3 Strategies to Improve Trucker Health

3 Strategies to Improve Trucker Health With small, simple changes, a driver can begin to change lanes and turn their life around one step at a time. Here are three steps to get your trucker workout on, and improve driver health!

1. Find five minutes each day to move on purpose. That may not seem like much, but we often bite off more than we can chew. So start small.

Start with five minutes of continuous movement, walk laps around your truck, step up and down off your truck steps, walk with light hand weights, vacuum your truck out, or clean your windshield. A good trucker workout doesn’t have to be fancy exercise; it can be an easy and everyday task that becomes a truck driver workout.

2. Go to bed early. Sleep is a constant concern for drivers, and often the environment they are parked in for the night, but it can often be a lack of preparation for a good night's sleep. When the sun starts to go down, you

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should start to wind down. You may have to drive at night, and if you do, be mindful of any bright stimulating lights that leave the brain overstimulated and not ready to hit the hay when it's time to go to bed.

Consider activities before bed like deep breathing, listening to relaxing music, or trying aromatherapy to calm and relax your nervous system. We often look at a trucker workout as strictly aerobic or intense exercise, but a good truck driver workout is one that understands what the body needs and responds accordingly. That five minutes before bed, try to get a quick stretch in to alleviate back pain and help you fall asleep faster too.

3. Drink one more bottle of water each day. Most drivers live on the verge of dehydration, and dehydration can be a frontline cause of a slew of health complications from constipation, dizziness, muscle cramps, stomach pains, foggy vision, fatigue, and body aches and pains. Don’t like plain water, consider adding lemon to your water. No lemon insight? Stock up on the lemon packets from the truck stop to drop into your water. Drink up, start small, and focus on drinking one more bottle of water than you usually do. If you never drink water, well, now you are drinking one. If you drink four, now drink five. And be wise, at Mother Trucker Yoga, we teach our drivers when to drink water to maximize bathroom stops, and not to let hydration impact their route. And if you happen to be getting in a regular trucker workout in which you are walking more, maybe doing a bit of yoga or even weight resistance work make sure you hydrate because that truck driver workout will leave you thirsty and needing to hydrate.

Truck driver health doesn't have to be complicated and isn't just about exercising; with small, simple changes, you can begin to see the health and wellness benefits you have been dreaming about but can't seem to get to stick. Here's to the little things.

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