How Drivers Can Prevent Fatigue and Drowsy Driving

Operating a moving vehicle takes a certain amount of hand-eye coordination, decision-making skills, and reflexes. Substances like alcohol can interfere with the ability to safely operate a vehicle, but so too can lack of sleep. 

Whether you call it driving while fatigued or drowsy driving, driving when you’re sleep deprived is dangerous. In fact, after 21 hours of sleeplessness, response times and driving abilities are comparable to someone with .08% blood alcohol level. Drowsy driving is completely preventable with adequate sleep. Developing good sleep hygiene is the best way to keep yourself awake on the road. However, if your eyelids get heavy, a solid plan can help you stay awake. 

The Effects of Sleep-Deprived Driving

Anywhere from 28 to 44 percent of adults get less than the recommended seven hours of sleep. Anytime you get on the road in that condition, your driving ability is impaired. Between 2011 and 2015, 2.3 percent of vehicle accidents involved a drowsy driver. That number may not seem high until you realize that that’s roughly 328,000 preventable accidents each year that come at a cost of nearly one billion dollars.

Those are reported drowsy driving accidents. Many fatigue-related accidents aren’t reported because the driver may not admit or have even realized their drowsiness was a factor. 

Start with Prevention

Prevention starts at home with healthy sleep habits. Developing and practicing these habits daily can improve the quality and length of your sleep cycle over time. Keep in mind that some improvement comes in a few days while the full benefits may take weeks or months to develop. 

• Predictable bedtime and bedtime routine. Predictability allows the brain to successfully anticipate when to start the release of sleep hormones. Proceeding your bedtime with a bedtime routine relieves stress and prepares both mind and body for complete relaxation. 
• Supportive bedroom conditions.
• It goes without saying that the bedroom needs to be quiet, but it also needs
• to be dark and cool. Light suppresses sleep hormones. Block out any natural or artificial light with blackout curtains or heavy drapes. 
• Increase natural light exposure.
• Exposure to sunlight, especially in the morning, suppresses sleep hormones for the day and prepares the body to release them at night. If weather or a hectic work schedule keeps you from going outside, you may want to try light therapy in which you spend 30 minutes under a specially designed lightbulb that mimics sunlight.
• Avoid stimulants.
• Caffeine and similar stimulants effectively stop sleep hormones in their tracks. Cut them out of your diet starting in the early afternoon.  
• Turn off screens.
• The artificial light from laptops, smartphones, and other electronics can suppress sleep hormones like sunlight. Using these devices close to bedtime can delay the onset of sleep. Turn them off two to three hours before bed and move them out of the bedroom for the best sleep. 

Treating Fatigue on the Road

As much as you may try, you could find your eyelids getting heavy while you drive. If that happens, you need a plan in place to protect yourself and other drivers. You can:

• Pull over and take a short 15 to 20-minute nap
• Pull over and walk a few laps around your vehicle
• Roll down the windows and let in some cool air
• Turn up the radio and sing along
• Move your body

Conclusion

The risks involved with drowsy driving deserve more attention. Sleep is a simple solution but one that requires a certain level of commitment. When you make sleep a priority, you’re putting your safety and the safety of everyone on the road at the top of your list where it belongs.