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Forget the pills. There is no substitute for natural sleep. I've driven across the US many times, and tried the stay-awake pills ... prescription, of course ... and they seem to work for a couple of hours. But after their effectiveness wears off, they're actually a danger. A driver could suddenly fall asleep and cause an accident. You see it in the news all to frequently.

On long-distance driving, I know when it's time to stop and get some sleep. It happens usually at night, after I've been on the road six to eight hours, with just one or two stops for coffee. Almost automatically, my head begins to nod. I immediately begin to slap myself on the face, blink my eyes hard and focus more closely on the road ahead. All drivers should know the brain and body are sending warnings, and it is time for an immediate stop. On several occasions, I've stupidly ignored those signals and kept going.

The next symptom of utter exhaustion is hallucination. I see the highway actually lifting ahead of me and the trees and houses start to lean towards the car. Luckily, whenever that happened, I had enough awareness left to quickly pull over to the side of the road and sleep for an hour or two. Also, if I was on a two- or three-day trip, I made sure the next eight hours of night were spent in a motel bed or lying flat in the back seat of my car or truck.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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