Staying awake on a long drive: what works, what does not, and where caffeine fits
The honest answer to "how do I stay awake on a long drive" starts with this: if you are sleepy, you should not be driving, and everything else on this page is second to that. It gives NZ Transport Agency's advice first, and then says where a caffeine pouch fits, which is a narrower place than a caffeine brand would usually admit.
PAX is caffeine. There is no nicotine in it and there never will be. A pouch does not keep a tired driver safe. Nothing does, apart from sleep.
What actually keeps a driver safe on a long trip?
Sleep before you go, a break every two hours, and stopping the moment you feel sleepy. That is NZ Transport Agency's advice, and there is no caffeine in it.
NZ Transport Agency's driver fatigue page in the road code covers it, and this is our summary of it. Sleep properly the night before, ideally a full eight hours. Do not drive through the hours you would normally be asleep. On a long trip, stop for a break roughly every two hours or 100 kilometres, and swap drivers if there is someone to swap with. Eat light and fresh rather than heavy, sugary or starchy, because the heavy stuff makes you drowsy. No alcohol at all, not even a little.
The signs to act on: feeling sleepy, yawning or rubbing your eyes repeatedly, drifting out of your lane, missing a sign. If any of those turn up, stop driving. Find a safe place to pull over, nap for 15 to 20 minutes in the passenger seat, and give yourself at least 10 minutes awake before you drive on. The road code puts it in one line: "Once fatigue has set in, no amount of willpower will keep you awake. The only answer is sleep and you should stop for a short nap or seek help to get home."
Where does caffeine fit on a long drive?
On the ordinary flat stretch of a drive you started rested, as one known dose, and never as the reason to keep going when you should stop.
Caffeine helps a rested person feel more alert. It does not restore performance under serious sleep loss, and it does not undo a short night. That is the whole of what we will claim, and a caffeine pouch does nothing that a coffee does not, apart from being easier to carry and take without a cup. If you are yawning at the wheel, the pouch is not the answer. The nap is.
How much caffeine, and when?
One pouch, 100mg, early in the drive, counted against the day's 400mg ceiling and against when you plan to sleep at the other end.
Count everything you have had: an instant coffee is about 80mg, a cafe coffee anywhere from 95mg to 200mg, a 250ml energy drink up to 80mg, a 500ml can up to 160mg, a PAX pouch 100mg. The ceiling for a healthy adult is 400mg a day from all of it, on FSANZ's figure. One pouch per serving, never two at once, and no more than four a day. Where each of those numbers comes from is on our caffeine pouches vs energy drinks vs coffee page.
Then count the other way. Caffeine's half life runs somewhere between roughly three and ten hours, and research has found that 400mg taken six hours before bed still disrupts sleep. A pouch at 8pm is still caffeine in you at midnight, somewhere between a third and three quarters of it depending on how fast you clear it. If you are driving into the evening towards a bed at the other end, the late pouch can cost you the sleep you need for the drive back.
Why a pouch in the car, then?
Because it is a known 100mg with no cup to spill, no can to open and nothing to hold.
A tin of 20 lives in the glovebox or the door pocket. A pouch sits between your lip and gum, so both hands stay where they were. Do not chew it and do not swallow it. We keep ours in for 20 to 30 minutes and take them out when the flavour goes. It does nothing for thirst, so keep the water bottle too. Put one in before you set off, or at one of your stops. Nothing about a pouch is worth taking your eyes off the road for.
Do not make a long drive the place you try your first one. Try it somewhere ordinary, at home or at a desk, so you know how 100mg takes you and how the pouch feels in your mouth before you are on the road. How to use one is on our how to use a caffeine pouch page.
When is caffeine the wrong answer on a drive?
When you are already sleepy. Caffeine is not a substitute for a nap, a break or a night's sleep, and the road code's driver fatigue page opens with the reason: many fatal crashes are caused by people driving when they are tired.
If you feel tired, do not drive. That is their line, and it is ours. A pouch is for the driver who slept, stopped every two hours, and wants a coffee's worth of caffeine without the cup. It is not for the driver who should have stopped an hour ago.
One pouch per serving. PAX is for adults 18 and over. It is not for you if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you are sensitive to caffeine. PAX contains caffeine, and too much caffeine can cause an accelerated heart rate, nervousness, irritability and trouble sleeping. Who should not use one, and why, is on our are caffeine pouches safe? page.
Questions?
Email hello@paxenergy.co.nz or call 027 777 2899. If something on this page is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
