Trucker Tips for Healthier Living On and Off the Road!
Healthy living can be a difficult thing for truck drivers to maintain. It’s not only healthy eating and exercise but also keeping a check on your mental health and not falling into bad habits or addictions. Not to mention how easy it is to fall into unhealthy living, with healthy options being more expensive or taking more time to make, while unhealthy food is faster and cheaper in the short term. Trucking culture is a sedentary lifestyle, driven by long work hours and distractions like social media and video games during breaks.
That’s why it’s important to work smarter, not harder, so we can maintain a steady pace in a trucker’s health journey rather than burn out quickly and get frustrated. Many have certainly felt that way, as well as understanding how difficult a road can be. That’s why we have some trucker tips for healthier living, one step at a time.
Starting Gradually
Many times, people try to accomplish goals quickly. They try to get it done as quickly as possible and get the results they want sooner rather than later. But that doesn’t work with health. Health is not a one-and-done deal that gets achieved and doesn’t need attention again. It’s a journey that we go through for our entire lives. Yet we get bombarded by people who try to sell us the answer, whether that’s a supplement, a diet brand, or an exercise trend that promises to make us healthier and lose weight fast, as long as we spend a bunch of money.
While these trends may show short-term benefits, they don’t necessarily work in the long term, as discussed in this NIH article. Instead, what tends to stick and be more effective are small lifestyle changes that we can stick to over time and that align with our internal motivations. Instead of trying to bulldoze our way by radically changing our diet, we instead change it slowly and steadily over time. So, for example, instead of changing all of the food in one day to be healthy because it’s considered healthy, you would instead focus on a smaller portion of your diet to change, like doing a healthy dinner one night a week.
Once you create the habit and make that small change a part of your normal, expected routine, then you can go on to implement another small change. Maybe it’s finding a 10-minute exercise that looks fun that you want to do, or perhaps it’s finding a healthy dish that you really like. Whatever keeps you motivated to keep going is what will make for a better, longer-lasting change.
However, it is crucial to note that while this may work as a broad generalization, remember that that is what it is: a generalization. Other factors that impact our health include genetics, environmental factors, socioeconomic factors, and more. That’s why it’s also essential to make time for your doctor at least once a year. Check up on your health to see what’s going on and monitor for any health conditions. That way, you will be better equipped to make these changes with as much knowledge and help as possible!
Staying Hydrated
There are all sorts of recommendations on what to eat, or more so, what not to eat. So much of the advice given is all over the place and can even sometimes be contradictory. However, no matter where you look, there is one piece of advice that everyone agrees with: drink water! Out of all the things a person can do, drinking water is one of the simplest and healthiest things a person can do! However, some truck drivers may think that it’s okay, or even preferable, to skip drinking water to focus on driving. Some may even try to drink as little as possible to avoid having to use the bathroom as often, but this is a major mistake.
Many places show that dehydration can be dangerous, including one study that showed that being dehydrated can harm a driver’s attention, leading to more driving errors than when hydrated. The researchers even said that the level of dehydration that they caused led to the drivers reacting in the same manner as someone who had a .08% blood alcohol level or was sleep deprived. This is exceptionally unsafe for a truck driver hauling a lot of stuff in a huge truck.
This is especially why it’s essential to drink water and stay hydrated, if for no other reason than to keep the roads safe! However, the benefits of primarily drinking water for individual health are highly valuable as well! Staying hydrated with water provides many health benefits, such as keeping your body cool, supporting kidney function, and allowing your joints and muscles to work correctly.
One of the main things to balance out, though, is how much to drink. There is a lot of advice on how much water a person should drink throughout the day. But unless a doctor tells you otherwise, these few tips should do well.
First, make sure that the majority of what you drink is water. Not only because many juices and sodas contain loads of sugar and empty calories, but also because many contain caffeine. Caffeine will dehydrate you, making you want to drink more, putting you in a vicious cycle. If you need to drink caffeine, make sure to do it way before bedtime, meaning more than six hours before, so that you don’t disrupt your circadian rhythm, and make sure that more than half of what you drink is water.
Also, it’s good to check your urine when you use the restroom, as it’s a basic indicator of your hydration status. If it’s a light color or close to clear, then you should be good. If it’s really yellow or darker, it’s time to drink some water. Some may try to put a number on how much to drink. However, the best amount to drink water is really whenever you feel thirsty. Our bodies are the best indicators of when we need to drink, so it’s good to have a dedicated water bottle and keep a few gallons around in your cab to refill and drink however much your body tells you it needs. Typically, if you’re exercising a lot or it’s summer, you’ll want to drink more. When it’s cooler, or you aren’t moving as much, then drinking a little less is fine.
Staying Connected with Community
In a previous article, we discussed the four pillars of healthy living. One of those was mental health. We talked about the importance of taking care of yourself to live a healthier life. Making sure that we aren’t relying on stimulants like alcohol or nicotine, as well as talking to people, so that we aren’t alone. One way we mentioned to get help was to talk to a professional and seek support services through your work. However, it’s not just important to talk to someone about how you are doing, but also to stay in touch with a community!
As social beings, we require community to stay healthy. This can be especially challenging when you’re a truck driver, working for days without seeing anyone in person. That’s why we suggested setting aside time to talk to family or friends regularly and having a pet around, if your work allows it. These will enable you to stay in touch while on the job, as best as we can.
Another way is to find an online trucking community, such as a forum you can relate to and discuss with. It can be hard for those in our lives to understand what truck drivers go through. That’s why it can be helpful to find people who know what you’re going through and can relate to similar challenges and situations. Many even share advice on how they live healthier lives so that others can get the help they deserve.
Some people also choose a hobby they can do while on the road. It may be a card game that they like, a particular craft they enjoy, or a topic or language that they really want to learn. These things are not only fun and challenging, but are also fulfilling and add meaningful balance to our lives! Many of these things also have online communities that share how they engage with these hobbies and how to maximize their enjoyment!
But whether it’s finding new hobbies, steadily building healthy habits, or drinking more water, the most important thing is always to try to build a healthier, happier life. There are still plenty of other things that can be done to improve health. What’s important is that we continue our journey, try not to be too hard on ourselves, and balance our work and life to enjoy it to the fullest!
