bottem end's gone

 

are u a sufferer? what's a bottem?

 

Same here.

It's seems to be a family trait though, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

Long straight roads are the worst for dozing off - My solution drive fast , really fast . The boredom won't kick in and you'll remain alert.

 

Had to laugh after I realised what happened to me last weekend driving through the night to prague,I done it quite a few times but rarely at night,only because I worked half day before going.
Was feeling tired and you know when your eyes start to feel heavy and I was slapping myself to stay awake,after about half hour I thought no and best pull over into a parking and I stopped behind a truck,thought I'll have 20 mins then continue.
I drifted to sleep and the next thing I remember was suddenly waking/jumping up in my seat,looking through the front window seeing the rear end of the truck in front of me and shouting **** Thought I fallen to sleep driving still,didn't remember at first waking up that I'd pulled into a parking area for a sleep. And a big sigh of relief.

 

 

Do note that if you get diagnosed with a sleep problem you may be obliged to report it to DVLA who, in the worst scenario, can withdraw your licence. dl

 

I see what you did there

 

On that if you think can handle it I wouldn't report anything to dvla or your doctor if you rely on driving for a living.
It has taken my mate two years to get his licence back even though the doctor has passed his medical.
Dvla have just been dragging their feet over it.
Even the benefits he couldn't say he had more than six grand in savings,because benefits would stop paying,how long do they think six grand will last

 

I only feel sleepy if I'm going to be driving 2+ hours (which is quite rare) and it's not nice at all. If I know I've got a long journey ahead of me of 2 hours or more I will prepare the day before by buying a couple of cans of energy drinks and chill them in the fridge. This is also the only time when I will drink energy drinks and I find that it really keeps me wide awake on a journey. Last year when I drove to Manchester airport from Gloucester at 3am I was buzzing as I downed a pint of Monster energy drink 20 minutes before I set off and a smaller can half way.

 

 

^ This. Meant partly in jest, I'm sure, but if you're someone who doesn't generally doze off without warning when doing anything else, it's very likely the combination of sitting still for long periods of time and doing a task that requires relatively little focus that causes you problems on long drives.

I have the exact same problem sometimes in long meetings or during particularly undemanding training sessions at work, but never feel the slightest bit sleepy on a normal day at the office. The trick I use when I feel myself going in these situations is to bend the little finger of one hand at the second knuckle joint, and then apply as much pressure on it as I can tolerate with the other hand. Not very practical when driving though, but maybe one of those 80s style wooden bead seat-covers might help

 

I'm not that old

 

Guys,
This has plagued me most of my life and only during discussions with a heart specialist of all things did it come to light what the problem was.

Boring story but to thin it down, I have a hereditory cholesterol problem that has seen every male in my family for thousands of years drop dead of heart attack between 43 and 45. At 42, naturally I started to worry and sought help and advice from modern technologies.

While discussing my problem with a cardiologist who was trying to work out why statins simply dont work with my body he asked about my sleeping pattern as apparently unless your in deep sleep the body doesnt try and combat such problems, so while I still thought it odd, i humoured him and explained its incredibly rare I sleep through the night soundly and enter deep sleep, normally just tossing and turning a bit... certainly nothing I thought unusual. He sent me directly to the sleep specialist who sent me home that day with some fascinating gadgets to wear.

I got a chest harness and face mask with a hardware box connected and via various sensors it monitored my sleeping activity and recorded it for them to browse at a later appointment. The results surprised me.

During the review appointment it transpired that as they showed on the data, over a full week period, not once did I ever fall fully asleep for more than 45 minutes. Always waking briefly and then shuffling around and back to sleep. The result of this sleep pattern means my body never actually recovered properly in the way it was designed to do, during the "deep sleep" phase which is aparently when muscles and brain tissue etc are repaired and refilled etc.

This was traced to what apparently is a very common issue, the tissue around my airways are weak and as soon as my body tries to enter deep sleep, which is the point it turns off the muscles, the airways collapse due to having no muscle suppport, thus leading to oxygen starvation. The brain then sensing low oxygen, signals a wake up condition to increase its oxygen supply and you stir accordingly in responce as your muscles switch back on. This process is then repeated through the night and the subject (me) is never aware of the issue and just thinks "I never sleep well".

The solution.
I have to wear a mask that supplies positive air pressure to my cavities at all times during sleep. This means that my airways and lungs are always under slightly positive pressure (yes... BOOST ) and ths cant collapse shut when the surrounding muscles are swithced off as I enter deep sleep.

Yes, the mask is annoying, yes I feel like a pensioner dying in hospital with a damn mask on but YES... I have never felt more alert and alive than I do this year. Never. Its amazing and worth it just to see the end of films and be able to sit in the car for hours without the fear of falling asleep.

The complaint by the way is called "Sleep Apnea". Google it.

 

Might need to check that out, I never feel that I've had a good nights sleep.

 

bingo

 

I drove as part of my job for many years and never had a problem staying awake, then when I hit about 32 I started feeling drowsy on the odd occasion so have taken to power napping, I find that as soon as I feel drowsy it's best to pull over sooner rather than later so as not to miss the sleep window, set my alarm for 30 mins and just get my head down, works a treat. Also a good tip for long journeys is to eat well for a couple of days before with plenty of carbs, then on the day of the big journey ( I regularly do 20hr trips to UK) don't eat anything big, have half a sandwich at a time or just a bar of chocolate to keep your sugar levels up and a few coffee's along the way helps too, Then when your ready for a 2/3hr kip stop and have a meal then you sleep like a baby for a couple of hrs and it's enough to re-charge the batteries.

Edit to add; my score was 5.

 

My score was 1, cant sleep anywhere at any time other than in bed in total darkness!

I cant sleep infront of the TV, reading a book etc, I occasionally will doze off as a passenger in a vehicle on a long drive, not due to tiredness just due to boredom!

 

My 5 is dependant upon what I have been doing, I need to be tired to sleep and generally only sleep for about 5/6hrs, I have learnt to sleep when I feel myself dropping off as opposed to trying to get through it otherwise I'll be up half the night. It gets hot in the day time here in summer so I have taken to having a siesta in the middle of the day which is 2 of my score and another 1 is for reading boring books which I do sometimes to help me feel sleepy and the final 2 points is while watching tv late at night after a long day and a couple of bevvies to tip the scales, so in theory I could actually score 0

Never been a big sleeper, I don't understand how some people sleep for 10/12 hours, if I manage to get 8hrs once every 3 months i'm like a cripple when I get out of bed and generally feel worse than when I have 4hrs.

 

Sleep Apnoea is the more correct spelling - you'll see both when you google, but you might get better informed info with the full spelling.

My eldest brother runs a sleep clinic (in Canada unfortunately) and I've seen people in there who think they are just poor sleepers being amazed when shown the results of a monitored night's sleep - this shows hundreds of events each night where they are literally gasping/snorting for breath with concomitant very low average oxygen levels. They are completely unaware of this in the morning other than feeling still very tired after a night's "sleep". They are offered various solutions, like Viv's one above, and the improvement in their sleep, health, quality of life and energy is massive.

People prone to it often have large necks and/or are overweight and/or are smokers or late night drinkers.

Seek out your local sleep clinic here if your GP will refer you - it can make a huge difference. Don't do the RedBull thing - that will just make it worse over time.

 

Edited after reading page 2! Doh!

Good luck getting it sorted. Might not be age after all!