When and How to Take a Break
Long distance journeys on the motorway can take hours and hours and a lot of time they are during the evening. If you are going to embark on one of these journeys you may find yourself getting sleepy whilst you are driving. The repetitive motions you have to go through on a motorway and the unchanging sight of cars steadily driving in front of you can get quite monotonous and can lead you to simply switching off and falling asleep whether you are tired or not.
When you are driving on the motorway you may feel relaxed and easily forget the seriousness of what you are doing. If you are driving on the motorway it means you are going to be driving at very high speeds that could lead to catastrophic damage to yourself and others if you crash. If someone has been driving for 3 hours or so the severity of these facts is easily forget and this can make you inadvertently feel relaxed and lead you to nod off if you are not being stimulated by anything. One of the worse things about feeling tired when you are driving is that once your head starts to drop periodically; it is very hard to fight your drowsiness. Even if you are aware of the fact that you are starting to fall asleep and try waking yourself up by shaking your head and trying to focus, the monotonous activity of driving on a motorway can quickly lead you to start falling asleep again.
Take Your Mind Off Driving
If you are in this situation it is important that you stop and take a break in a safe place as soon as you can. Whilst your on the motorway they will be services and exits coming past you every so often, so if you feel like you are nodding off and the methods you are taking to stay awake and alert are not working then you need to come off the motorway as soon as an exit arrives. Ideally it's good to stop off at motorway services. Motorway services will usually have 24 hour restaurants as well as parking for all cars.
So if you want to, you can park up, get out of the car and stretch your legs. This is going to give your brain a rest from focusing on driving and allow you to move around and be more alert. Eating some food will also give you a bit more energy if you eat it slowly and steadily and after this you should be able to get back on the road feeling more awake and focused.
Have A Sleep
If you are nodding off due to genuine tiredness rather than the monotonousness of motorway driving then you can park up in a space at services and try and get some sleep for a while. For some people just a twenty to thirty minute power nap is all they need to feel refreshed and active enough to get back on the road. If you are going to go to sleep make you know it's a nap.
If you go to sleep for a long period of time and start getting into a deep sleep and then wake yourself up and try driving it is likely that you are going to be even drowsier than you were before. If you are this tired you should not be driving in the first place and should pull into a hotel so you can sleep for the night. Follow this advice and you will know when and how to take a break whilst driving.