Truck drivers face various barriers to healthy living. Because of long hours spent on the road and downtime spent at truck-stops, exercise and healthy eating often suffer. Further, access to healthcare is often limited due to the location of a clinic or hospital, inconvenient hours of operation, lack of appropriate parking, and, for cross-border drivers, citizenship. This is often compounded by long periods of isolation from family and friends.
The reality of this lifestyle is that without proper attention drivers can be particularly vulnerable to a variety of health issues ranging from stress, obesity, hypertension, and sleep disorders, to diabetes, cancer, and communicable diseases like tuburculosis, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections.
At North Star Alliance, our mission is to make sure drivers, their families, and communities stay healthy and safe despite the obstacles mentioned above. In Africa, this mission has resulted in the establishment of a growing network of roadside health clinics (Roadside Wellness Centres) that are located at truck-stops and borders across the continent. These centres, which are open late and located near parking facilities, provide access to healthcare, counselling and health education for truck drivers, sex-workers, and the surrounding communities.
In this light, we’ve decided to use our blog as a sort of virtual Wellness Centre providing resources and articles about health and healthy living – not just for truckers, but for anyone who’s interested. To start, we’ve put together a list of 10 resources that offer accessible information about a variety health issues. Our hope is to expand on these moving forward in our new “Health and Safety” section.
10 resources for healthy living and trucking
1. Weight: Healthy Weight – it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle!
2. Nutrition: Nutrition for Everyone
3. Sleep: Sleep and Sleep Disorders
4. Stress: Stress (at work)
5. Sexual Health: Sexual Health
6. Cancer: Cancer and Cancer Prevention
7. Diabetes: Diabetes Prevention
8. Heart Disease: Heart Disease Prevention
9. Strokes: Stroke Prevention
10. Exercise: Exercise for Truckers
We hope these help. Keep checking back for more resources and articles about health and safety!
