Trucking is more of a lifestyle than a job, and most of the time, it’s quite the stationary one. It can be hard to stay healthy while driving for 14 hours a day. Many truck and transportation drivers don’t have the time in their schedule to live a healthy lifestyle, and are too exhausted to make the changes when off the clock.
Everyone should work to lead a healthy lifestyle. For truck drivers and others in the transportation industry, making a few healthy changes can have a big impact on the success of their day-to-day operations, and can reduce the risk of costly insurance claims. Here are a few healthy habits for healthy trucking.
1. Healthy Eating
As convenient as it may be to stop by a fast food joint when you pull into a rest stop, that type of food is known to cause major health concerns if eaten too often. The minimal amount of effort it takes to gather some fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and bags of salad greens from a grocery store that you could just as easily pull off to find is well worth it and can make a huge difference in the long run.
2. Exercise
It can be difficult to find time to exercise when you’re driving for such a huge portion of your day, but healthy trucking means finding that time and energy in your downtime to get your heart pumping.
Ideas for simple on-the-road exercise:
- Keep a folding bicycle stored in your cabin and riding around at rest stops.
- Wear running shoes and take the time to walk or run for 30 minutes.
- Keep weights in your cabin (secured carefully to avoid rolling onto the brake or gas).
- Wear a pedometer and give yourself daily movement goals.
3. Better Sleep
It is crucial to get as much sleep as possible, and make it good sleep. Since truckers basically live in their truck, they should not skimp on sleeping supplies like mattresses, fans/heaters, pillows, and even maybe a white noise machine to drown out external noise. Exhaustion is one of the leading causes of vehicular accidents, so it is crucial for these professionals to get a sufficient amount of rest.
4. Sharp Mind
Staring at the road for so long day in and day out can become very dull very quickly. Keep your mind active with things like music, audiobooks, and language tapes. Anything to keep you thinking is great, learning new things is an even better bonus. It’s just important to stay away from things that might be too distracting.
5. Keep Family as a Priority
It’s important to regularly keep those in mind who you only get to visit every so often when you’re not on the road. Most likely, drivers miss their families and their families miss them. It can be easy to neglect family for rest or household chores, but it’s important to talk with them and share stories. Drivers can teach their kids about the places they’ve driven through and bring back pictures or souvenirs. Significant others can share music or audiobooks that you’re listening to on the road so you can discuss them when you’re together.
In addition to making small changes for a more healthy, workable lifestyle, it is important that transportation operations have a specialized transportation insurance program that addresses the sector’s unique risk profile. Contact us today to learn more!
About Provident Insurance Programs
With roots dating back to 1902, Provident Insurance Programs is a program administrator that serves paid and volunteer firefighters in addition to emergency medical responders with numerous custom-tailored insurance programs. We’ve also extended our expertise and experience to offer benefit plans and coverages to participant groups as well as Transportation Benefits. We are committed to continuing to provide superior customer service, and would be happy to speak with you to provide further information. Give us a call today at (855) 201-8880 to speak with one of our representatives.