7 Ways to Stay Healthy While on the Road

It isn’t easy for truck drivers to take good care of their health while on the road.

A 12-year study into the health and wellbeing of Australia’s truck drivers revealed it to be one of the most dangerous occupations in the country.

And not just due to the risk of crashes.

Long hours, shift work patterns, social isolation, lack of physical movement and poor nutrition are amongst the most common physical and psychological stresses impacting truckies.

Thankfully, there are some simple ways to stay healthy while on the road.

Here are our top seven tips

  1. Prioritise sleep
    To maintain good health and minimise the risk of injury, truck drivers need to get at least seven hours of sleep in a dark and quiet place. Easier said than done some times, but an eye mask and earplugs could help when used with our next six tips.
  2. Start the day with a healthy breakfast.
    Breakfast is an opportunity to kick start your metabolism and set your body up for the day. Studies have shown that people who eat breakfast tend to have better diets, so it’s a good habit to make part of your daily routine.
    Take the time to have a healthy meal that’s low in sugar, but high in protein and fibre. Perfect examples are:
    porridge topped with fruit and nuts;fresh fruit and yoghurt with muesli;

    low-sugar protein bars;eggs and wholemeal toast;

    an omelette;

    smoothies made with fruit, vegetables (such as baby spinach) oats, protein powder or nut butter.

  3. Choose nutritious snacks
    Eating heavy meals can leave you feeling sluggish and tired, as your body works hard digesting them.To stay alert and keep your metabolism revved, snack on healthy foods throughout the day. You’ll also avoid overeating at mealtimes because you’ll never get ravenous.Healthy snack ideas include:raw nuts (salted nuts are high in sodium);

    dried fruit;

    boiled eggs;

    jerky;

    protein bars;

    hummus and vegetable sticks;

    low-sugar or greek yoghurt;

    a thermos of soup (ideally one with plenty of vegetables).

  4. Take breaks and move your body
    Whenever necessary and safe to do so, take short breaks. Use them as an opportunity to stretch your legs, have a snack and move your body. To get your circulation moving, try touching your toes, rolling your back and neck, stretching out your arms, shaking your limbs or even doing some star jumps. The movement will energise you, burn calories, reduce the build-up of toxins in your body
    and contribute to better sleep.
  5. Stay hydrated
    Our bodies are 60% water, and that water plays an essential role in flushing out toxins, cushioning joints, carrying nutrients and assisting digestion. Without adequate water, we can’t function to the best of our best abilities.To avoid dehydration, keep a large bottle of water by your side while driving. Sip on in throughout the day, instead of drinking only when thirsty. By the time your body craves water, you are already dehydrated. As a general guide, aim to drink two litres of water a day.
  6. Avoid stimulants
    Energy drinks and coffee will dehydrate you, impact your sleep and take their toll on your overall health. They’re also a dangerous substitute for rest.If possible, avoid drinking them entirely, or at the very least, minimise your consumption.
  7. Try to maintain a healthy weight
    Maintaining a healthy weight while driving trucks is tough. There aren’t the same opportunities for healthy eating and physical movement that other occupations enjoy. Information is power, so talk to your GP to understand what your ideal body weight should be, then make a plan to lose or maintain your weight.

By packing food from home, instead of relying on fast food, it will be easier to maintain or achieve your weight goals. Also ensure you get plenty of vegetables each day, and two pieces of fresh fruit.

A brisk walk at the end of your day will also contribute to weight loss, metabolic health and better sleep.

Things to Consider As a Truck Owner Operator

The most imperative things to consider as a truck owner operator are your financial arrangements, and the upkeep of your truck.

Without both of these set up, you won’t have the capacity to work an effective business.

You clearly appreciate driving or you wouldn’t consider making the move from organization driver to an owner operator, and you definitely recognize what the business brings to the table.

In any case, when leaving an organization, you’re likewise going to abandon a portion of the advantages they give; sick and annual leave, superannuation, a consistent pay check.

You’ll additionally lose the hand-holding when you require help and the dispatched loads when you require cargo.

When you’re all alone, you won’t have that.

What you will have is the chance to make your own future by picking your own particular load and choosing the amount of cash you need.

In case you’re certain you can do that, here are some tips to remember when you’re making that bounce.

  1. Try avoid buying a truck from a trucking organization and resign for them in the meantime. They will offer you a strangely low rate to “work” for them. Most trucking organizations have these lease/buy programs set up to drain you get and profit dry of you than when you were an organization driver for them.
  2. Continuously search for an organization involved in truck owner operation with years of experience. On the off chance that you are out there conversing with drivers, you’ll in the long run get a thought of which organizations are around.
  3. Search for an organization that permits you to pick your load rates and load decisions. This will give you most extreme adaptability in maintaining your business.
  4. One of the greatest pluses to being a truck owner operator is having the capacity to require some serious energy off at whatever point you need without being bothered. In the event that you can’t do this, stay with your present organization.
  5. When you drive your own truck, you need to keep upkeep and overhead to a base. The most ideal approach to do this is by driving gradually and painstakingly. You should know how to keep up your truck. This is a consistent truck owner operator topic. You don’t need to essentially take the necessary steps, yet you do need to comprehend what the technician is doing. The best way to check their work is whether you really realize what you’re checking. This can be disappointing in light of the fact that I have been ripped off by both trustworthy merchants and individuals with many years of experience, and the little shops attempting to fabricate their client base. They will all take your cash on the off chance that you don’t comprehend what you’re paying for. It’s fundamental to discover a shop whose mechanics act as though your truck is a man and they’re the specialist. You wouldn’t go to a specialist who just began supplanting things without comprehending what to supplant or why. In case you’re uncertain about them, leave and ensure you archive everything that was done to your truck. Periodically, on the off chance that it’s a national organization, the work that was done wrong can be amended at another office if under guarantee. Be that as it may, on the off chance that you don’t keep great records, you won’t know where to start.

Try not to hurry into anything. Being a proprietor requires tolerance.

This is a business opportunity which requires a decent measure of homework on your part.

Take notes, converse with drivers, learn as much about the business as you can and be adaptable in the time it takes you to move from your organization position to independent work.

When you possess the truck, you’re the supervisor and you settle on an official conclusion to sink or swim.