Truckers Show Cluster of Chronic Health Issues

February 16, 2016

Risks of Being A Trucker

As a trucker, you may think that sitting in a cab all day isn't the best in healthy living. Being inactive, the stress that comes from many hours on the road, then throw in smoking and always eating at fast food joints, none of which sound particularly healthy. At least that's the rumor, anyway.

Well, it's a rumor no more. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health performed a study on a random sampling of 3,759 drivers, with over 1,600 of them being long haul operators, and here is what they found out.

Two Times the Risk Factor

The study found out that over the road truckers are twice as likely to be obese than the rest of the U.S. working population. A full 17 percent of those were confirmed to be morbidly obese.

It doesn't get any better when asked about risk factors for chronic disease either. 88 percent of truckers said they had high blood pressure, they smoked or that they were over weight. And, this is happening across the board as 65 percent were company drivers and 35 percent were owner/operators. Plus, the older drivers get, the higher the risk involved, with over 60 percent of the drivers being between the ages of 40 and 59.

By the Numbers

Yes, those are actually frightening numbers, and they suggest that trucking may not be a healthy lifestyle. That doesn't mean it can't be, but the mindset of the drivers has got to change. And the only way that will happen is by the drivers themselves.

Changes in nutrition, quitting addictions like smoking, and getting out of the cab more to exercise, although easier said than done, are the fist steps to healthy living.

For the best in semi truck driver news, tips, information, trucking legislation or even selling your rig, hook up with Trucker to Trucker on the Web. We'll steer you right every time.

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