dgrobs

Nizer

Let's discuss insomniacs once the CPAP kerfuffle is sorted.

Manifold

… or the large percentage of people who sleep poorly before track days and trying to get through with caffeine and adrenaline.

Matt Romanowski

If they have a caffeine check before anything, I'm out.

LuigiVampa

FIFY

I used to be a really bad insomniac but that was more like 20 years ago when I first started my own business. My mind would spool up in the middle of the night like a turbo charger and it would take me hours to get to bed. Now, I read every night for about 30 minutes and sleep 8 hours straight through the night.

Oh, and I have the data to back that up! LOL

m3bs

Guilty as charged. Somehow I’ve managed to survive 350 days on track…

NaroEscape

Yep, owning a small business certainly keeps me up at night.
I fall asleep fine. Wake up at 2:30 and start to think of all the things I forgot, have to do, things that went wrong, vendors that screwed up, bills to pay, inventory to order, work to do on things, etc. I have to get up, go to the computer and spend 30 min or so doing some of them (that's why some people get 3 am emails from me!) and I MIGHT fall back to sleep.
Luckily there's no trucker standard for 'business related stress sleeplessness".
That's what coffee is for.

LuigiVampa

Here is a tip I found useful - keep a pad of paper and a pencil on your nightstand. If you wake up in the middle of the night thinking of tasks you have to do write it on the pad so you remember what you need to do in the morning.

Much of what is going on is your brain trying to make you stay awake so you won't forget what you are thinking about. Writing it down let's you know you won't forget and makes it easier to fall back to sleep.

Someone told me this years ago and I still do it to this day. It's helpful.

NaroEscape

LOL. I tried that. But my handwriting/chicken scratch is so hard to read in the daylight (shoulda been a doctor) let alone when I try to scribble in the dark I could never read what I wrote! So then I would wake up, try to write, try to read it (in the dark), couldn't, so I'd either worry I'd still forget what was so urgent, or get up anyway to go somewhere that I could turn on a light and write it down somewhat legibly. Which defeated the purpose....
Yes, I have a problem... :-)

LuigiVampa

Wake up your wife and have her take notes for you. Problem solved!

Manifold

Factors that I suspect most contribute to driver error at track days and club racing:

- Driving closer to the limit than skill level permits
- Poor sleep
- Dehydration
- Effects of heat
- Fatigue from spending a lot of time on track
- Inattention and mental lapse
- Effects of age

None of these things will generally wind up on a medical form. And people who have significant health issues which could impair their driving will likely (a) manage those health issues adequately, (b) drive more conservatively, to leave more margin, and/or (c) not drive on track.

sbelles

- Red Mist

Manifold

Covered under the first item in my list.

dgrobs

That’s not what red mist is.

Manifold

splain ...