Staying awake

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Re: Staying awake

Post by CitroJim »

Stickyfinger wrote: 10 Sep 2017, 10:59 I was young once :)


Ahh yes, I remember being young myself once... A time of great experimentation and discovery :)

These days I have a physical age of 58 but a mental age of somewhere between 12 and 16 :lol: To be honest I'm very much into discovery and experimentation still. I'm convinced I'm still not yet fully grown up!

After all these years I don't think I ever will now and have given up worrying about it :)
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Re: Staying awake

Post by Stickyfinger »

Is that your Tinder entry Jim :)
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Re: Staying awake

Post by CitroJim »

Stickyfinger wrote: 10 Sep 2017, 14:23 Is that your Tinder entry Jim :)


Nah, I'm well past all that rubbish now... I was never very good at it as a youngster if truth be told and I'm quite happy I no longer have to bother with it...

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Re: Staying awake

Post by darbuck »

good man Alasdair always entertaining, all those time altering chemicals will probably work, but another option was what I used to do as a taxi driver was pull over get an hour sleep and then caffeine and loads of sugar but it wears off quick so you have a maximum of 1 to two hours before you need to stop for at least 4 hours. well that was my experience. unless you do what I did one night and decide in my little nap to park in a field and wade across a small river to get help in -3c temperatures that'll wake you up pretty quick. :rofl2: :rofl2:
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Re: Staying awake

Post by elma »

This was one of the reasons I loved having a camper van. Just pull over for a nap whenever needed. When you wake up make a quick coffee or a light meal and carry on.

I used to take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at motorway service stations if I was tired. I trundled home from London several times taking a 1h50 minute nap at the first 4 services.

I find it more difficult in a car, not a good place to nap for me. If anything I feel more worn out for it. I find I have to plan better and arrange an over night stop if the journeys over 6 hours.

Stimulant wise I go for coffee and I drink loads of water too which forces me to stop for the toilet. I like to take small savoury snacks and some sweets as well but not many. I only take a little as if I fill up I get sleepy.

This is most of my coffee kit I carry round.
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I used to keep a self heating espresso in the glove box. These can be handy.
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Re: Staying awake

Post by harryp »

The short term answer is to set your aircon to blow cool air onto you face or open the window slightly.
.

Nah, I just stay tired and get cold! For a short (very) fix, shake head side to side violently - then find somewhere to nap, as mentioned.
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Re: Staying awake

Post by myglaren »

I had to take the train to London on Nov 24th 1973 - the day after I got married. Collect my boss and his mate from London, drive them to Worcester and then take his car back to Whitby to load my new wife's goods and chattels in, to take to Sweden.

Driving back in freezing fog and much snow, only allowed to buy a fiver's worth of petrol at a time, it was a long journey.
Tried stopping in laybys for forty winks but the car soon became more of a 'fridge.

Did stop at a service station at about 02:00, only others there were a gag of Hell's Angels but they just kept to themselves and were fine.
Lots of coffee and a snooze at the table then carried on wishing I had some matchsticks to prop my eyes open.Then, passing near Harrogate, the day dawned quite spectacularly and the scenery was all picture postcard, clear blue sky and the land covered in a blanket of snow.
Was suddenly wide awake.

Much more to the saga but unrelated to staying awake.

I used to drive some awful cars and had a terrible time staying awake - that all changed with the GS.

Odd as a more comfortable and quiet car should be soporific but I have found the opposite to be true although did have a scary moment, again in Yorkshire, in the current C5, after Malcolm's funeral.
Had driven down to Hastings via London after leaving work at 5pm, slept a couple of hours in the car, attended funeral then retraced my journey.
At around 2am almost came off the road (A1M). Fortunately the road was deserted. Stopped at the next service station for an hour then continued.
Wasn't much use for the rest of the day though.

TL:DR - take regular breaks, don't do as I do and just plod on!
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Re: Staying awake

Post by van ordinaire »

Many, many, many years ago, I fell asleep driving down the MI (it was so long ago it was virtually deserted at night) & dreamed I was driving down the MI & the Isetta up ahead stopped - so I instinctively slammed on the brakes, which woke me up; only to find myself stationery on a, very fortunately, completely empty M-way.
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Re: Staying awake

Post by CitroJim »

van ordinaire wrote: 12 Oct 2017, 00:02 Many, many, many years ago, I fell asleep driving down the MI (it was so long ago it was virtually deserted at night) & dreamed I was driving down the MI & the Isetta up ahead stopped - so I instinctively slammed on the brakes, which woke me up; only to find myself stationery on a, very fortunately, completely empty M-way.


That was many years ago too! I live within earshot of the M1 near J14 and it never ceases day or night... If I can't hear it I know a serious incident has occurred...
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Re: Staying awake

Post by Peter.N. »

Its quite amazing how quickly your senses can come back after a lack of concentration or even falling asleep which I have done several times over the years but fortunately only very briefly.

I used to traverse the M5 quite frequently soon after it was built, you even had to go through Bristol until the box girder bridge was finally completed, same with the A9 and Inverness, anyway to the point, I used to travel all over the Midlands and north buying ex rental TVs mostly from Granada outlets, even one in Leeds which I could do quite comfortably there and back in a day, wouldn't like to try it now though.

To while away the time I used to listen to the plays on radio four, very good some of them where, lasted an hour usually. When they ended I had to furiously look round for landmarks as I had no idea where I was, I had been driving on autopilot all that time and don't remember a thing unless I saw stoplights in front of me in which case I reacted pretty well instantly, all this was done in the nearside lane between the lorries, a very relaxing way to drive I have found.

I only recently realised why I couldn't recognise many landmarks on the motorway anymore - the trees have all grown up and obscured them.

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Re: Staying awake

Post by CitroJim »

It's amazing even when fully awake and alert how a long journey can pass and at the end of it you have absolutely no recollection of the biggest part of it, especially if you make that particular journey often...

I now find exactly the same on long sportive bike rides. I try to recall them in detail but apart fro a few stand-out aspects most of it has gone - even when looking at the route map the names of villages passed through just a few hours ago are not even a memory!
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Re: Staying awake

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

That makes perfect sense. The brain is very good at filtering things. That which is new is remembered (as the brain assigns it of high importance), while that which is a regular occurrence gets a lower level of priority (and so gets discarded).
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Re: Staying awake

Post by harryp »

Suddenly not recognising where I was between Cornwall and Stafford used to scare the sh@t out of me as I reckoned perhaps I may not have been driving too well! Used to listen to the excellent radio plays too. Long gone are the early happy days of a more or less deserted M5 mid evening onwards. :-D
Also have to admit that occasionally the lorry I was suddenly approaching was too damn close. :shock: [-X
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Re: Staying awake

Post by CitroJim »

Hell Razor5543 wrote: 12 Oct 2017, 16:38 That makes perfect sense. The brain is very good at filtering things. That which is new is remembered (as the brain assigns it of high importance), while that which is a regular occurrence gets a lower level of priority (and so gets discarded).


Yes, just shows how incredible the brain is James ;)
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Re: Staying awake

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

The brain is constantly learning, and not just what YOU choose to teach it.
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