Fighting highway hypnosis

Sunflower seeds are great for this. 

Also I try to avoid going with the flow. Working my way through traffic keeps my mind engaged looking for gaps and plotting my next move. 

Adrian_Thompson said:

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

audiobooks

This, especially a real 'page-turner' which keeps you engaged.  Keeping that part of my brain involved with the plot and characters seems to defeat tiredness.  

+1.  Audible.com is great.

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

audiobooks

David S. Wallens said:

Slayer. 

Slayer narrated audiobooks should be a thing.

My thoughts:

1)  Long highway drives suuuuuuuuck.  I avoid them as much as I can.  I have difficulty focusing/remaining awake without assistance and I know they are not very safe.

2)  I listen to audio books or podcasts or (best option) talk with a passenger

3)  Its one of the few times I will drink soda.

Window cracked at a minimum, good music and/or a decent audiobook. For the longest time I had trouble getting into audiobooks, I would rather read the book myself but I've learned too appreciate them on long drives 

Last time I was on a long drive found myself getting tired I started singing loudly. I realized I drive listening to the same large playlists so much that I actually know the words to quite a few songs. 

ProDarwin said:

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

audiobooks

 

David S. Wallens said:

Slayer. 

Slayer narrated audiobooks should be a thing.

I listen to Sabaton.  It's interesting metal, and a history lesson.

Knurled. said:

I listen to Sabaton.  It's interesting metal, and a history lesson.

My son will absolutely appreciate this!

Metal. Pop. Death metal. 90’s rock. Scandinavian death metal. In that order of sleepiness. Usually talking with the wife helps until she falls asleep. 

I find thinking about possible outcomes and solutions to them (super volcano eruption, emp, meteoroid strike etc) and the best ways to prepare/deal with them. In order of what do you do first, second third etc. not like prepper status but realistically how would you prepare for that where you were at that time etc. it’s a challenging mental exercise that I can easily destroy a tank of fuel on. 

I used to do more and more complicated math in my head until I realized I had no idea if the answer was right because I was too lazy to remember or grab a calculator 

i love long drives. I feel more at home on the open road cruising just above the speed limit watching the scenery change. It’s part of the reason I loved one lap so much. Wait, I get to drive 4K miles in six days? Hell yeah where do I sign up? Our best was 7200 miles in 9 days about 10 years ago in her Sierra. That was a helluva trip. It the 1800 miles home from Tucson in a 40 year old truck that I knew nothing about. That was good

ebonyandivory said:

Knurled. said:

I listen to Sabaton.  It's interesting metal, and a history lesson.

My son will absolutely appreciate this!

 

I'm not your son, but i do!

spandak said:

Sunflower seeds are great for this. 

 

This^^^^^ 

Highway hypnosis is a serious issue for me, as in I'm lucky to be alive. Fortunately I've learned that eating shelled nuts or seeds where you have to do the shelling yourself, fires off the necessary brain centers and keeps you alert. Far better than Caffeine in my experience. I used to do Pistachios, but they were too filling. Sunflower seeds are ideal.

Little white pills.  
 

All kidding aside I drove last summer 2000 miles home from California to Chicago.   

I did 900 miles on day one and 1100 miles on day two.  Lots of fiddling with the radio and any drowsiness I pull over and take a 15 minute power nap.   

fresh air. An open window or sunroof lets in fresh air and buffets you a bit.

 I have driven a lot of nights with sleeping family ( 2 boys and wife) so metal music is out.  I find something to munch on and light music works for me until about 4 in the morning then I have to stop.

Ever heard of micro sleep? You fall asleep momentarily without actually knowing it. You all have had it happen. When the brain is tired all those suggestions to remain awake til the next exit fail. The ONLY thing to combat drowsy driving is sleep. The right amount before hand. And a nap if necessary during the drive. Pull over and nap for about 20 minutes. Should refresh you enough to get to the next exit and save your life. I'm not kidding. I teach DE and have seen the research. You're fooling yourself if you think you've outwitted your brain's need for rest.

Caffeine, Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, In Flames, and other metal stuff to get the adrenaline going- separated by 80s pop/rock to sing along to. Seems to work well. 

A good night's sleep before the drive will help a lot.

In reply to stuart in mn :

NONSENSE! Humans run purely on stimulants and hatred.

3 car wrecks here from falling asleep driving.  All daytime, all freeway/ multilane hwy.  No replacement for sleep.

Daylan C said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

NONSENSE! Humans run purely on stimulants and hatred.

Hey, I resemble that remark. 

I can send you my 7 year old.

While his two older brothers usually sleep on the way to school, the little one will not shut up and stop asking questions. He will talk about the most random things too. 

My go-to is a can of rockstar/monster and then sunflower seeds. You drink the can first so you have somewhere to spit the seeds 

vwcorvette said:

Ever heard of micro sleep? You fall asleep momentarily without actually knowing it. You all have had it happen. When the brain is tired all those suggestions to remain awake til the next exit fail. The ONLY thing to combat drowsy driving is sleep. The right amount before hand. And a nap if necessary during the drive. Pull over and nap for about 20 minutes. Should refresh you enough to get to the next exit and save your life. I'm not kidding. I teach DE and have seen the research. You're fooling yourself if you think you've outwitted your brain's need for rest.

When I drove commercial, the moment I started to feel drowsy, I would find a spot to stop and take a 20 minute nap. Woke up fresh, relaxed, and safer

Avoiding processed foods that lead to the lethargic hypnosis states. Yea it's counter-culture to not grab that bag of doritos, a soda/energy drink, and some sort of sugary candy orrrrrr fast food but it seriously helps. I did Norfolk, VA to Los Angeles, CA in 50 hours recently. I did some meal prepping prior to my trip that really helped out. Fruits, salads, nuts, and beef jerky for proteins. Stopping at healthier restaurants, etc. 

The other part was stopping every 100 minutes or so to get out and knock out some push-ups, air squats, etc. I had a kettle bell with me on this last trip and knocked out some kettle bell swings and other various work outs with it. Kept the blood flowing, got the heart rate up, kept me fresh. 

Odd things I know; but, it worked and I never felt drained during my trip. Even with only getting about 10 hours of sleep during that time frame. 

I regularly fall asleep to heavy metal so loud music doesn't work for long trips and staying awake for me.

It's caffeine and 15 min power naps for me. It amazing what just closing your eyes for a few minutes does when you've been fighting closing your eyes for hours