Tired behind the Wheel

In my opinion, driving is a relaxing activity, falling asleep while driving exposes the fact that you are infact tired, even though you are alert and fine at other times. I would start by trying to get to the root cause of your tiredness, perhaps you don't get enough sleep or your sleep is interupted by noices or breathing problems. I personally found out that I was tired because I struggle to breath through my nose when I'm lay down.

Hope this is helpful.

I would tell your Dr. That is a warning sign of obstructive sleep apnea. Your Dr could prescribe a sleep study.

I deffinately would discuss this with your primary. There could be a number of things that could be the cause of this, and yet it could could be a very simple solution. If you have to drive when tired take procotions and this is just my oponion. I have Chronic fatigue along with Narcolepsy which I'm being treated for. When I have no choice but to drive I keep the window down, have my favorite music(preferaly upbeat), and snack on something easy that doesn't distract while driving. If you feel yourself getting even more tired as you drive pull over some where safe and either call some one or take a cat nap. Be safe not only for you but also those around you.
I wish you the best!

If you're getting sufficient sleep for your age/lifestyle and you're still tired, especially while driving, I would strongly suggest talking to your pcp and see what they think.

They might reccommend taking a sleep test at a sleep clinic. There, they can find underlying sleep disorders that you're not aware of.
Besides causing problems with your driving, if you really do have an underlying disorder, it might be affecting other areas of your life that you don't even realize yet.

As for drowsy driving, I have narcolepsy and I know that I can't drive at cetain times of the day/ night and that I can't drive for time periods that are longer that 25-30 minutes or I start to get too sleepy to feel like I'm in the safe range. It's not convenient, but I have a child and i have to keep both of us safe.

As you know--- when you're on the road, you're not just dealing with yourself; you're dealing with other people in their cars (perhaps with children, etc. in the backseat). You don't want to ever put yourself, or them, at risk. A bad accident would be way too hard to live with.

Here's a good link for a starter article on drowsiness:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003208.htm
Good Luck!

You probably should have a sleep study done. I now use a CPAP machine and can't sleep without it!! If you do have apnea and aren't getting enough oxygen it can lead to other medical problems. Better to be safe...good luck and God bless.

Yes, have a sleep study. This is one of the questions asked by sleep doctor.