Truck drivers have one of the most important jobs in the country. They deliver almost everything we use on a daily basis to the stores we purchase them from. Being an over the road truck driver presents a unique set of health problems which affect not only the driver but those around them.
The sedentary nature of the truck driving job leads to health problems among a large portion of Americas driving force. Most truckers are on the road for a week at a time living out of their truck. The stress of meeting delivery times, coupled with bad eating habits, lack of excercise, smoking, a growing obesity problem and a growing sleep apnea problem put today’s truck driver at risk for major heart problems. When you take into account that most of the time these huge truck rigs are only a few feet from cars traveling at an average speed of 65 mph one can see the potential for disaster if a driver has a heart attack, falls asleep at the wheel or has a diabetic sugar crash.
For an excellent article on this issue and a what some trucking companies are doing to correct this problem, read the article “Health becomes issue in trucking” at The Arizona Republic’s website.
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