The best remedy against fatigue and drowsiness is, of course, a sleepy sleep. You need to get some sleep to spend a few hours driving in good spirits. But sometimes it takes only a few hours before a difficult trip. And they need to spend wisely, so that the body could gain strength and withstand the travel loads.
A sleep is a complex physiological process, and it is broken up by cycles that consist of several phases.
The rapid phase is characterized by activation of the work of all internal organs. At this time, models of expected events are realized and the subconscious finds answers to questions posed during the day. The called phase is also due to the fact that a person during the time of sleep reflexively moves his eyes. He sees dreams and experiences what he has seen. The fast phase lasts about half an hour and then flows into the next stage.
Slow-wave sleep (SWS)- deep sleep in duration takes more than an hour. It differs by the slowing down of all physical processes. During this period cells are renewed, energy stores are replenished, bones and joints are rectified, muscle tissue is restored. During deep sleep, the brain completes the processes of processing and adapting information, the memory structures the one seen on the eve and after each cycle requests permission to wake up. If you do not need to get up, the nervous system starts the next cycle. The body re-begins the period of recovery of energy costs and activates protective functions. A person needs peace to complete this complex process.
But if in the REM (paradoxical) phases of sleep to break its flow, lifting a man with force and trying to force him to perform complex operations, then most likely he will not succeed. The brain, of course, will give the team an extraordinary awakening, but will continue to carry out the initiated process, albeit with significant delays. A person will feel exhausted, “broken” and suppressed until the nervous system is adapted. As a result, a person will feel no less fatigued than before falling asleep for some time after the interrupted mid-slow phase of sleep.
Therefore, getting up is necessary only after the completion of the complete cycle of sleep. It is necessary to plan a rest and to spend in the bed before such a time that it was multiplied to the named factor, that is, one and a half hours.
Planning a driver’s sleep
In other words, you need to sleep in about one and a half or three hours. But not two and not three and a quarter. If to do one cycle, he will give forces for three or four hours of a trip and already by 4-5 o’clock in the morning the driver will begin to clog his nose. Force will not be enough. It is therefore best that the brain complete two cycles of sleep, which is approximately equal to three hours. Then you can hold the car for 5-6 hours during the night and get to your destination without problems with falling asleep. If you lie down and fall asleep at 8 pm, then after 11 pm you can get up and get ready for the trip. The main thing is that the dream takes place in absolute darkness and silence; it is not necessary to interrupt the course of the cycle.
The most acceptable night activity is the early evening dream of three cycles long, which equals approximately 4.5 hours. After them it is possible to make up for the energy expended during the day. True, to lie down and sleep will take about 7 pm. At that time there is just drowsiness. After such evening rest it is possible to get up at 11 pm to prepare for a night trip. The accumulated forces will allow you to drive several hundred miles, without feeling the urge to sleep.
However, later during the day, the lack of sleep will still manifest itself and fatigue will make itself felt. In the afternoon, you need a little rest and take the missing 1,5-3 hours of rest. It takes 4-6 cycles, that is, 6 to 9 hours of sleep for the body to fully recover.
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