It is common among people who are used to travel for long distances, especially at night, to doze-off while driving. Surely, it is a big problem and seriously dangerous situation which faces most of the people. Of course, you and the people who are facing the same problem are looking for a solution that could be done to stay awake while driving. In this topic, we will give you 10 tips on staying awake when driving for long distances.
1. Drink an energy drink to keep your taste awake: drink an energy drink of apple, orange or even lemon to keep your taste awake as it helps in raising your alertness level during the driving time. Also you could drink beverages slowly such as drinking coffee which contains caffeine that could keep you awake. Avoid sugar as it causes many responses in the body’s system which result in brain fog or drowsiness.
2. Eat slowly: if you have some snacks that come in small pieces, you can eat them one in a time. You can also engage your mind with doing some thing such as eating some chips or some seeds of sunflower as the action of cracking the seeds of sunflower will keep your mind awake and active. This helps in keeping you awake while driving.
3. Wipe your neck and face with a wet tissue as this is very refreshing.
4. Eat ice: it works well for some people especially for afternoon as it is some thing cold.
5. Turn the interior light on at night: darkness causes your body’s system to produce the melatonin which is the hormone that makes you to sleep. You should turn on the light before getting tired as once you have melatonin in your body, it will be hard to return awake without a 15 minute nap.
6. Keep your mouth busy by chewing a gum: you should stay chewing even if your mouth become tired of chewing as it could stop yawning which stops sleepiness.
7. Open the window and keep a hand up in the air: the cold and strong wind that faces your face could help you to still alert and to stay awake while driving.
8. Set the car temperature lower and cooler than usual which you’d ordinarily like: it works great when lower the temperature but not too cold as your brain and body need to feel warm enough to work well.
9. Have a conversation with someone in the car or sing along with the radio: both talking and driving are active things that could not interfere with your driving such as talking on your cell phone which is illegal and dangerous too.
10. Take a deep breath and shake your head from side to side periodically: this helps you to stay awake while driving and if you have to, you can slap your face to keep alert and awake.
Here are some tips in the case of if you are planning for a long drive: you should make sure that you have got plenty of sleep. Avoid relaxing music as it will take you to drowsiness. Try to keep your body as busy as possible.