Healthy driving life: Tips

A healthy driver’s life should be at the top of every company’s list. Truck driving is hard work. The driver spends up to 11 hours a day sitting alone behind the wheel and covering long distances.

It can be exhausting and take a toll on their health. Drivers also spend long periods of time away from their homes and far away from their families. They have to work nights, weekends and holidays.

 

Tips for a Healthy Driver’s Life

 

Healthy Diet

Maintaining healthy eating habits and fitness is hard enough for anyone, but it’s even harder to maintain them while you’re working on the road. As a result, the health of the commercial driver often suffers. Choosing the right diet and fitness while transporting goods often seems impossible, but truck drivers can make different choices. Here are five tips for a trucker’s healthy diet on the road without packing on the pounds:

 

Eat more often, but eat reasonable amounts.

Nutrition science actually recommends eating five or more small meals a day. They should be light, fat-free and rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre. When you eat less often and in larger amounts, it slows down your metabolism and sends a signal to your body to store calories instead of burning them, leading to weight gain. The way truck drivers eat is just as important as the type of food they eat when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight.

 

Plan meals in advance.

If a driver has been on the road for six hours without eating, he is most likely willing to stop at the first available fast food restaurant. That’s why planning meals in advance is very important. Instead of being stuck in the middle of nowhere or on the interstate without food, drivers can plan ahead for healthy meals and grocery shopping at a convenience store or grocery store. They should always buy themselves the next small meal, which may include fresh or dried fruit or vegetables for the journey.

 

Avoid carbohydrates and sugar.

As most drivers now know, carbs and sugars lead to weight gain. Fresh, unprocessed food high in protein is most beneficial to the health and fitness of the driver. Both protein and carbohydrates provide fuel for the body, but only protein helps maintain muscle mass, while carbohydrates can quickly lead to weight gain. Protein and fresh, unprocessed foods also help keep drivers alert, unlike carbohydrates and sugar, which can provide a brief burst of energy followed by prolonged lethargy. If you have just started driving in transport, feel free to read the text on tips for a beginner driver.

 

Be careful about the choice of drinks.

Although some people gain weight because of what they eat, many people gain weight because of what they drink. When trying to maintain a healthy weight, avoid sugary drinks. Although the research on whether artificial sweeteners are healthy or not is constantly changing, diet drinks have another problem: artificial sweeteners stimulate appetite and do not send the same satiety signals to the body, so the body continues to feel hungry.

In addition, it is very important to drink plenty of water even when you are not thirsty.

 

Physical and Mental Activity

A professional driver can hardly engage in continuous sports activities, but he should definitely find time for daily physical activity (walking or running), at least half an hour a day.

Also, drivers should take care of mental activity, because hours behind the wheel can be extremely monotonous. A good travel companion is music. You should occasionally change music genres and listen to something that will keep your mind sharp and busy.

An audio book is also a great idea. So drivers can listen to their favorite authors while driving or learn something new.

 

Rest and Sleep

Sleep is essential for mental and physical well-being, especially if you’re practically forced to live in the cab of your truck. In order to be efficient during the day, drivers should have a quality mattress and pillow. Rest, apart from having a positive effect on safety and clarity while driving, is also of fundamental importance for a driver’s healthy life.

 

Avoiding Stress

This is perhaps the most difficult thing: staying calm and avoiding stress. However, this aspect is also necessary to prevent health problems.

How to avoid stress? Use tools, including technological ones, that can help you in your work: GPS, etc. Another good stress reliever is music.