pain of sitting in a vehicle all night and day. Oh Yeah,one more thing....get everything out of your back pockets.Dont sit down on your wallet,knife,EDC light or anything else. We even went as far as having or buying crossdraw holsters made for our firearms,trying to draw quickly strongside while seated is bad bad bad. I cannot tell you the funny faces gangbangers got when they walked up to our windows all cocksure like, ready to hustle or roll us only to be staring down the working end of a .45 1911 or Sig 220. One told me it was like looking down into a trash can. ;)

Make sure you can take aspirin,this isnt a health tip. But being on these squads meant you couldnt drink coffee.(no bathroom breaks,nowhere to go leak in South Central Los Angeles at 3am!)
 
I worked 11-7 for 26 years. You have to keep the same sleep schedule every day, so sleep during the day and stay up nights even on your days off. Chocolate covered coffee beans help a lot also.
 
You need to keep your brain engaged. Find some books on tape/CD that you're interested in- something exciting. You don't need "bedtime stories". XM or Sirious radio has some good stuff.
 
My boombox adapter for my Sirius is on a UPS truck as we speak. I chew sunflower seeds until my tongue is numb from the salt!! :p Keep 'em coming!!
 
I used to put in 18-20 hours days for 3-4 days at a time. It was pretty brutal and you can only drink so much coffe. I did find a combination that will keep you awake for 6 hours, guaranteed. Find a Weinerschnitzel or something similar. Order a chili dog and a kraut dog. Eat them both. You will be physically unable to sleep for 6 hours.

You will need to keep a window down because the belches will be absolutely sulphurous. They may blister the paint on the dashboard. But you will be wide awake and quite warm.

I don't recommend it often, but it does work.

Gene
 
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