Helping truck drivers get healthy

We all know how hard it can be to find time to exercise and eat healthy. Now imagine if your life were on the road for week, sometimes months at a time. The trucking profession can breed can unhealthy lifestyle, but now a new website is rolling out to change that.

Commercial truck drivers spend hours on the road.  "On average 11 hours a day," one driver told us while he took a break to re-fuel at the TA truck stop in  in Botetourt County, Virginia. Others quickly agreed. One driver is behind the wheel eight to ten hours a day.  Another told us he drives about 12 hours a day.
  It's mentally exhausting. It's physically exhausting," said Michael Curenton, a driver from Montgomery, Alabama.  A driver from Abingdon, Virginia conceded, it's hard to be healthy.  "It's very easy to be sedentary in this job," Hank Dobbs said.

When it comes to eating, the choices are sometimes limited. Fast foods make the most sense, simply because they're fast.  Driver Joe Berg pulled two hot dogs from a hot dog rack at the TA truck stop and wrapped them in foil to go.


"Any truck stop you have has a hot dog rack on morning, noon or night. (you) can't always have time to sit down and eat," Berg said.

Curenton knows the drill. He's been trucking for three years and it's already taking a toll on his health.  "I'm 28 years old, on blood pressure medication and I've gained like 60 pounds in three years," Curenton said.

Curenton, like most truckers, sleeps in his truck's cab, eats in the cab, and works in the cab.  It's his home away from home.  "After pulling 700 miles you're more than ready for bed at the end of the day. Walking is the last thing on your mind," he said.

The trucking lifestyle contributes to these statistics:   28 percent of truckers are overweight. More than half are obese. That can lead to sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea and some serious safety issues.


"If you have sleep apnea for instance it's possible for you  enter what's called a micro sleep where you fall asleep very briefly behind the wheel," said Justin Morgan, a research associate with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

Morgan was a key player in designing a new website meant to help drivers develop healthy lifestyle habits.  "What we're doing is providing guidance for drivers," Morgan explained.

The website  offers tips on healthy eating on the road and exercising on the roads well as information on sleep disorders, back problems and hemorrhoids, which are all medical conditions that can come with driving.

It also has a new Facebook page and Twitter site that allow drivers to communicate with each other about what works for them.


Driver Clyde Jackson from Fontana, California runs at least three miles a day. He carries running shoes in his truck's cab and goes on his daily run at rest stops across the country.


"I think personally it's easy to stay in shape out here. It's about being strong," Jackson said. He also buys fruits and vegetables at grocery stores along his route.

It's a lifestyle you could say more truckers are now driven to, including Dobbs who took up running to stay in shape while on the road.  "It's easy to sit there and get fat and eat fast food and not take care of it, but if you're really determined you can do it, " Dobbs said.