professional vehicle driver health risks
The nature of the occupation of being in a sitting (sedentary) position for long hours is not healthy. This is true for individual drivers (truck, bus, other vehicles etc.) who engage in long distance driving. Several factors act in concert to compound the health problem.
- Road stress - Drivers are required to pay focused careful attention on the road for extended periods considering the value of the cargo and vehicle.
- Unhealthy habits - A significant percentage of drivers are cigarette smokers and tend to engage in alchol use after work.
- Poor nutrition - Food available at truck stops is of bad/ poor nutritional value.
- Poor sleeping patterns - Although drivers have rest periods, the economics of road logistics has tight schedules that require continued vehicle productivity.
- Lack of exercise - Drivers rarely provide time to exercise during their long hours of their occupation.
A published research publication by the British Journal of medicine (BJM), concluded that strong evidence was observed for truck drivers to generally exhibit poor cardiometabolic risk profiles including overweight and obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, high blood glucose, poor mental health and cigarette smoking.
