Truck Driver Wellness: Simple Routines That Work on the Road

Never ignore your health. Even on the highway, truck driver wellness should always come first. Truck driving creates a sedentary lifestyle, and when you combine it with irregular schedules and limited access to nutritious food, it can create the perfect storm for health problems.

One thing to remember is that even with truck driving, you can still overcome these problems if you make the effort. Longhaul truckers face the most risk because they face the most time in the truck. We’re going to look at how to stay healthy as a truck driver to avoid some of the health risks common to this profession like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Healthy Eating Habits on the Road

Many truckers complain about how they don’t have healthy options on the road. However, nowadays, you can order healthy groceries through an app and have them delivered straight to your cab. Even if the truck stops don’t offer much for healthy food, you can still find ways around it. Truck driver health and wellness is up to you. It may take a little more effort, but you will find it worth it in the long run.

One way to start eating healthy is by planning out your meals ahead of time. In that way, unhealthy foods have fewer opportunities to slip in. You can also keep healthy snacks with you on the road to avoid eating unhealthy snacks like chips, donuts, cookies, and candy bars.

Many people believe healthy food tastes bad, but in fact, all you have to do is find healthy foods that you enjoy. It works the same way as with junk food.

Besides creating healthy habits, you also need to avoid some of the most common unhealthy habits that truckers fall into:

• Over-reliance on fast foods

• Binge-eating when bored

• Consuming energy drinks and sodas

• Eating foods with too much salt

• Using cigarettes to stay awake

• No mandatory exercise breaks

One thing to remember is that you don’t have to be perfect when eating healthy. If you create one healthy habit that you stick with and keep building more after, you could call that a success. You have to build on your successes.

Related article: How Truck Drivers Can Eat Better on the Road

Build Fitness into Your Pre-Trip and Post-Trip Routines

Truckers want to choose exercises that they can take on anywhere. This is one of the reasons why walking or cardio can prove powerful choices for truckers. One of the cool things about being a longhaul trucker is that you can create one of the most diverse routines for yourself when it comes to walking. You can always see new scenery when you go for a walk.

You can also do short workouts when doing your laundry. Exercise before your pre-trip and post-trip helps you to build resilience, and it prevents fatigue and stiffness.

Don’t De-Value Your Sleep

The hours-of-service exist to stop truckers from falling asleep at the wheel. When you fall asleep at the wheel in a car, it can be dangerous, obviously, but falling asleep at the wheel in a semi-truck takes things to an even worse level. Yet, studies show that roughly 47% to 50% of all truckers have fallen asleep at the wheel, and worse, 25% said that they had fallen asleep at the wheel while driving in the last year, according to Science Direct.

Getting good sleep also aids you in your mental and physical health. To get the best sleep, you want to practice good sleeping habits in the truck.

Some examples of things you can do include:

• Install a comfortable mattress

• Use blackout curtains

• Earplugs if you struggle with truck stop noise

• Keep the inside of the cab cool and quiet

In general, you want to aim for about 7 hours of sleep every night. How long depends on the individual, but this gives you a good basic guide, but tweak it according to your needs.

Focus on Your Long-Term Health

Visit your doctor at least once a year. This will help you to spot potential health problems before they have the chance to worsen. For example, heart disease and diabetes can be improved by simply tracking it better. Keep a close eye on things like blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol.

If you start to see issues with your long-term health, take active measures to prevent it from worsening. For example, if you struggle with high blood pressure, take blood pressure pills if you need them, but another way of addressing it is through regular exercise, healthy eating, limiting alcohol and avoiding tobacco. You also want to manage your stress and practice good sleeping habits.

Related article: How to Avoid Driver Burnout in Long-Haul Trucking

Keep a Grip on Your Stress

Tight schedules, tight deadlines, unpredictable road conditions, relationship strain, and social isolation can all contribute to a growing level of stress. Being a truck driver relaxing can sometimes be hard. You need to take active measures to control your stress levels. You might practice mindfulness meditation as a way to control your stress levels as well. Mindfulness has a reputation for calming your parasympathetic nervous system.

By focusing on the present moment, it lets you release racing or repetitive loops of worry, which decreases your production of the stress hormone cortisol.

One two-year study reported in Psychosomatic Medicine where 56 participants engaged in mindfulness meditation found that those who practiced mindfulness-based stress reduction had a meaningful drop in their blood pressure measurements, compared to those who took on other forms of stress relief like progressive muscle relaxation.

Especially if you feel bored sometimes when driving, you can use mindfulness as a way to enjoy your experience more. At the same time, it will keep you more aware on the road of the potential dangers that can suddenly pop up. One of the cool things about mindfulness is that you can practice it with almost anything and no one knows you’re doing it.

What are Your Thoughts?

At Trucker Social, we understand how there might be some truck driver wellness routine that’s even better than one of the ones we mentioned. We would love to get your thoughts on what routines you’ve used while on the road to stay happy and healthy.

When you focus on trucker wellness, you want to look at the big picture, which means good physical health but also good mental health. One of the ways that truckers can get in some social interaction, even with the isolation on the road, is to join a trucking community of other truckers. Trucker Social is a community of truckers that offers chatrooms where you can interact with others to form friendships. Join the driver community now.