Have you ever found yourself getting drowsy while driving? It has happened to us and it is incredibly dangerous.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “Drowsy driving causes more than 100,000 crashes a year, resulting in 40,000 injuries and 1,550 deaths.” The CDC estimates that number is substantially higher; perhaps as many as 6,000 fatal crashes are caused annually by drowsy drivers.
Several years ago we received this poignant question from a desperate woman:
Q. Please help! Driving puts me to sleep. I can drive only an hour or two before becoming so drowsy I am no longer safe. I must pull over, take a nap or run around the car to wake myself up.
We live in a remote area and I need to drive my husband once a month to a hospital that is four hours away. I drink coffee but this is still a problem.
Is there something I can take to stay alert? Pulling off the road is not always an option.
We answered this question with a recommendation for a prescription drug to help stay alert. Other readers offered different suggestions:
A. Driving while drowsy is extremely hazardous. Far too many people die each year while driving when sleepy.
You must discuss your situation with a physician. It’s possible that a drug like Provigil (modafinil) might be helpful. This medication is prescribed for excessive daytime sleepiness associated with sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, sleep apnea or shift work. People with these conditions may fall asleep unpredictably during the day. Perhaps modafinil will help you drive safely on these crucial trips.
We then heard from other readers of our newspaper column about alternate approaches:
Q. Please pass this on to the woman who cannot stay awake while driving. I have always had the same problem. I do not have a sleep disorder.
Driving or riding in a car are the only situations where I can’t stay awake.
A friend gave me the solution about 9 years ago….sunflower seeds! There is something about having to concentrate on cracking them open with your teeth that keeps the brain alert. It’s rather messy, but it works for me.
A. We received many messages from readers who were concerned about the woman who could not stay awake while driving. Most feared that she was being poisoned by carbon monoxide and pleaded that she have her car checked.
Other suggestions included keeping a squirt bottle of water in the cup holder for an occasional refreshing spritz. One reader realized that the donut and coffee she had at the beginning of her drive were making her blood sugar drop later. She switched to nuts or cheese sticks as a snack, avoiding cookies, candy, crackers or sugary sodas and had no further problems with drowsiness while driving.
Here is another sunflower seed recommendation:
Q. I sleep well at night, wake up refreshed and energetic and rarely feel tired or take naps. But when I drive for an hour or more, I become so sleepy that I have to pull over and take a 45-minute nap or risk crashing.
After I wake up, I’m alert and good to go. My mother and brother have the same problem; we call it “auto-narcolepsy” because the only time it happens is in the car (whether I’m a driver or a passenger). I would appreciate information about this problem.
A. You are certainly not alone. Others have also reported that driving or riding in the car makes them sleepy.
We recently heard from a long-distance truck driver that eating sunflower seeds helps him stay alert on 12-hour trips. The mental concentration needed to crack the shell, extract the seed and spit out the residue seems to be enough to maintain alertness. It may also help that the seeds are rich in fat and protein rather than rapidly absorbed carbohydrate.
Over the years, other readers have shared their success with sunflower seeds: “My mother wants to pass on her magic keeper-upper. Eating sunflowers in the shell while driving works like magic. The multi-tasking needed to consume them keeps you alert, but you need a cup to spit the shells into.”
What is your solution to drowsy driving? Please share your experience below. We cannot emphasize enough: do NOT drive when drowsy!
