[raptor_diwan]

This seems to be a global issue, and the only way to overcome it seems to be through sleeping pills, which must be strictly avoided. Even though I tried doing a heavy workout the day before the ride, hoping to sleep well due to tiredness, it was reversed. Now, I am tired, did not sleep well, and have body pain, headache, but I still have to ride.

After that incident, I decided to avoid going to the gym the day before my travel. The best solution I found was to start the ride in the evening around 4 PM, drive until 10 or 11, and sleep in a hotel. This way, we can avoid fatigue

[shankar.balan]

Probable reason for the inability to go to sleep.
Anticipation or Anxiety about the trip fuels the Adrenaline levels, reducing the propensity to go to sleep.

Suggested Method to overcome it.
Close the day prior to travel early.
Have dinner early.
Take a hot bath and Sleep early.
Leave early so as to take full advantage of relatively lower traffic periods.
Ensure the packing and the car checks are all done one day prior itself. Ensure that one is careful about perfect maintenance always keeping the car ready for any kind of travel, short or long. I use knapsacks/ carry all bags or boot organizers containing ‘ready car kits’ with essentials, always ready and up to date. These are permanently placed in each car. Helps minimize anxiety and reduces time waste in repeated preparation.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Swapnil4585

You have shared my sentiment. To head out on a long road trip nowadays is more about anxiety and restlessness. The mind and brain get more involved in the thoughts of office - what work is pending and what might happen in your absence. The next part of anxiety is the car. Will it work flawlessly? In a one side trip of 500 km, I always take 3+ hours for the first 100 km. And the total time goes up to 10 hours.

However, while returning home, the same 500 km is dismissed in less than 7 hours. I don't understand this pattern.

My anxiety is a lot about thinking of the traffic and how that will spoil my drive and delay my arrival. For some reason, I get into rally mode ( not necessarily speeding, but speeds being consistent) when I do trips and I have a time stuck in my mind by when I have to reach the destination. Before time is even better.
Even bad roads are okay since there will be small portions of it, but traffic is something that can be there for the whole journey.
Weirdly, I have no stress about the car, maybe because I do regular checks on it, but on my motorcycle, I do, because of the fear of being stranded due to a puncture.

[DigitalOne]

My wife is a very good driver. Both of us share driving duties and take 10-15 mins power naps. This is the only solution that has worked for us .

[mygodbole]

Reading this thread with a smile on my face. Smile because all this stress is caused by one single factor: Time management.

Let me explain. We set a destination; we read up all the reports on distance/road conditions/weather/cattle/wrong side traffic/any other; we set up expectations with specific goals, including so much distance in so much of time, get here/there by so and so time (can be sunset or by the clock).

I learnt many moons ago that the lower the expectations, the better the experience. Every one of us has experienced this bitter fruit: MY LANE (in a traffic jam) is the SLOWEST moving.

And learnt to lower my expectations. I just think of reaching my destination. When is not all that important (unless of course, that is the reason for the journey). If I am late, so be it. If I am early, hmmmm!!! Food? Bio-breaks? Tyre punctures? Diversions? NOT IMPORTANT!

Life has taught me to handle most challenges that the road can throw at me. Humans are willing to help if you ask for help. And all that anxiety stems from one single thought: being stranded (with or without family)

Today, I just follow my normal routine before any drive. Eat, rest, hydrate correctly and set off. No time pressure, no have-to-reach-by-so-and-so-time schedule. Take every kilometre as a step towards my destination.

That allows me to enjoy the drive, smile at the funny jokes/stickers on the back of trucks, mis-spelled signboards on the sides of the road, birds/animals, stars, high beams, 'competitive' drivers, potholes, wrong-side traffic, et al.

All part of the journey. I enjoy the journey. Reaching the destination is a by-product for me. And a long drive is precisely that: the journey.

I set no deadlines or timelines, I set no expectations on traffic conditions, I just ensure the vehicle is fit for the journey (and in case it is not, I factor in the additional cost in case anything goes ftttttt!).

Enjoy the drive, or as the saying goes: Take the time to smell the roses.

Drive safe.

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

My wife is a very good driver. Both of us share driving duties and take 10-15 mins power naps. This is the only solution that has worked for us .

Isn't it dangerous that when someone in the car falls asleep, you might automatically feel sleepy too? Or maybe it's just a myth. Personally, I have felt that if a co-passenger is sleeping and I am tired too, I might get sleepy. Has this ever happened to you in a similar scenario?

[srvm]

I started driving only in 2016. Like many in this thread, I too was unable to sleep peacefully the night before a long drive. Adrenaline or butterfiles in the stomach, whatever it was, I just couldn't avoid it no matter what I tried. Though I must admit, once I held the steering wheel all tiredness evaporated until I reached my destination later in the day. It was like that for first 2-3 years. In the past 2-3 years, this has come down significantly. No more anxious, sleepless night before the journey. Maybe due to experience & maturity, a bit of 'Jo hogha, dekha jayega'.

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Isn't it dangerous that when someone in the car falls asleep, you might automatically feel sleepy too? Or maybe it's just a myth. Personally, I have felt that if a co-passenger is sleeping and I am tired too, I might get sleepy. Has this ever happened to you in a similar scenario?

Yes, many of my friends/relatives feel the same way as you.
In my case, I tell my wife (who is usually in the front passenger seat) and family in rear seat: I'm fine if you doze off, but strictly no yawning, particularly audible ones or ones with hippo-mouth That induces yawning in me and that leads to drowsiness later.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by tharian

I have a time stuck in my mind by when I have to reach the destination. Before time is even better.

I too have similar anxiety before any trip.

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Personally, I have felt that if a co-passenger is sleeping and I am tired too, I might get sleepy. Has this ever happened to you in a similar scenario?

When one is sleepy/ tired there is no other option than to sleep / rest. That said, I guess the passenger induced sleep has to do more with feeling bored when one doesn't have anyone else to talk to.

For me, sometimes based on my mood, I like it when passengers are all asleep. Especially when there are 5/6 passengers. I talk very less during driving in general, so after a few hours / days on long trips, its very peaceful 'me time' when its just you in a way when all others are asleep.

[trippytragopan]

Drinking caffeinated drink like coffee and tea, taking regular breaks and maintaining a good posture while on long drives have always worked for me.

[MahindraThor]

The sleeplessness (Insomnia) before long drive is universal and most of us are seized in the same situation. The reason being our body is stressed, one because of excitement and second due to anxiety that we may fall asleep or stay asleep ( it is a never ending cycle). I personally do some meditation ( I don’t look at the clock frequently) and then drift off to sleep.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by ravib

Whenever I plan for a long drive to start early in the morning, I always didn't had a deep sleep prior night. Too many thoughts and planning goes around in the mind. Even if the alarm is set at 4 am, i will be awake at 3 am itself - an hour earlier !
-Ravi

Tell me about it. I just cannot sleep properly if I plan to wake up early in the morning, especially if that is for a long drive! The excitement won't let me sleep. I'm not even a newbie driver, been driving for more than 25 years and I still can't get over it.

So I plan my drives at night - I'll start by 9:30 PM and try to conclude the drive by 1 AM at the max, and try to sleep - it is difficult to get into sleep after a long drive, but I manage.

None of the suggestions you see here will help. You'll remain how you are. You'll be excited/tensed about the drive and related plans while you try to get some shuteye.

Bottomline: When it comes to sleeping with some time-bound & exciting plans for the early morning, some people can, and some people cannot.

Originally Posted by mygodbole

Reading this thread with a smile on my face. Smile because all this stress is caused by one single factor: Time management.

I hope you could take a look at such situations from some others' shoes - it is not about time management, not at all. I plan everything to the T before I sleep, but still can't sleep. Especially if there's an early morning flight to catch. See, everything is not under your control, and that's an unnecessary concern that spoils the sleep for at least a few.

If I have an early morning flight at 5 AM, I make TODO notes a few days in advance, do my shopping, pack everything up the previous day, book a taxi, confirm the booking at least once by making a call, strike off all the items in my list, and then try to go to sleep without any time pressure - but then, I simply can't sleep. even if I do sleep, I wake up at least an hour before the alarm. Is it because of time management? No, not at all.

I am super cool if the flight is in the afternoon or in the evening. No issues with sleep.

[hamster]

Although its been a long while since I went for any drive for more than a couple of hours, I have experienced this multiple times.

If I rewind and see the situation, I never had this problem till I was a bachelor and till we had our kid.

The anxiety induced sleeplessness came into play only after when i had to travel with my son, that too if it was a trip we had planned for a early morning start from Bangalore.

Being slightly in the OCD side of spectrum, I do have a habit of making to do lists and beyond making the lists, packing a day in advance and hitting the bed at 8 pm and planning to wake up at around 3 am for a 4 am start, I used to find it tough to get an hour of continuous sleep. The anxiety was more about driving safe with son. Remember one time I had read about some near miss accident cases in our own forum and it only further increased

On the other side, I never had any issues of anxiety or anything, when I had a evening start for a long travel. I do make sure to take a good afternoon nap after my lunch if it is evening travel and then I can drive upto 10-12 hrs straight.

Believe it has more to do with responsibility and the time of start.

[ajmat]

This happened to me this morning. Slept at 11 with view for a 5 am journey to Hyderabad. Maybe, it’s the anxiety or fear of Murphys law.

We set off. I took it very easy until the sun was up and broke the journey twice. Made up with a long nap once we reached

[locusjag]

This has only happened to me once, just before my life's very first self-driven inter-state highway trip back in 2010. I made that trip from Udupi on the West coast of India to Chennai on the East coast on my Honda Unicorn motorcycle. If a giant were to lay a straight ruler across the map of India, the trip's route appears as a near-horizontal line, measuring all of 770 Km.

The reason why I felt so sleepless prior to the trip was - I had never driven/ridden on highways before that. In my limited books at the time, driving on the highways was something that "manly" men did...bus drivers, truck drivers etc. And I was a mere college student at the moment.

Only upon the goading of my friend (who rode a TVS Victor) did I muster enough courage to make that trip. And it was a glorious journey across the Western ghats, despite my lack of sleep. As it turned out, once I began riding, it was all about the basics - taking it kilometre by kilometre.

[MT_Hyderabad]

It happens with me all the time. The reason is some sort of anxiety.
It is not limited to drives alone, if I have to catch a flight at 6am and want to sleep till 3am, I will wake up at 1 am and will have forced, broken sleep thereafter.

Mind gets super active in the night before due to packing etc and trying to remember everything that I have to do. Then, sleeping with this super active mind and anxiety of not waking up in time makes it impossible to sleep well.

However, this sleep deprivation does not impact me physically and I don't get tired or feel sleep deprived during the journey.