Fatigue and sleep disorders

Fatigue affects the driver seriously, especially al night.

Activities carried out during the day cause fatigue, with a decrease of the physical and mental performance. If, apart from this, the person ate abundantly, the digestion consumes physical energy, increasing fatigue. And if the person drank alcohol, the situation gets seriously worse. Driving requires concentration and being alert and paying attention permanently.  When one is tired and drives, the attention gets distracted, reactions become slower and the ability of evaluating situations is affected. Facing a danger, one doesn’t react rapidly and the risk of having an accident increases. You must avoid driving if you are tired, not only at night but also during the daytime.

In long journeys, take a rest of 10 minutes every 2 hours if there is no possibility of alternating the driving with another person (although you don’t feel tired), take a walk and carry out some bending, stretching and relaxing exercises for arms and legs, rotation of neck and shoulders.

If you are travelling with someone else, talk to him/her and ask him/her to be alert and warn you if he/she notices any fatigue symptoms. If he/she can also drive, take turns to drive.

If you are travelling alone, listen to the radio or music and open the window once in a while so that you can feel the wind in your face.

Move your eyes. Don’t fix your eyes on the road. Look at the landscape that is at both sides, right and left.

Stop and rest when you feel the first symptoms of sleepiness: yawns, difficulty to focus the sight, confusing thoughts, difficulty to maintain the direction, etc.

Sleep disorders

Driving with sleepiness, at any time of the day, puts you on a dangerous situation when you are on the road because it makes your reactions slower, makes you get distracted easily, affects your perception capacities, analysis and decisions, etc.

If you also feel tired during a large part of the day, you get asleep in any moment and/or have, in general, difficulties to sleep at night because you wake up very often, consult your doctor. Your problem can be treated.