How does driving effect your health?

Hi,

I just wanted a little advice on how driving has affected your health and what you have done to try and improve it?

I’m not a driver but I work in logistics, my obsession is health though.

Poor diet, inactivity, stress, long hours …

Davo13:
Hi,

I just wanted a little advice on how driving has affected your health

I’ve had some nagging discomfort in my back and neck lately, still not as bad as when I was a warehouse picker, though.

Davo13:
and what you have done to try and improve it?

Nothing

Davo13:
I’m not a driver but I work in logistics, my obsession is health though.

Knowing that every day or night I go out driving could be my last, I could care less what state of health I’m going to be in. I mean I get enough sleep and food and water etc. but being fit won’t help if you get squished, if you know what I mean

I would say there are too many angry drivers who are heading for a big heart attack.
There are also a quite a few that risk getting ‘squished’ as ETS puts it down to their inability to keep a safe distance.
Apart from that a distinct lack of exercise does not help when it comes to being healthy.
Personally I have always kept myself reasonably fit and healthy and still do as an OAP.

Just looking at holiday photos I aged 10 yrs in 3 actual years , my remedy to this was to retire Spain, but due to 17.4 million Leavers that has not been possible , but looks very likely ar50 will be revoked ( well done vince cable) & me & my wife can get the retirement we deserve , in the mean time I’m my daughters taxi service , builder , kitten sitter etc etc

Back and shoulder problems are widespread as are issues caused due to lack of sleep and regular sleep pattern ranging from obesity and all the side things that causes through to insomnia, poor short term memory and mental health issues.

Everything that increases your risk of a heart attack is a normal part of this job including things like not only night working but starting before 5-6am when the body is supposed to be in deep sleep. We spend too much time fighting the Circadian Rythm.

In short its not really a good job for your health for most of us.

DONT jump out the cab, use the steps that’s what theyre there for. the best gaffer I had told me if he saw me do it again I was sacked. as a driver with a broken ankle/sprained was no good to him. also helps the knee’s…

Grrr - Affect not effect…

Santa:
Grrr - Affect not effect…

Ha, some of their English is as bad as their health it seems.

You sound like the forms I fill in every few months asking about exercise and weight etc when i put down random figures.

Exercise, I walk up and down the trailer 20x a load when the straps come off. Does that count?

Do night shift that is supposed to be really bad for health, eat snacks all night, drink energy drinks to keep brain going and have to deal with muppets in BMWs. Should be dead on 10 years according to “expert health people” or when I hit 56 according to my mother (one is wrong ).

Btw, pre driving I knackered my neck and back in front of a computer, lungs in asbestos job and six pack after getting middle age so driving ain’t that bad.

PS, where’s the “dead” icon.

Davo13:
Hi,

I just wanted a little advice on how driving has affected your health

It hasn’t.

Any of the cliche bad health regimes,that are connected with lorry driving…are equally connected with many other occupations.

Don’t get stressed,Don’t eat crap,get to bed early and get off your arse once in while.

I’m healthier since retiring from the tipper game. Food service keeps me fit and because what I lift/carry/sack truck about varies in weight and size I work different parts of my body.
My back would regularly play me up on tippers (and more so when on flour) but apart from a niggle in my right leg that seems to’ve come on in the last couple of days that I can’t pinpoint (somewhere near the knee), I feel great.

Davo13:
Hi,

I just wanted a little advice on how driving has affected your health and what you have done to try and improve it?

I’m not a driver but I work in logistics, my obsession is health though.

The general public’s perception of drivers is they resemble Eddie Yates, an egg yolk covered fat lazy knacker that struggles to walk the length of the trailer, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Most drivers get enough exercise loading and unloading trailers, opening the curtains, unstrapping etc which is more than most office workers do.
Good eating habits help, but sometimes that’s a little difficult as most services don’t cater for healthy eating and when they do the prices are a little high, truckstops and cafes offer decent healthier foods, fresh veg and home cooked.
The biggest health hazard is stress, planners putting pressure on drivers to get the job done, but that’s easily rectified by explaining as polite as possible it’s easier to drive a desk than a truck

I’m always buying chocolate at the services, I never touch when I’m not at work, and I never used to eat before I became a trucker either, it’s a bad habit I can’t seem to get rid of

Until I was 40 I was built like a racing snake, then my abs were replaced by a fat belly and I’ve still got it in my 50s. I eat better now than I did pre 40 and exercise about the same (never) so I blame life for my physical condition, not driving lorries.

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Grumpy Dad:
The biggest health hazard is stress,

^ This

Together with heavy manual labour wrecking discs,joints and tendons.

12 hour shifts doing long distance bulk pallet work is more healthy than 9 hours multi drop.Let alone involving loads of heavy manual handling especially building site work like scaffolding/shuttering deliveries in being expected to be a labourer and a driver.

“…The level at which employers must provide hearing protection and hearing protection zones is now 85 decibels (daily or weekly average exposure) and the level at which employers must assess the risk to workers’ health and provide them with information and training is now 80 decibels.20 Nov 2012”

I’m sure my hearing has been damaged but full time drivers. let alone agency workers, would find it difficult to get compensation.

anyone who says “so what” to health hasnt had a wake up call. i consider myself really lucky ,i collapsed 2yrs ago and spent a night on the Ipswich hospital stroke ward. i hadnt had a stroke but just spending the night with a bunch of blokes and women who had [and seeing some of these being told "uve between 6 to 7 months max " or “youll never wear slippers again”] made me lose weight and get into shape as quickly as i could

dozy:
Just looking at holiday photos I aged 10 yrs in 3 actual years , my remedy to this was to retire Spain, but due to 17.4 million Leavers that has not been possible , but looks very likely ar50 will be revoked ( well done vince cable) & me & my wife can get the retirement we deserve , in the mean time I’m my daughters taxi service , builder , kitten sitter etc etc

Tbf doze any driver who allows Stobbies planners to ■■■■ them about and run them into the ground as you used to , is deffo going to feel the effects after a few years.
I do the same, or similar job as you did mate, but I haven’t aged much in 10 yrs in appearance, because I do the job at a sensible pace, don’t succumb to pressure, park in proper places, and get enough rest between shifts…
It all depends how you apply yourself to it.
Enjoy your retirement anyway.

As for the o/p…
Guys I have spoke to over the years have had job related ailments and conditions ranging from bad backs, dodgy knee joints, ulcers with not eating properly (and/or eating all the wrong stuff ) heart attacks, (usually the ones who go at the job like a bull at a gate ) to the Farmer Giles and deep vein thrombosis. (both with them sitting on their arses all day for too long.)

Me personally, I’ve had the dodgy lower back, sciatica, my upper arm tendons are really ■■■■ painful, (like a repetitive stress thing with kipping in narrow bunks for so long I reckon) and I could do with losing about a stone and a half, so the job has done me no favours either.
Other than that I’m a fine figure of hunky male beefcake.
.
Another thing, I was having this conversation with a mate a few weeks back, …many of those who I have known, those that have spent their lives maxing out, going like a ■■■■ idiot, working and sleeping patterns only, ( ie… the job/endurance test teararse crew ) have all died within 5 years of their retirement, fact…literally burnt out!

robroy:

dozy:
Just looking at holiday photos I aged 10 yrs in 3 actual years , my remedy to this was to retire Spain, but due to 17.4 million Leavers that has not been possible , but looks very likely ar50 will be revoked ( well done vince cable) & me & my wife can get the retirement we deserve , in the mean time I’m my daughters taxi service , builder , kitten sitter etc etc

Tbf doze any driver who allows Stobbies planners to [zb] them about and run them into the ground as you used to , is deffo going to feel the effects after a few years.
I do the same, or similar job as you did mate, but I haven’t aged much in 10 yrs in appearance, because I do the job at a sensible pace, don’t succumb to pressure, park in proper places, and get enough rest between shifts…
It all depends how you apply yourself to it.
Enjoy your retirement anyway.

As for the o/p…
Guys I have spoke to over the years have had job related ailments and conditions ranging from bad backs, dodgy knee joints, ulcers with not eating properly (and/or eating all the wrong stuff ) heart attacks, (usually the ones who go at the job like a bull at a gate ) to the Farmer Giles and deep vein thrombosis. (both with them sitting on their arses all day for too long.)

Me personally, I’ve had the dodgy lower back, sciatica, my upper arm tendons are really [zb] painful, (like a repetitive stress thing with kipping in narrow bunks for so long I reckon) and I could do with losing about a stone and a half, so the job has done me no favours either.
Other than that I’m a fine figure of hunky male beefcake.
.
Another thing, I was having this conversation with a mate a few weeks back, …many of those who I have known, those that have spent their lives maxing out, going like a [zb] idiot, working and sleeping patterns only, ( ie… the job/endurance test teararse crew ) have all died within 5 years of their retirement, fact…literally burnt out!

There is always a mate I was talking too,
also what does anyone expect with the hours people have to work at this game
And to make it worse you have people taking holidays then coming back to work and doing extra because they spend there holidays worrying about how much they lost by taking time off
I was talking to a mate last week and he told me that there is always people like that and it’s people like that who ■■■■ it up for everyone else, I think he said something like they don’t have respect for life im meeting another mate next week I’ll see what he says