Tips to Avoiding Fatigue. Avoiding fatigue is an on-going battle for truck drivers and is crucial to their survival. Here we discuss some of the basic rules to follow in order to avoid becoming fatigued:

• When trying to fall asleep, especially during the day make sure conditions are dark, cool and quiet to mimic night time conditions which will assist you to fall asleep. Draw the blinds or curtains and use sound insulation to reduce light levels and noise within the room or sleeping cabin
• Reduce all possible distractions by turning off your phone and use an answering machine or voicemail to avoid disturbances to your rest.
• Have a shower or a relaxing bath before going to bed, this will soothe and relax you making it easier to fall asleep, don’t undertake any stimulating activities that can hamper sleep.
• Follow your normal rituals for going to bed regardless of the time of day to “trick” the body into thinking its night time which will result in better quality sleep.
• The timing and quality of meals can also affect your sleep so as far as possible keep to daytime eating patterns and have your largest meal in the middle of your awake hours and avoid having large meals before bed.
• Shift workers tend to have more health-related problems than day workers according to statistics so seek some medical advice if you experience depression, insomnia or sleeping problems, heart problems, indigestion or other stomach or bowel problems.