{"id":3291,"date":"2021-10-30T11:55:32","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T22:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/?p=3291"},"modified":"2021-11-01T10:42:15","modified_gmt":"2021-10-31T21:42:15","slug":"5-tips-to-avoid-driver-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/5-tips-to-avoid-driver-fatigue\/","title":{"rendered":"5 tips for avoiding driver fatigue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Getting tired while driving? I can relate. My first car was a 1999 Nissan Pulsar, and I bought it from my cousin, who had just got his truck drivers licence and was going to start on regular long haul trips.&nbsp; I was so excited when I picked it up from Wellington and drove it straight home to Auckland, a ten hour drive: start to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had work down in the Waikato the next day, and set out early in the morning so I could make it there by 8am, spending a couple hours on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heading out past the Bombays, I started to notice myself drifting off into a short microsleep.&nbsp; When I quickly came to my senses, it was only due to the sound of the side of the car rubbing up against a motorway partition.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within 24 hours of owning The Silver Pulse, as it had been named, I\u2019d managed to give it an unintended scratch-job right down the side of the body thanks to fatigue.&nbsp; I tried to tell myself it looked like racing stripes.&nbsp; Yeah, right.&nbsp; Safe to say, I was not happy, but I considered myself lucky to be alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just goes to show, you don\u2019t need to be on an epic road trip to start feeling tired behind the wheel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It might be a big day at work, lots going on at home, a few big nights in a row &#8212; whatever it is &#8212; a microsleep can happen 10 metres or 1,000kms from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthline.com\/health\/microsleep\">microsleep<\/a> isn\u2019t a power nap.&nbsp; It\u2019s a 30 second episode of sleep, the kind that hits when you\u2019re watching TV on the couch and start to doze off.&nbsp; They can happen at any time, and you definitely don\u2019t want them to happen while you\u2019re driving a car<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, here are our top 5 ways to reduce driver\u2019s fatigue:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Breathe deep! <\/strong>&nbsp;Fresh air is key to staying awake and alert, so keep a window open with a cool draft, or take the air conditioning off of the recirculate function, so you\u2019re bringing fresh oxygen in through the car.<br><\/li><li><strong>Stretch it, shake it!<\/strong> If you need to, a good way to fight fatigue and stay alert is through a bit of simple exercise. I have been known to jog around the car in each direction a few times, bust out a downward dog, or just swing my arms around uncontrollably.&nbsp;<br><\/li><li><strong>Stay hydrated.&nbsp; <\/strong>It goes without saying, but staying hydrated is essential to staying awake, especially on those long-haul trips.&nbsp; The other upside is that it\u2019s impossible to sleep with a full bladder!&nbsp; Water is good, I don\u2019t recommend going crazy on the energy drinks, it\u2019s not much fun once the caffeine wears off.<br><\/li><li><strong>Avoid truckstop foods.<\/strong>&nbsp; Choosing the right food is key if you\u2019re going to arrive at your destination in good shape.&nbsp; Try to avoid the heavier foods like breads and pasta, and go for energy-enhancing foods like fruit and fresh veg.&nbsp; Carrots are great, and will last a while without getting soft.<br><\/li><li><strong>Turn that music and sing!&nbsp; <\/strong>If you\u2019re feeling drowsy, don\u2019t let your passengers fall asleep, turn the music up and get those road trip vibes buzzing.&nbsp; Being surrounded by sleepy people isn\u2019t good for staying awake and alert on the road!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re on your own, and you\u2019ve already sung your way through your favourite Spotify playlist, I seriously recommend giving a friend a call.&nbsp; I\u2019ve done this for a couple of friends, and you can tell it really makes a difference &#8212; you can hear it in their voice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the worst comes to worst, and you just can\u2019t shake the drowsiness, please don\u2019t continue to drive!&nbsp; Find a local motel where you can spend the night, or if you really need to, catch a bit of shut-eye in the car.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s better you get home safe, than not at all. Don\u2019t let driver fatigue get you. Eyes up, music up, pull those windows down!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting tired while driving? I can relate. My first car was a 1999 Nissan Pulsar, and I bought it from my cousin, who had just got his truck drivers licence and was going to start on regular long haul trips.&nbsp; I was so excited when I picked it up from Wellington and drove it straight [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"single-wrapped-thumbnail.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[196,198,200,199,197],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-3291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-driving-tips","tag-driver-fatigue","tag-microsleep","tag-power-nap","tag-powernap","tag-sleep-rest"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3291"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3294,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291\/revisions\/3294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3291"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myautoshop.co.nz\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=3291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}