RSS
Home
Life-saving tips for the sleep deprived
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Stay awake if this is your view!
(photo: Wikipedia Commons)
Anyone who knows me fairly well is used to me being the driver when heading to a restaurant, a birthday party or even a wedding. Aside from the fact that I will only occasionally nurse one fruity cocktail every once in a while, I’m also a night owl who doesn’t mind taking a road trip—even if that trip is about an hour away.
But even the most alert of us will sometimes find ourselves getting mesmerized by the bright headlights staring directly into our eyes, not to mention a long, monotonous highway ahead of us. And while I have never felt myself nodding off behind the wheel, I have needed to snap myself out of a “driving zone.”
The dangers are worse for those who are lacking in the shut-eye department. Research sponsored by the American Automobile Association (AAA) shows that people who get five hours of sleep or less are four to five times more likely to get into an accident compared to those who sleep eight or more hours.
So if you don’t have a passenger or two to keep your mind alert when driving, try one—or all!—of these easy hurry-up-and-wake-up-before-you-crash tricks:
•Suck on a mint: A driving experiment conducted at West Virginia's Wheeling Jesuit University found that the scent of peppermint and cinnamon boost alertness while cutting fatigue.
•Crank the stereo: This one is my favorite—and it works every time! Fast music with high-frequency sounds (like high voices, saxophones and flutes) stimulates the nervous system, making the mind more awake, alert and sharp. “The three primary body pulses—the brain waves, heart rate and breath—will speed up to match the rhythm of the music,” says Joshua Leeds, an authority on psychoacoustics, the study of the effects of music and sound on the nervous system. “And the higher the sound, the far more energetic reaction to the system.”
•Grab a cup of Joe: Believe it or not, the old fallback really works. In fact, a recent study published in the journal Sleep found that drinking coffee is more effective than taking a power nap.
Other sources of caffeine: It's time to go green...tea, that is
Related Articles:
Comments
