Falling asleep while driving is no joke. I know people who have gotten injured and people who have gotten killed because they passed out behind the wheel. And since I never sleep–but have been known to drive–it’s a concern for me as well.
But what if you simply can’t pull off to the side of the road and get some serious shuteye, probably because you’ve seen too many horror movies that started that way? What’s better? A quick nap? Or some coffee?
Just like with everything: coffee wins. You can see the full report here in the New York Times, but they basically compared decaf vs. nap vs. real coffee. The results?
[ad#longpost]The decaf drinkers racked up a total of 159 line crossings while drowsy, compared to just 2 line crossings during the daytime driving test. Nappers did better, crossing lines only 84 times. But surprisingly, the coffee drinkers did the best in the sleepy driving test, crossing lines a total of 27 times.
Of course: because as well all know, decaf is very bad for you. It not only has been shown to cause spontaneous combustion in hamsters, but it will one day make the Sun go out. Plus, when you drink it, the baby Jesus cries.
We thought it was interesting (as did Energy Fiend, which is where we picked this up) that for you young whippersnappers, you just sleep better, so the nap was more effective than in older folks. But still coffee won. So.
But if the coffee still won’t keep you awake, pull over. Better to be in a horror movie than in a Lifetime movie of the week. You might be able to survive a horror movie.
