What to do against falling asleep in the car
Last November I was asked to write a guest blog for the website "rustige nacht", a platform that shares information to give people the most complete tools possible for a good night's sleep.
How tired do you dare to get into the car?
An estimated 15 to 20% of road accidents are (partly) the result of driver fatigue. People who are tired are less alert and may even fall asleep behind the wheel.
Even if it's only for a moment, a two-second micro-sleep can be fatal for you, your family and your fellow road users. So, make sure you don't get too tired behind the wheel. This way you not only do yourself a favour, but also others.
In this blog you will find out what a micro-sleep is, how you can recognize the signs of fatigue, read tips on how to prevent fatigue behind the wheel and finally who is more at risk.
Getting behind the wheel tired
My husband once had to work through the night at home. It doesn’t sound so exciting you might say, but it turned out to be after all. On his behalf I would like to tell you his story.
“I was a web application builder and a client's website had to be completed the next day. After working through the night, I just drove to the office in the morning and then continued working there.
At first, I seemed fresh. But after lunchtime I started to get really tired and so I decided to go home around 2pm. I still had to drive but I was convinced that falling asleep in the car would not happen to me.
Falling asleep while driving
In the car I soon started to notice that my eyes were getting a bit heavy, I had trouble concentrating and I almost started to nod. Cold AC and music helped a bit, but a few times I almost fell asleep.
In the end, this story ended well, and I came home safely. But in hindsight I have to admit that this situation was too dangerous to get on the road, not only for myself but also for my fellow road users.”
Falling asleep behind the wheel
Falling asleep in the car sounds very scary, but something this innocent can also cause a great danger. There are two scenarios in which you can fall asleep without noticing it. Below I will highlight them for you.
The first is falling asleep completely behind the wheel, which does not happen often and where the person has an acute lack of sleep, for example, being awake for more than 20 hours.
The second scenario, which is more common, is a short-term loss of concentration called a microsleep. This only takes a few seconds with the eyelid closing partially or completely. This is usually suffered by people who are chronically sleep deprived, which is the case with routinely getting 7 hours or less of sleep per night.
What happens during a microsleep
During a microsleep, your brain becomes temporarily blind to the outside world, not just the visual area but all channels of perception. Usually, you don't even remember this event.
More problematic is when your decision-making power around motor actions, which is necessary for operating your steering wheel or brake pedal, stops for a while. As a result, you don't have to fall asleep for ten to fifteen seconds to die while driving.
Two seconds are enough for this. A two-second microsleep while driving at 50 km/h can result in your car sliding from one lane to the next. A frontal collision could be the result. When the same microsleep happens as you drive towards 100 km/h, it may be the last microsleep you will ever experience.
How to stay awake while driving
How can you avoid falling asleep behind the wheel? It starts with recognizing the signals. There are numerous signals that indicate that it is about time to get off the road temporarily and, above all, in a timely manner. Think of:
• Frequent yawning.
• You can't remember the last kilometres, which means you are driving on autopilot.
• Muscle twitching, nodding.
• Stinging eyes.
• Staring gaze.
• Difficulty maintaining a steady speed and straight lane.
• Your ability to concentrate leaves much to be desired for longer and longer.
• Startled of something that happens along the road or as soon as you drive under an overpass (shadow).
• Having to react more often and quickly to situations that you would have foreseen all along in normal circumstances and would therefore not have been a reason to 'panic'.
• Difficulty finding a comfortable driving position.
What can you do against fatigue behind the wheel
Turning up the radio volume, drinking coffee, opening the window or letting cool air flow from the air conditioning are unfortunately not real solutions. These remedies take away the fatigue for a while, but only work temporarily.
Rest is the only real solution. What is recommended is to stop in a safe place and take a nap of about twenty minutes. Any longer than this can mean diving deeper into an average 90-minute sleep cycle.
When you wake up from a longer sleep, you may experience sleep inertia. This feels like a sleep hangover where you feel worse than before you took a nap.
Can't take a nap? Then stretch your legs but know that this will only help for a little while. By the way, be aware that taking a nap is no substitute for structural sleep.
Tips to avoid fatigue behind the wheel
Of course, you want to avoid falling asleep in the car at all times. Below I therefore share a list of tips, so that you can prevent fatigue behind the wheel.
• Leave well rested.
• For a longer ride, take a 15-to-30-minute break every 2 hours.
• Eat light, drink plenty of fluids and avoid alcohol.
• Set the heating to a maximum of 21°C.
• Do not drive too fast.
• Change regularly if there are different drivers
• Be extra vigilant at night and just after noon.
Who is more at risk of falling asleep at the wheel?
The following groups are statistically the most involved in accidents:
• Night drivers, who are regularly behind the wheel between midnight and six in the morning.
• Professional drivers (international freight traffic).
• Car drivers under the age of 30.
• Car drivers who are on their way to a holiday destination with an unrealistic goal (an example being, driving from Rotterdam to Valencia within two days).
• Shift workers.
• People taking certain types of medicines, including painkillers, tranquilizers, heart medicines, strong antibiotics, and so on. Some of these can cause daytime drowsiness and may cause sleepiness.
• With alcohol behind the wheel.
According to an article in the AD from two years ago, self-overestimation is seen as the main cause of the deadly microsleep.
The advice to take a break at the first symptoms of fatigue is massively ignored. For example, do you stick to the advice to take a half-hour break after every two hours during a car holiday?
After reading this blog, I hope you think twice before getting into the car fatigued, for yourself, your family, but also for your fellow road users. Fortunately, you now know what to do when you are about to fall asleep in the car.