Hack your way home

Dr. Leonard Roberts suggests the cough over coffee approach to late-night driving.

When returning home from hospital work in the wee hours of the night, Dr. Roberts has discovered that coughing buys a "lucid moment and a little time to avoid a disaster." Per Dr. Roberts, here's how you might hack your alertness back:

The increased intrathoracic pressure is transiently transmitted to the superior vena cava and cerebral venules and capillaries, perhaps leading to a brief increase in oxygen availability."

In other words, the sleepy driver coughs up the blood pressure in the large veins of the head and neck which may increase blood supply to the fading brain.