I’m OK till about nine hours into my shift then I really start to feel it. Feel like a monkey in a cage, trapped. It’s not unbearable but it takes a mental toll. By the time I get home after a shift I find I cannot sleep for about three hours as I just need to watch TV and unwind, which doesn’t always leave enough time for a solid sleep. When I come off my last shift I find I’m reaching for the bottle to let off steam which knackers my sleep even more that night and means the first rest day isn’t really very restful. Anyone identify with this or have any helpful tips? I don’t mind the grind, but the knock-on effect of not being able to fully recoup before the next shift starts is my conundrum. Cheers.
Go to bbc iplayer. Stick the snooker on. You will be sleeping in no time.
Is most of your hours spent driving during day?
Nine hours into my shift I’m back at home again. 
Harry - that might be the answer! So obvious I hadn’t thought of it. Mind you, I’m still newish as a driver so just imagined everyone had such long shifts out there. cgscott - Amazingly I’ve never actually thought that aspect of it thru, but come to think of it the days when I do more driving as opposed to anything else that might fill a shift are the ones that do me in the most. If I’m doing short runs and waiting around I don’t get so ground down. Which is weird as if you’d asked me what sort of day I prefer I would have said long trunks when I can get stuck into an audiobook. Funny how sometimes you need other people to pull you out of your head and give you a new perspective, as you have both just proven!
Personaly i prefer long distance. I cant wait on bays for hours on end.
I done hiab work for a while and had so much spare time to sit around it done my head in.
I think its because i go into autopilot. I rember coming up the M6 and from Carlisle to Hamilton Services i couldnt remember driving.
As your a “newish driver” try not to get stressed or wound up, and just leave the chaos to others while you chill. If you let the stress get to you, it’ll make you ill, and maybe kill you
What you need to do is learn to relax whilst in work, getting worked up about delays and driving everywhere on the limiter is a sure fire way to feel knackered if you are hourly paid why stress about things?
Download some podcasts and audiobooks onto a portable device, get some Apple AirPods beautiful sound good battery life and they double as a hands free kit, you can’t force the job so why try.
I might just have rose coloured glasses about the hanging around stuff as I haven’t done it for so long and I do remember complaining about it at the time. It could just be that now the novelty of driving is wearing off it’s starting to get to me more. So when you asked if most of my hours in a shift were driving, were you thinking the less it was driving, the more tiring it might be? Peirre you are dead right to bring up the getting wound up element, I have real issues not letting selfish car drivers get to me. I really haven’t found the trick to detach from that. I’m only doing three or four days a week as I’m finding I need so many down days to recover, but I can’t afford to keep driving only that many days. Mike, thanks for those points, I don’t rush my days but I do worry that I’m taking so long and that the office might pick me up on it. So you’re right, I should try to detach from that too. When I was a brand new driver I just focused on learning the physical skills like reversing. Now I’m a bit further in you’re all helping me realise that the mental stuff is at least as important.
More driving i think is more tiresome if you cant switch off and relax whilst doing it. If you stress out about traffic and getting from AtoB quick as you can to please a pen pusher then you will certainly be shattered at end of day.
Dont worry about the office as they arent the ones on the road. To most of them they only see traffic on way to work and way home. They believe the roads must be empty during the day.
Thanks a lot. What I’m going to take from this thread then is to try to mentally detach from getting stressed by car drivers and the office, and to enjoy my audiobooks. Thanks guys! I will give it a spin and see how I go. I thought it was just the hours, but maybe there’s actually more to it than that.
Mike68 has the gist of it, as is often the case.
Get off the limiter, set the cruise for reasonable speed (my choice is 52/3 mph) and let the bulging eyed tailgaters all go past a cars length from the arse of the vehicle in front.
Clean your windows and mirrors so they are spotless, clean your vehicle and make sure its clean and tidy inside, you want a pleasant efficient place to be and good visibility makes the job much easier when lights and low winter sun glare doesn’t have a fog of grime to sit on.
Take no notice of any planner trying to rush you, if you’re driving and they call don’t answer the phone, instead wait until the next safe stopping point, pull up make a cup of tea and call them back, let them know you’ve stopped to return their call, when they ring again do exactly the same, they’ll soon learn trying to push you doesn’t work and only serves to slow your progress.
You should not be doing nine hour shifts regularly. Some on here will laugh at me for saying that but, you are abusing your body and it will take a toll on yourself, not your gaffer or anyone else. Chill and relax when not driving.
alamcculloch:
You should not be doing nine hour shifts regularly. Some on here will laugh at me for saying that but, you are abusing your body and it will take a toll on yourself, not your gaffer or anyone else. Chill and relax when not driving.
Yeah because everyone out there driving a lorrys starts at 9am and in house for half 1
Thanks, so many useful comments. I especially like the trick of pulling over to call back and telling them that you’ve done that. Making the cab a nice environment to be in and being chilled with cruise speed too. I could think about asking for shorter runs too. I’ve pushed for long runs because of wanting more pay. It’s sounds ridiculous now I’m writing it out to admit that - that I ask for long runs then come on here to ask for advice about the effect of doing that. It’s amazing how blind you can be about a problem until you voice it out loud to another human being.
10 hours is plenty,when on days(with the occasional 12,when things go wrong)
As for unwinding when at home…
I have tropical fish.
Most stressful thing in my job today is working out where I am going to toss a couple of hours off before I set off on the 48 mile drive back to the yard, if I get back much before 1300 there’s a very small chance that they might find me something else to do. 
mike68:
What you need to do is learn to relax whilst in work, getting worked up about delays and driving everywhere on the limiter is a sure fire way to feel knackered if you are hourly paid why stress about things?Download some podcasts and audiobooks onto a portable device, get some Apple AirPods beautiful sound good battery life and they double as a hands free kit, you can’t force the job so why try.
What are the AirPods like for fit? Would they stay in your ear over the course of a shift?
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If you do long stints behind the wheel and concentrate on what you are doing it is going to take a while to "switch off ".
I am lucky that I live in a seaside town and learned that a brief stop at the beach on the way home cleared my mind .
Fresh air and the rhythm of the sea is very relaxing.
Or go for a brief walk , break the stress pattern .
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3 hours rotting in front of the box!! 
get some hobbies you can do after work is my suggestion.
Personally after 60-90 mins in the gym my mind is completely clear and I’m ready for bed. I think anything active, even a walk somewhere is good for winding down.
Just finished a hellish shift. I started at 0600 and I didn’t get finished until 1115.