The 24 Hours
At the first signs of sleepiness, pull over. Ten minutes of sleep, a fifteen-minute alarm.
Two in the afternoon in the car park at the edge of a village on La Côte: a tree still shades one space. The early-afternoon dip is still there. Stopping here for ten minutes looks like lost time, but it isn't. Brooks and Lack had 24 young adults sleep at three in the afternoon, after a night cut to about five hours, comparing naps of five, ten, twenty and thirty minutes of sleep. Five minutes gave almost nothing; twenty and thirty helped, but later, and thirty began with sleep inertia; ten minutes worked at once, some effects holding for up to 155 minutes. In a driving simulator, Horne and Reyner found that a nap of under fifteen minutes reduced driving errors, while a break alone, without sleep, was not enough; and drivers felt the sleepiness coming before they made errors. At night, on the road, half an hour of napping also helped; by day ten minutes are already enough, and you are not groggy when you wake. In practice: an alarm set for fifteen minutes, time to fall asleep plus ten minutes of sleep. At the first signs, not the last.
Details 59 s · 9:16 · four languages · generated images, voice and music, declared as such · 2026-09-29 · Drive Awake
Stop where it is allowed and safe: a car park or a rest area, never the hard shoulder or an emergency lay-by. In the shade, with some air: in summer a closed car heats up fast. Engine off, seat reclined, alarm set for fifteen minutes: time to fall asleep, plus ten minutes of sleep. This is a rule of thumb, not a finding of the study. Without an alarm the nap stretches out and waking up is harder. If sleep does not come, a break alone is not enough: a coffee before the nap helps. If you don't feel clear-headed when you wake, wait a few more minutes; if sleepiness comes back, stop again.
Two in the afternoon. In the car park at the edge of the village, only one space is still in the shade.
Two in the afternoon in the car park at the edge of a village on La Côte: a tree still shades one space.
Watch this passage (0:00) →
Ten minutes of sleep here is not lost time: you drive on more awake.
Stopping to sleep for ten minutes looks like lost time. You drive on more awake, and the stop lasts little more than a quarter of an hour.
Watch this passage (0:10) →Five, ten, twenty, thirty minutes of sleep: a laboratory study compared them.
Brooks and Lack, 2006: 24 healthy young adults, after a night cut to about five hours, were allowed five, ten, twenty or thirty minutes of sleep at three in the afternoon in the lab, followed by three hours of testing. Ten minutes brought immediate benefits across every measure, some of them lasting up to 155 minutes.
Brooks, Lack 2006 · Sleep · DOI 10.1093/sleep/29.6.831
Watch this passage (0:19) →Five isn't enough. Twenty and thirty help, but later: thirty leave you groggy first.
Five minutes do almost nothing. Twenty minutes help from 35 minutes after waking. Thirty bring sleep inertia first, and the benefit only comes afterwards.
Brooks, Lack 2006 · Sleep · DOI 10.1093/sleep/29.6.831
Watch this passage (0:27) →
Ten work at once, and partly for over two hours. They fit into a quarter-hour stop.
Ten minutes of sleep work at once, and some of the effect holds for more than two hours. With time to fall asleep, they fit into a quarter-hour stop.
Watch this passage (0:36) →The corrections made to this text, with their date, their reason and the lines they touched.
The closing line said ten minutes of sleep do more than thirty. The chart in the same episode, built from the study's numbers, shows that thirty minutes help too, only later: ten minutes win because they work at once. The closing line now names the action: at the first signs of sleepiness, pull over, ten minutes of sleep, a fifteen-minute alarm. The location changed with it, a car park instead of a square where you cannot stop, and so did the other plates, in four languages. At that point the video had not been filmed yet.
Lines touched IT line 1, FR line 1, DE line 1, EN line 1, IT line 2, FR line 2, DE line 2, EN line 2, IT line 3, FR line 3, DE line 3, EN line 3, IT line 4, FR line 4, DE line 4, EN line 4, IT line 5, FR line 5, DE line 5, EN line 5, IT line 6, FR line 6, DE line 6, EN line 6
Revisions that concern the whole series are in the campaign diary →
The same lines you see in the video, side by side. This is where the gaps between languages show: a turn of phrase that does not hold, a word out of place, a figure that changes weight. If you find one, the button next to the line opens the report with hour, language and minute already filled in. All episodes on one page →
line 1 0:01
IT
Le due del pomeriggio. Nel parcheggio in fondo al paese resta all'ombra un solo posto.
FR
Quatorze heures. Au parking, au bout du village, une seule place reste à l'ombre.
DE
Vierzehn Uhr. Auf dem Parkplatz am Dorfrand ist nur noch ein Platz im Schatten frei.
EN
Two in the afternoon. In the car park at the edge of the village, only one space is still in the shade.
line 2 0:11
IT
Dieci minuti di sonno qui non sono tempo perso: si riparte più svegli.
FR
Dix minutes de sommeil ici, ce n'est pas du temps perdu : on repart plus éveillé.
DE
Zehn Minuten Schlaf hier sind keine verlorene Zeit: Man fährt wacher weiter.
EN
Ten minutes of sleep here is not lost time: you drive on more awake.
line 3 0:20
IT
Cinque, dieci, venti, trenta minuti di sonno: in laboratorio li hanno messi a confronto.
FR
Cinq, dix, vingt, trente minutes de sommeil : en laboratoire, on les a comparées.
DE
Fünf, zehn, zwanzig, dreissig Minuten Schlaf: Im Labor wurden sie verglichen.
EN
Five, ten, twenty, thirty minutes of sleep: a laboratory study compared them.
line 4 0:28
IT
Cinque non bastano. Venti e trenta aiutano, ma più tardi: trenta prima intontiscono.
FR
Cinq ne suffisent pas. Vingt et trente aident, mais plus tard : trente laissent groggy au réveil.
DE
Fünf reichen nicht. Zwanzig und dreissig helfen, aber später: Dreissig machen zuerst benommen.
EN
Five isn't enough. Twenty and thirty help, but later: thirty leave you groggy first.
line 5 0:37
IT
Dieci minuti agiscono subito, e in parte per più di due ore. Stanno in una sosta di un quarto d'ora.
FR
Dix minutes font effet aussitôt, et en partie pendant plus de deux heures. Une pause d'un quart d'heure suffit.
DE
Zehn Minuten wirken sofort, teils über zwei Stunden lang. Dafür reicht eine Pause von einer Viertelstunde.
EN
Ten work at once, and partly for over two hours. They fit into a quarter-hour stop.
line 6 0:46
IT
Ai primi segni di sonnolenza, fermati. Dieci minuti di sonno, sveglia puntata su quindici minuti.
FR
Aux premiers signes de somnolence, arrête-toi. Dix minutes de sommeil, réveil réglé sur quinze minutes.
DE
Erste Anzeichen von Schläfrigkeit? Halt an. Zehn Minuten Schlaf, Wecker auf fünfzehn Minuten.
EN
At the first signs of sleepiness, pull over. Ten minutes of sleep, a fifteen-minute alarm.
A question about this hour · 14:00
Have you ever stopped to sleep for a few minutes during a journey? What made it possible, or difficult?
There is no right answer: we are interested in the experience of people who drive, including for work.
The conversations happen on our channels. When there is one about this hour, we will link to it here.
Reply on our channels: Instagram Facebook LinkedIn YouTube TikTok Telegram
This episode is online. If something feels off, a word, a figure, a detail in the image, tell us below: two lines are enough. We read everything, and every correction goes into the diary, with its date.
We read every message. If it becomes a correction, the text changes here on the site and goes into the episode's diary, with its date and its reason. Corrections already made →
2026-09-29 · Drive Awake
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
00
