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What Truck Drivers Need to Know About CBD

Emerging studies on the long-term effects of common prescription drugs (e.g. painkillers, corticosteroids) have raised significant public interest in natural alternatives to conventional medicine. Everything from turmeric capsules to essential oil-infused topical balms are now commonplace in American homes, and understandably so. However, it’s safe to say no natural compound has skyrocketed in popularity quite like cannabidiol, more commonly known as CBD.

edited_What Truck Drivers Need to Know About CBD plant mother trucker yoga blog

What is CBD?

CBD is one of several chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant. CBD is the primary cannabinoid in non-psychoactive varieties of cannabis, such as hemp. It is distinguishable from tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in that it does not impair judgment or motor function as a side effect, which is commonly known as a “high.” CBD is currently being studied for a range of potential health benefits, which will be discussed in the next section.

 

There are plenty of different CBD products available today, including oils, tinctures, capsules, and edibles. You can also buy CBD concentrates — which are made from pure CBD extract — or isolates, which are CBD extracts with all other cannabis compounds removed entirely. Isolates come in both oil and powder forms; uses of CBD isolate powder include infusion into everything from smoothies to DIY soap bars.

 

So what can CBD do for you? In this post, we go over how CBD can benefit a large number of prospective users, as well as whether or not it’s right for truck driver health in particular.

 

A Look at The Scientific Literature

CBD has been shown to reduce the severity of symptoms of disorders characterized by chronic anxiety, mood disorders and seizures. It is also being studied for its role in relieving associated conditions of common diseases such as persistent nausea or dizziness from cancer treatment, mood swings from Alzheimer’s disease, muscle spasticity from multiple sclerosis or tremors from Parkinson’s disease.

 

Perhaps the most notable and well-documented aspect of CBD’s therapeutic potential is its natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. It can be used as an add-on or supplementarily with conventional therapies and medications for a variety of chronic pain conditions including fibromyalgia, back pain and migraines. Users also report significant relief from chronic inflammatory disorders such as arthritis and gout. Truck driver health issues like these are very common.

 

How exactly does it work?

CBD is one of several cannabinoids whose effects are derived from their interaction with the endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS is a network of receptors categorized into groups; the cannabinoid-type 1 (CB1) and cannabinoid-type 2 (CB2) receptor groups are the most relevant. These receptor groups are primarily located in the nervous system, peripheral organs, and immune system.

 

The observable therapeutic effects are rooted in its modulatory influence on CB1 and CB2 receptors, which can positively affect the body’s sensitivity, uptake, and response to hormones (e.g. serotonin, dopamine) and neurotransmitters (e.g. cytokines, prostaglandins) which have beneficial implications on everything from pain or anxiety disorders to recurring sleep dysfunction.

 

Given its significant number of health-positive properties, lack of psychoactivity, and legal status across the United States, CBD has become incredibly popular among consumers from a variety of walks of life. However, it isn’t entirely without risks or downsides for truckers, which we’ll briefly go over below.

 

Should You Take CBD?

There’s a risk that these products could raise a red flag on an employer’s drug test for controlled substances. This is due to THC’s schedule I drug classification under the DEA’s drug scheduling system. Although CBD enjoys legal status across all 50 states at present, it still is a component of the cannabis plant, so less sophisticated test kits could detect it or other secondary cannabinoids as a false positive.

 

As of this writing, it’s not recommended to supplement with CBD without consulting your employer about it directly. After doing so, be sure to use only the isolates form. With all other cannabis cannabinoids, terpenoids and flavonoids removed, isolates significantly reduce the chances of a problematic drug test.

 

When Would CBD Be Right for You?

To completely avoid the risk of drug test issues, it might be best to avoid supplementation altogether until after retirement. Our Stiff Mother Trucker Pain Relief Cream or Mini Acupressure Ball are examples of safe, risk-free options for managing pain. For inflammation, sleep dysfunction or tremors, there are also market alternatives to CBD. When it comes to truck driver health issues it’s important to play on the side of safety and never put your career on the line. 

edited_What Truck Drivers Need to Know About CBD STIFF Mother Trucker Marc Springer CBD

CBD is increasingly well established as a natural compound with impressive therapeutic potential. However, it isn’t without its risks in terms of workplace drug tests. Be sure to do your due diligence to find out if CBD supplementation is right for you.

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Mental Health Awareness Month: Take A Breath Driver

Breathing is one of those things we all do, yet we rarely think about it; when a system like the respiratory works without us having to think about it or make it happen, it’s called “involuntary.”

The respiratory system has the unique ability to work all on its own without our help, unlike the muscular system, which works voluntarily.

This month is Mental Health Awareness Month and it’s a perfect time to tune in and tap into how powerful our breath actually is.

When we breathe, we get this precious gift called life.

Did you know?

We can survive 21 days without food, seven days without water but can only go one to three minutes without oxygen.

And at the 60-second mark, brain cells are already dying.

Yet after 20 years of teaching yoga to others, there is one thing I have come to find, many do not like to breathe.

 

I would often notice few would appreciate the art of breathing practices (pranayama) in yoga. You could see people start to fidget, become distracted, and even get annoyed at the idea that they weren’t “doing anything” during their yoga class. Yet without the ability to breathe, nothing on the yoga mat would even be possible. With May being mental health awareness month let’s take a few minutes today to focus in on simple strategies you can add to your daily routine today that cost you nothing and take minimal time and effort. 

It’s time you learn to breathe to improve your truck driver’s health!

Breathing is a tool. Those that learn to harness the device and tap into its vast abilities to improve, help and even heal the body get to reap the benefits of increased vitality, health, and happiness. But time and time again, I have observed others choose pills, alcohol, and even violence to manage what we all call stress or our emotions rather than tap into this tool we are all born with and have access to us at any given time. 

Stress can alter just about any system in the body if we allow it to. 

Stress management sign mother trucker yoga blog

Stress can:

  • Raise our blood pressure
  • Increase our heart rate
  • Increase our body temperature
  • Leave us in physical pain
  • Can decrease our immune system
  • Give us stomach discomfort
  • Make it difficult to sleep
  • Can affect your libido 
  • Tense your muscles 
  • Cause weight gain 
  • Burden your nervous system
  • Leave shallow breathing

When is the last time you felt the effects of any of the above and thought you should practice deep breathing? 

When my oldest son was small, and he’d get stressed out, the first thing I would have him do is deep breathing. Three deep breaths, I’d say, and we’d do them together. He’s now nearly a teenager, and I have observed him repeatedly defaulting to deep breathing when he is stressed, angry, frustrated, or can’t sleep. He automatically uses this incredible tool we all walk around with every day but rarely tap use voluntarily. 

The average American breathes with less than 18% of their lung capacity. That’s what I like to call clavicle breathing. It’s no wonder we are a stressed-out, upset, unhealthy out touch society. I say these are the very things I have felt before yoga and learning how to tap into my breathing. And the same things I think when I’m not in my body, using my breathing, and feeling grounded in my skin. 

How do we breathe?

The average person takes about ten breaths per minute; that’s an average of 22,000-24,000 breaths per day. That’s a lot of breathing. And when we breathe, we inhale necessary oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide and toxins that our body wants to remove. When we breathe, our lungs expand and take in air, and our diaphragm lowers and expands as well, taking in oxygen to then be distributed out to the millions of cells throughout our body that need that fresh oxygen to live. 

Dr. James Hoyt, a pulmonologist, says, “Our respiratory muscles don’t have the luxury of being out of shape.” Yet how many people can say with certainty that they use them, work them, build them like their bicep regularly? There is a saying, “use it or lose it,” and it fits here with our breathing. 

 A recent study in the Journal of Neurophysiology may support this, revealing that several brain regions linked to emotion, attention, and body awareness are activated when we pay attention to our breath.

And, also nearly every system in the body is connected to our respiratory system or breathing. 

  • Our metabolism increases when we practice deep breathing.
  • Our autonomic nervous system regulates when we deep breathe.
  • Our digestion can settle and improve when deep breathing.
  • Our muscles relax and get total oxygen, helping them not to cramp.
  • Our lymphatic systems become stimulated, hand and hand, with our immune system, both stimulated when we breathe.
  • Our body is fully oxygenated when we deep breathe.

And one of our deep breathing’s most impressive features is that it stimulates our vegas nerve. 

What is the vagus nerve?

The vagus nerve is the longest of the cranial nerves, extending from the brainstem to the abdomen through multiple organs, including the heart, esophagus, and lungs.

It controls the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which contains your relaxation response. Most people never breathe deep enough to stimulate this impressive nerve.

We need the vagus nerve to be alive and working because the vagus nerve controls your mood, heart rate, digestion, and immune response. Stimulating your vagus nerve can help to regulate many functions in your body.

Vagus nerve stimulation has been linked to treating epilepsy, improving digestive conditions, reducing inflammation, and managing anxiety disorders.

The journal Frontiers in Neuroscience reported in 2018 that the poor function of the vagus nerve could lead to mood and anxiety disorders. But most importantly, when you stimulate the vagus nerve, you can reduce anxiety, stress, and mood disorders. All of this can happen when you learn to breathe more deeply and more often. 

WAKE UP, PEOPLE! BREATHING IS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where does your breathing fall?

Clavicle Breathers: 

Those that breathe only into the upper chest, throat, and shoulders. These breathers often have lifted shoulders and a tense neck. 

Chest Breathers: 

Those that breathe into the center of the chest. 

Abdominal Breathers: 

Those that breathe deep into the belly and feel their lungs and abdomen expand freely. 

We have forgotten our unique ability to help and heal ourselves. When you were a baby, no one had to tell you how to breathe, yet there you were, breathing so deeply that your entire torso was expanding and contracting every breath you took. I have listened and watched my children as infants, and now adolescents get upset and even cry only to default to their breathing to calm them down. It’s in you; you have done it; you have just forgotten how to do it. 

Deep Abdominal Breathing Technique:

This is the perfect technique to try for Mental Health Awareness Month.

  1. Sitting tall or lying down comfortably, place one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart/chest. 
  2. Exhale completely through your mouth and hear your breath move out of your body. 
  3. Inhale through your nose move your breath deeply into your lower hand (belly) and feel it expand. Continue to move your breath up to notice your upper hand (chest) rise. 
  4. Exhale slowly move the air out, feeling your belly collapse and your chest lower (in any order). 
  5. Soften your jaw and relax your body, focus on fully emptying your belly when you exhale, and fully expand when you inhale. 
  6. Work yourself up towards a count of four counts on the inhale and eight on the exhale. 
  7. Repeat this for two to five minutes. 
  8. Anytime your mind wanders, bring it back to your breathing. 
  9. Allow yourself to hear your breath each time you inhale and exhale. 

How to do deep abdominal breathing

To improve your truck driver health, continue this practice daily in the morning to wake up, when you are feeling stressed, waiting in traffic (minus the hands-on your body), or before you go to sleep to help you relax. 

You have tools to help you breathe, relax, fall asleep. The real question is, are you using them? 

Take inventory since it’s mental health awareness month, how is your breathing?

Deep Abdominal Breathing Benefits:

 Various deep abdominal breathing forms have been linked to cardiovascular benefits, including increased blood flow and improved blood pressure. Deep breathing is also a helpful tool for relaxation and sleep. Taking deep breaths can also help you manage stress and improve cognitive function like brain fog and lack of focus and concentration.

If every tool you are reaching for is outside of yourself, let me ask you, have you tried the tools you were born with? The tools you were given and are the very tools that make this life possible? The tool I am talking about is your breathing. 

Try This:

For one week, practice deep abdominal breathing at least one time a day. Work to practice it at the same time each day. Set the alarm on your phone or in your calendar and make it a priority. All too often, we say something doesn’t work or help, and we have never really tried it, let alone given it the attention required to see results. 

Trucking yoga can be as simple as paying attention to your breathing. Truck driver health does not need to be complicated. And you benefit from it the most!

After seven days, come back and let us know how you did. What changed, what you noticed or found. Every month can be mental health awareness month, don’t let your mental health slip away.

Now take a deep breath and start living! 

Mother Trucker Yoga LIFESTYLE JUMPSTART App and platform image

Resources:

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_focusing_on_the_breath_does_to_your_brain

https://www.uchealth.org/today/understanding-breathing-and-the-importance-of-taking-a-deep-breath/

https://www.healthline.com/health/facts-about-stress#25.-Past-experiences-can-cause-stress-later-in-life

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.n

https://www.consumerreports.org/mental-health/ways-to-manage-stress/ih.go
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Travel Life: 6 Ways Improve Your Fast Food Menu

 

It’s hard to avoid all fast food when every truck stop has a fast food restaurant attached to it. But as your trucking fitness company, I believe that you don’t have to avoid every fast food restaurant, but you do need to be smart when at them or making your own meals. Living a travel life doesn’t mean you can’t have fun and be healthy. Food is fuel, but the food is also meant to be enjoyed, and when you have a better baseline of knowledge as to what to eat and how to eat, it can take the stress off of the actual eating experience. 

 

There is no question, we all need to eat, but for truck drivers, and those living a travel life, convenience often plays a role in what food choices to grab when the dinner bell rings. I’ve been in the health and fitness arena for nearly 20 years, and when it comes to fast food, other people are telling you not to eat the stuff, but I’m telling you to be smart about it. 

 

Not all fast food is terrible, and with a bit more understanding of what you are looking at and looking for, you can turn a pounds-packing meal into a healthier one. Truck driver health is essential, without your health, you can’t drive. But it might be time to tune in and pay attention to what you are putting into your mouth on a daily basis. As a trucking fitness company, I believe that it’s about the small simple changes that you make on a daily basis that will lead you to the results you are looking for for a lifetime. 

 

5 Ways to Improve Truck Driver Health And Eat Better living a travel life.

 Google it.

Yes, Google the fast-food joint you are going to eat at BEFORE you go to eat. Fast food chains with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name that sells restaurant-style food are required to provide customers with calorie and nutrition information. By before? Well, when you walk into a restaurant, you will more than likely be hungry, and that means you will be picking and choosing your menu options based on hunger, not on health, which means what you leave with might be more than a burger and fries, but the pounds to go with it.

 

A study posted in Science Daily shared that Dr. Benjamin Vincent from the University’s Psychology department found that: “hunger significantly altered people’s decision-making, making them impatient and more likely to settle for a small reward that arrives sooner a larger one promised at a later date.” The study above means that out the window, go your intentions to eat healthier, and stay on track. Once you walk in the door and smell the food and see the food photos shot in perfection, your brain goes nuts. 

 

Eat smart, and that means doing a little prep work beforehand. With COVID, you can now order your food for curbside pick up, which means you don’t even have to walk in and smell those smells. And with apps now making it easier to have food brought to you (even as a truck driver), you can order before you get hungry and make those good choices. My suggestion, make a list; if you know that there are certain fast-food chains at your regular stops, make a list of the menu options you feel are better options and write them down. That way, when it’s time to stop, you don’t make a decision you will later regret. 

Aim for 500 calories.

It’s easy to grab that brown paper bag and jumbo size drink and in just 10 minutes have ingested upwards of 800 calories per meal. A published in MBJ noted that the average adult consumes 847 calories every time they eat fast food, but what I found was interesting is that those adults all thought they were eating less-175 calories less. What if you are someone who eats fast food three times a day> Well, that’s oversight of 525 calories, an entire meal! 

 

What does a 500 calorie meal look like?

At a burger joint, that could be a small burger and fries. Hungry for chicken? How about a four-piece chicken nugget and a side salad or grilled chicken sandwich and side salad. Are you feeling Mexican? Ditch the tortilla and go for a chicken burrito bowl with black beans instead. Or how about a single chicken and beef taco to go?

You can find all of these options at various fast-food chains, and when in a pinch, they can do the trick and are a better option than the Double Big Mac with XL fries.

Be mindful of unhealthy possibilities in disguise, salads loaded with cheese, croutons, and other toppings can tip the calorie meter well past 500, as well as the new rage on veggie burgers. Not only can these options account for way more calories, but they can also take your sodium through the roof. Truck driver health is not just eating a burger without a bun, although that’s a good start, it means you start to pay attention to what you are putting into your mouth first and what that looks like in reference to what maybe you should be eating. 

Mix n’ Match- Bring your items.

Some drivers do not have space or the ability to travel with a fridge in their truck, but the good news is there are many food items and condiments that you can travel with that do not need refrigeration. If you like the convenience of fast food but know it’s not the healthiest choice, why not mix and match some of their food with some of yours. Items like nuts, seeds, seasonings, and dried fruits and veggies not only travel well are super yummy when added to a salad or as a replacement for your fries. 

Swap it out.

That swap can create a better balance of healthy fats, proteins, and an overall boost in nutrition, for those of you who don’t regularly travel with food and prefer to buy as you eat. I suggest you head into the truck stop first and grab a container of carrots and hummus, or a bag of nuts (lightly or unsalted), hard-boiled eggs, an apple or orange, and you have yourself a well-rounded meal once you order that single burger or DIY salad. 

Understand Portion Sizes.

Do not fall victim to the “value” menu advertising angles. Your waistline and heart health are not worth a few pennies saved. As the fast-food industry has grown over the years, so has the size of their food. Although the appeal is there, “buy more for less.” Do you need a 20 piece chicken nugget? Do you need five roast beef sandwiches? Now I know the logic would be “I’ll eat them later,” but let’s be honest, how many people save them for their next meal? It’s a vicious cycle that needs to stop, and the best way to stop it is by becoming more aware of how much you should be eating. 

Portion Sizes Guide To Better Truck Driver Health.

As your trucking fitness company, I take your health seriously and want to make it as easy as possible for you to be healthier. Check out my portion sizes guide made just for you.

  • Fist/Computer Mouse = 1 Cup (veggies, fruits, rice)
  • Cupped Hand = ½ Cup or 1 Ounce (nuts: almonds, cashews, cheese)
  • 2 Cupped Hands = 1 ounce (popcorn, pretzels, chips)
  • Palm = 3 ounces (lean meat, dairy, roughly 1 serving protein)
  • Fingertip/Thumb Tip = 1 Teaspoon (fats, butter, mayo, sugar) 
  • Thumb = 2 Tablespoons (peanut butter, hard cheese)

Mother Trucker Yoga Blog Hand Portion Sizes for Truck Drivers

If I were to say you should never eat at a fast-food restaurant again, I would be a hypocrite. I do not believe in black or white, but rather many shades of gray. How can you paint your fast food pitstop more of a gray tone? How can you improve your menu choices a little bit at a time? Next time you stop for a bite, remember this: is it a good option? Is it better than what I could have chosen? Is it the best option? 

We may not always (be able to) choose the best option, but I believe there is still an opportunity to do better and find one good choice to put a checkmark in the healthy eating category. Over time, those small little changes add up, and that, my friend, is how you create a healthier, happier you. 

Join Other Drivers Just Like You.

Did you like this blog? Did you find this truck driver health information helpful? For more health-focused graphics, guides, and videos. Check out our NEW Mother Trucker Yoga LIFESTYLE JUMPSTART Membership Platform & APP for FREE for 30 days!

Use the code: MTY30

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Four Ways To Cope When The Cost Of Living Skyrockets

One of the scariest things happening right now, is the cost of living going up. It doesn’t matter whether you work full time, you work part-time, or you are burning yourself out and working seven days a week. Every single person is dealing with the cost of living crisis right now. It is normal for prices to gradually increase over time, but right now we are all watching in horror as energy prices, gas prices, food prices, car cost prices – everything – is going up. It’s all happening at once, and you need to know how to mentally cope with the changes that are happening right now. The worst part? The wages are not going up to match the new cost of living.

 

You need to be able to deal with the cost of living going up, and that is not an easy thing to do. Your mental health is likely to take a nosedive if you already worry about your income and your outgoings. The chances are that you are already stretched. You are already working hard to try to make ends meet. While we can’t fix the way you’re going to feel about the cost of living crisis, we can offer four ways for you to financially cope when the cost of living starts to skyrocket. Let’s take a look.

  • Start working on a new budget. If you’ve been getting letters telling you that your energy prices are rising, and you have noticed that the food prices in the supermarkets are going up, you need to start working on your new budget now. Create a spreadsheet or even just a handwritten list of all of the things that you pay for every month. A new budget now will help you to plan better later.

 

  • Make some swaps. As you go through your monthly expenses, you may notice that you could be making some swaps for cheaper items – non-branded food instead of branded, for example. You could look at getting an appraisal for your current car with Edmunds, and see whether or not you could afford a new car that’s secondhand and sell your old one. If you can understand the car prices better, you’ll be able to save money on how much you spend on your monthly car repayment. This may sound like a drastic idea, but with the cost of living going up the best thing to do is to free up a few hundred dollars every month. But of course, you don’t want to get rid of your Mother Trucker Yoga LIFESTYLE JUMPSTART Membership Platform and APP as it can replace a gym membership, DVDs, and training all from the comfort of your own truck!

 

  • Check your subscriptions. There is every chance that you are subscribing to services that you very rarely or no longer use. If that’s the case it’s time to stop spending money on them. Go through your bank accounts and see your regular repayments and then cut back. If you pay for the five different streaming services, then cut it down to one.
  • Add more income. If you’re good at baking, writing, sewing – really, any hobby – then you should monetize it when you can. Yes, you will be working harder than ever, but if it’s going to protect you from losing your home, then it’s one of the best things you can do.

No matter what the economy will do what it does and it is critical that you take time for yourself and also practice self-care so when tough decisions come around you are of sound mind and calm sports to do the next right thing!

 

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National Drink Water Day – 6 Reasons Science Says You Should Drink Water

6 Reasons Science Says You Should Drink Water

March 22, 2022, is National Drink Water Day, so drink up truck driver because your body depends on it.

8 glasses of water is a recommended volume that your body needs to hydrate itself. But what does it mean to hydrate our bodies? There are many benefits of drinking water, and this article is written especially for truck drivers. Yeah, I’m talking to you over there. As someone who needs to have good truck driver’s health, water can be the key ingredient that you’re missing. Today, we talk to you about the 6 scientific reasons drinking water is good for you.

Many drivers are living on the verge of dehydration and that dehydration could be what is causing all those symptoms you may even be taking medications that could dissolve once you hydrate yourself.

6 Scientific Benefits of Drinking Water for Better Truck Driver Health

Improves Brain Function

Water is an element that our brains require to stay functioning optimally. Studies were conducted on dehydrated focus groups that showed increased signs of distress, fatigue, mood swings, and lack of concentration. It is known that by hydrating yourself, you can make your brain perform optimally and have better truck driver health.

Keeps Body Active

Hydration can keep your body in good shape, especially in high heat or exerting conditions. Experts have noted that losing just a little as 2% of your water content can cause extreme effects such as fatigue, low cognitive functions as well as reduced motivation. Optimal hydration has been shown to avoid the problem of a tired body, and for truck drivers, fitness is of importance.

Helps in Weight Loss

Long trips filled with stops to the nearest steakhouse or burger spots are an easy way of gaining weight. To lose it, you’d need a dedicated workout routine and perhaps trips to the gym that you’re not able to take. Here’s where drinking water can help you lose some weight.

Prevents Headaches

Social isolation and fatigue are common amongst drivers. Long hours stuck in traffic with no sense of entertainment can leave one with a lasting headache and a short temper. If you’re easily being agitated and have a recurring headache, drinking water can make you feel better in your headspace.

Relieves Constipation

Diet is something that truck drivers are unable to focus on due to the trips they have to make and the comfort they can find on the road. Unbalanced diets with low fiber intake can cause constipation, but drinking water can help you if you find yourself in that spot.

Cures Hangovers

12.5% of truck drivers in the US fall under alcoholism due to the conditions they have to deal with as part of their jobs. One can casually have one too many, but the consequence of hangovers can decrease work performance and can make driving an impossible task. Staying hydrated and drinking plenty of water is the most effective method of curing hangovers.

Conclusion

This article is your wake-up call to drink the water your body needs to keep itself healthy. In the long run, staying dehydrated can lead to severe health deteriorations that can be avoided if you start drinking plenty of water today. For the drivers who spend hours on the road, doing their duty, it is essential that they keep themselves fit, and there isn’t an easier way to achieve better truck driver health than to drink some water.

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Keeping Your Mind Sharp: International Brain Health Week

It’s International Brain Health Awareness Week

(March 14-20, 2022)

Let’s celebrate by taking care of our brain health!

“Even before you leave the womb, your brain works throughout your life to control your body’s functions and helps you understand and interact with the world around you”.  When you focus on maintenance for your brain you will then help your mind stay focused, clear, and alert when you need it to and train your brain to respect downtime play, and rest when needed!

As truckers you know the importance of heart health, but what about brain health?

Brain health is all about maintaining and reducing risk factors and respecting the machine within. As we get older our brains when not taken care of properly can begin to show their wear which can affect your health, happiness, and overall functionality.

 

How do you keep your brain sharp as a truck driver?

What do you do to maintain and sharpen your brain and mind? Many take this for granted earlier in life but just as important as it is to learn new things, so is it important to give your brain a break, and learn to rest your brain.

Does your brain need sharpening?

Does your brain need resting?

Does your brain need maintenance?

Amazing Study

2.4 million people downloaded an app and played a game called the Sea Hero Quest that involved memory from age 19-75 years old; it was the only study of its kind. After these participants played the game, the research was astounding. 

 

“One key early finding, presented at a meeting of neuroscientists in the US, was that navigational ability begins to decline much earlier than was previously thought – possibly from as young as 19. The study found that 19-year-old game players had a 74% chance of accurately hitting a maritime target. By the age of 75, this figure had fallen to 46%.” 

 

And already, at age 20, our strategic memory recall is beginning to decline, and we may not even know it. 

 

The data published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences notes that our peak mental performance is typically at age 35 and then declines by 10% ten years after that. 

 

We need to sharpen our brains regularly. It’s backward thinking in our culture today rather than thinking of brain health as “preventative care,” thinking of it as sharpening and maintenance. 

Brain Health Mother Trucker Yoga Blog Eat Real Food

What Causes Our Brain to Age?

 

Researchers have discovered several factors that speed up brain aging. Things like obesity, especially in midlife, can accelerate brain aging by ten years! And add in our populations’ high intake of sugar, diet sodas all contribute to poor brain health. But that’s not the only thing that can affect brain health as we age.

Living a sedentary lifestyle, eating a highly-processed diet, not socializing, irregular poor sleep, and not practicing self-care, stress-relieving activities can affect how our brain ages. When it comes to truck driver health what you eat plays a large role in how you feel and how your brain functions, but often gets the back seat to other issues. 

 

Truck Driver Health: 5 Practices to Sharpen Brain Health: 

1. Get out and move

Where can you fit in just 5 or 10 minutes of movement into your day? Don’t overcomplicate it; just move, dance, walk, squat, anything, just move! You don’t realize it, but your brain is tracking with you every step of the way, and that extra boost of oxygen and serotonin, dopamine, and neurotransmitters going straight to your brain doesn’t hurt either. 

2. Socialize

When is the last time you talked with that one friend, your mom, your brother, or rolled down the window and said “hey”? Isolation leads to a decline in our cognitive abilities. Socializing can help improve and impact thinking, memory, and behavior. Just like a young child needs others around him/her to mimic and encourage the developmental process, so does our aging population and those in-between.  

3. Eat real food

When we have a disease, what we have is a deficiency. What do you lack that has caused our body to malfunction. Our bodies are like trucks; we require certain maintenance to our parts, specific fluids, lubricants, and fuel to run optimally. You would never consider skimping on what you fuel your truck with because you know the consequences. If you are living in dis-ese or stress what are you lacking, and how can you refill it? The best and fastest way is to eat living food because you are alive. 

4. Get better quality sleep.

It’s not that you necessarily need more sleep but rather better quality of sleep. What do you need to do to improve the quality of your sleep? Better mattress? Darker room? Headphones with relaxing music? Essential oils? When it comes to sleep, focus on quality instead of quantity. 

5. Engage in de-stressing activities

Stress has become a badge of honor like the girl scouts or boy scouts badges when they sell cookies and build a soapbox car. My advice, slow down to speed up. More is not better, and the more stressed your system is, the less effective you will be, and you will begin to see your body, mind, and actions slow. Consider a walk without your phone, deep breathing, relaxing music, meditation, yoga, a shower, or going to bed early. These may seem small and insignificant, but they can make a huge difference. When you take time for yourself, you make time for the essential things in life. This is why Mother Trucker Yoga focuses on small simple changes and moves that you can do in 5 minutes or less and even things you can do safely while driving. [Try us out for FREE use the code: MTY30 for a FREE 30 days!]

6. Choose intellectually stimulating activities

Do hard things. I’m not talking about an Iron Man, but rather things that challenge you. This is where technology can help! Memory game apps, puzzles (electronic or physical), even crosswords, word searches, board games, and cards are all good ways to keep your mind sharp. If you have kids, don’t just let them plop down on the couch and watch T.V. have family game night. If you are on the road, pull out that pen and do a crossword puzzle. These are time-tested practices that will keep your mind at its best. 

Puzzles for Brain Health Mother Trucker Yoga Blog

Don’t wait. We live in a world that is trained to respond to our health in the form of sick care. But the way to address our aging brain is to practice preventative care and create consistency in our health and health practices. 

 

Don’t wait until you see a decline to make a change in your brain health. 

Don’t wait until you feel less sharp to seek help. 

Don’t wait until you need extra care to decide to care. 

Don’t wait. 

As a driver, truck driver health is essential. And out a fully functioning brain, you may find yourself struggling to safely stay in your lane.

Are you looking for more ways to improve your health, mental clarity, and longevity? 

Check out Mother Trucker Yoga LIFESTYLE JUMPSTART Membership Platform & APP.

Easy videos are designed specifically with a driver’s needs in mind.

No fancy gym.

No expensive equipment.

No stress.

Try us for FREE!

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References:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/scientists-reveal-age-your-brain-9274294

https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/this-is-the-exact-age-when-your-brain-function-starts-to-decline

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319185#Therapies-to-help-slow-brain-aging
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March – Nutrition Awareness Month: 5 Fantastic Foods to Fight Premature Aging 

March – Nutrition awareness month: 5 fantastic foods to fight premature aging 

Pre-mature aging is a biological condition when aging occurs before the set standard. This happens mainly because your biological age is more than your chronological age. Fighting premature aging is not easy, especially if you are a truck driver. Because during work, many other free radicals affect your skin. Hence, this nutrition month, we’ve brought you the 5 fantastic foods to fight premature aging and maintain optimal truck driver health.

Free radicals can build up in cells and cause damage to other molecules, such as DNA, lipids, and proteins. Free radicals are highly reactive and unstable molecules that are produced in the body naturally as a byproduct of normal metabolism, or by exposure to toxins in the environment such as tobacco smoke and ultraviolet light.

And as a truck driver, you want to pay attention to this process and fight back!

5 fantastic foods to fight premature aging 

Avocado:

Avocado is one of the healthiest food for our overall good body health, and along with that, it also has premature anti-aging benefits. This fruit has many nutritional elements to fight premature aging. The nutrients found in avocado include folate, magnesium, potassium, Riboflavin, vitamin E, and vitamin C. 

All of these nutrients help to keep your skin plumper, provide skin nourishment, fight skin radicals, etc. Moreover, avocado is also rich in a certain type of antioxidant known for reducing fine lines and wrinkles. It is called glutathione, which is also found in many cosmetic medicines and treatments to combat aging.

Papaya:

Papaya is another pick for the nutrition month blog. Why? Well, papaya is amongst the foods rich in antioxidants that help skin stay younger and wrinkle-free. Other than this, papaya is also rich in Vitamins like Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E. 

Along with this, papaya also contains essential minerals like calcium, potassium, and magnesium. All of these nutritional qualities of this food enable to limit or prevent premature aging. Because these nutrients help make your skin more elastic and fight aging signs like fine lines and wrinkles.

Berries:

Berries include all kinds of berries, from blueberries to strawberries. All of them have strong anti-aging nutrients that help fight premature aging. In addition to this, berries are also a good source of fiber and essential vitamins such as Vitamin C. 

Vitamin C is one of the most beneficial and essential nutrients for your skin to say healthy and nourished. Apart from this, berries are a good source of flavonoids as well. In conclusion, berries will help you fight wrinkles and fine lines that result because of premature aging.

And the best part is for a truck driver who may not have access to fresh berries on a regular basis, traveling with freeze-dried berries is a wonderful way to get those nutrients without having to wonder where you will be able to stop to shop!

Healthy trucker food to fight premature aging can be easy to find if you know what to look for.

Sweet Potatoes:

Potatoes are indeed a fantastic food to stop premature aging. I mean, who doesn’t love potatoes, especially sweet potatoes! Apart from being delicious and tasty, sweet potatoes have the benefits to combat premature aging. 

It has important nutrients such as Vitamin A, B, C, D, zinc, thiamine, etc. But more importantly, it has an antioxidant known as beta carotene: which converts Vitamin A that consequently aid in restoring skin elasticity.

Spinach as a healthy trucker food to fight premature aging :

The last food in the list of 5 fantastic foods to fight premature aging to have good truck driver health is spinach. Popeye obsessed over spinach for nothing. Spinach is one of the best sources of heme iron, lutein, magnesium, and Vitamin A, C, E, K.

Spinach helps stimulate collagen production in your body: which in return makes your skin tight and smooth. Plus, vitamin K also helps reduce inflammation inside your body and on your skin too. Spinach is a wonderful healthy trucker food to fight premature aging look for those salads at the truck stop mixed with baby greens and spinach rather than iceberg lettuce, your body will thank you. 

Try A New Food This Month:

That’s all folks for our nutrition month blog. I hope you’ll start including these foods in your diet to see the results of limited or reduced premature aging. Hence, if you are a truck driver facing issues of premature aging, do at least try out eating these foods, and you’ll know how good they are for a truck driver’s health. You might not have access to every one  of these foods on a regular basis, but when you do, grab em, even if it’s just one meal, that’s one meal worth eating! Plus they sure are yummy.

Ready for that next step?

Your Wellness Pitstop Starts again on April 11th, 2022! A powerful 90 days to the best version of yourself! JOIN HERE

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Truck Driver Health: February Heart Health Awareness Month

This month is Heart Health Awareness Month, and we want every driver out there to be healthy. And to help with that, here are some strategies to consider to improve your truck driver’s health for life!

The human heart is a powerful thing. It’s a vital organ we cannot see but can feel. And unlike other organs in the body, our heart is one of our body’s most central parts. It is the mecca center for our emotional well-being and is often associated with social, mental, and emotional “heartache” or “happy heart” experiences in life. Our heart is central to all we do, feel, and experience. What you eat, how you behave, what you drink, how well you sleep, genetics (but let’s not just go and blame them), and how much you move all play into heart health. There are a wide variety of truck driver health issues and heart disease is one of them. 

Today we will discuss the signs of heart issues and preventive measures you can start taking today to take back your health.

 

But our heart is more than that; our heart is a vital organ responsible for keeping us alive. It pumps oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout your body to sustain life. An organ no more significant than our fist beats (expands and contracts) 100,000 times per day, pumping five or six quarts of blood each minute, or about 2,000 gallons per day. THAT’S CRAZY! 

 

Did you know about 2,200 Americans die each day from cardiovascular diseases? That’s about one every 40 seconds. And when not taken care of properly, we are putting our bodies at risk for a slew of complications. 

 

When it comes to truck driver health issues, drivers are especially at risk for heart disease. In a study posted by the CDC, 26% of truck drivers said they had hypertension versus the 24% totaling the rest of the US working population. It is not uncommon to read about a story of a truck driver who went to bed in his truck and didn’t wake up the following day and climb out. Heart attacks are often the primary cause of this all too familiar scenario.

 

There are many reasons why being a driver is so hard on the heart, the stress of driving, the long hours, lack of (cardiovascular) activity, unhealthy diet, and a high sodium diet. But other factors may include diabetes, smoking, alcohol consumption, chronic dehydration, and bad cholesterol, which impact heart health. Truck driver health is not just you go going to the doctor to get your card, it’s about what you do each day you are out on the road. We need you and we need you to be a health driver.

 

Self-care on any level can often be the difference between living a healthy life and not. But even more importantly, waking up the following day or not. Do not be ignorant of this growing health concern. If you choose to live an unhealthy lifestyle, you choose health complications to be in your future you may not have truck driver health issues now, but many times, those issues are only waiting to rise to the surface.

Being a truck driver does not give you a free pass to extended care about your health. I have had the honor of working with thousands of truck drivers over the last four years, and most of them have come to realize that they can have both: a healthy lifestyle and trucking. It’s a choice, and you, my friend, get to choose. 

 

Know the Signs to improve truck driver health: 

When it comes to truck driver health, you are alone much of the time, which means self-responsibility is critical when you are at risk of a heart attack. You need to know the signs. Just like you need to know how to change a tire on your truck, replace a windshield wiper, or back up. You may be able to ask for help 99% of the time, and maybe you never have yet to rely on those “what if” skills. But for the time you do, why not be ready. 

5 Signs to Pay Attention to for Truck Driver Health and Heart Health Awareness

  • Dull ache chest pains are not to be confused with indigestion, which is often more abrupt and acidic.
  • Rapid heartbeat, it’s essential to know your situation, are there other reasons that could be causing this right now)
  • Pain in the arm and heart sends signals to surrounding nerves to alarm the body owner that something isn’t right. 
  • Jaw and or neck pain, which blood clots can often cause. It’s important to rule out things like clenching oral issues like cavities.
  • Others include irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath, tiredness, even depression or anxiety due to the sudden hormonal changes in your body. 

 

Trucking can be a lonely profession; the next time you are at a truck stop and strike up a conversation, be kind, ask how their day is going and how they have been feeling, encourage them to take care of themselves. You never know when a kind word of encouragement from a stranger is just what the doctor ordered. By understanding the signs, you could save your life or even the life of a fellow driver. 

 

February is Heart Health Awareness Month, and it’s the perfect time for you to lace up your shoes, grab hold of the steering wheel, and change lanes towards better health. It’s never too late. 

Trucking Health: February Heart Association Awareness Month mother trucker yoga blog

Tips for Preventative Heart Health Care During Heart Health Awareness Month 

 

  1. Quit smoking. Yes, easier said than done, but as a recovering addict, I suggest starting slow. How about one less cigarette per day? Or how about swapping out a cigarette for a hemp one? There are dozens of programs and nicotine replacements to try out. The most important thing is is “try,” you won’t know until you try.
  2. Exercise. Yes, get up and get moving do a little trucking yoga, or get in a truck driver workout. Simple practices like walking build up heart health and help you burn more calories, get you breathing more profound, and as a truck driver, you have the advantage of getting outside and walking. Sure it might be a parking lot, but at least you are walking! A 200-pound man can burn right around 90 calories from just 30 minutes of a moderate to brisk-paced walk.
  3. Get more sleep. Quality sleep is crucial for our entire body to function optimally. Things like a quality mattress, a sleep mask, making sure you are warm enough and have the right amount of blankets on hand, even headphones to listen to relaxing music can make a mobile environment parked in a truck idling parking lot a bit more tranquil, and your heart will say thank you.
  4. Manage your stress. What can you do starting today to de-stress your life? Now don’t say quit your job, although that might help. What else can you take care of in your life to help curb your stress level? When you stop and take a step back, you can often see the accumulation of little things that create that stress bubble lingering in your life. How about limiting social media? When you feel down, depressed, lonely, or angry, call a friend who will listen and help steer you back to a healthy mindset. Drink a glass of water, smile; it’s hard to be angry or unhappy when you smile (it’s true our brain wants to be happy when we smile). 
  5. Eat healthily. You are surrounded by fast-food restaurants and limited healthy food options. But that doesn’t mean you can’t eat healthily; it just means you have to put in a little extra effort. Try stocking up on nuts, seeds, fruit, and veggies like carrot sticks or celery; they travel well and give you that crunch you crave without the added calories and heart-threatening ingredients. Could you buy a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a fried one? Can you skip the fries and as for a side salad rather? Many fast-food restaurants will customize an order, but they won’t offer it; you have to ask first. No one is asking you to be perfect, and no one is requesting you never eat fast food again, but is there a healthier option available-pick that. 

Truck Driver Health: February Heart Association Awareness Month Mother Trucker Yoga Blog - signs

What you can do today to improve truck driver health issues like heart health:

Your health is in your hands—one of the most empowering things we can do as humans to take back our health. You may have been making poor heart health choices up to this point, and it’s time to make a shift. You can do this, here at Mother Trucker Yoga® we believe that it’s the small simple changes that lead to the big results so you can feel good again™. Don’t wait until it’s too late, take action, and what better time than during heart health awareness month. 

Join the movement and join other drivers just like you who want to improve their health one step at a time.

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Easy Ways To Be More Confident On The Road

Driving as a career path can be an appealing prospect, especially in our current day and age. There is a great need for more drivers in our current economy, and for those that are drivers, they have made a career out of it. 

You don’t just have to drive an eighteen-wheeler. Many truckers, taxi drivers, bus drivers, and other professionals make a living with it.

To excel in these roles, you’ll need to be confident on the road. That’s relatively easy for people who’ve been driving for years. 

If you plan on making a living driving, you’ll need to know how to be more confident on the road. As a relatively new driver, however, that could not be easy. Confidence is the root of most of your success in a driving career, and most talk about the skills you need as a critical driver. But without confidence, those won’t be put to their best use. Driver wellness programs and CDL schools would be a great place to focus on confidence and create it.

Have you ever taken a class on confidence? What if that would have given you the tools to stay in the driver’s seat for the long haul? 

There are a few specific ways that you can do this.

Easy Ways To Be More Confident On The Road mother trucker yoga blog post

How To Be More Confident On The Road Without many efforts

Know Your Route

A significant reason that people can worry or not be confident when driving is that they don’t know how to get where they want to. Planning this out in advance can be recommended. Planning is a learned behavior, if you are a person constantly reacting to life rather than taking action in life, this may not be natural, but that doesn’t mean impossible. 

Truck drivers need to adapt constantly, and although your plan can change instantly, having a baseline plan can help keep confidence strong.

This is also a more minor worry than you’d think with modern technology. You can use various apps to guide you to where you need to go. What apps are your favorite for driver navigation?

There are dozens of options:

  • Google Maps.
  • Waze.
  • Trucker Path.
  • CoPilot GPS/CoPilot Mobile Navigation.
  • SmartTruckRoute.
  • DAT
  • PTV Navigator.
  • inRoute.

And there are many more.

These shouldn’t be distracting, as they’re designed specifically for drivers. You’ll not only find the best route to take, but you wouldn’t need to spend much time figuring it out. Not every driver and app has its positives and negatives, so talk to other drivers and see what they think. A driver wellness program would be a great place to talk about lifestyle planning, including trip planning and guiding drivers towards a better way to respond when things don’t go well.

You could also use a few other apps to make your driving experience more manageable.

 

Make Sure You’re Covered

One of the most significant reasons people are nervous drivers is because they’re worried about accidents. That’s natural and relatively common. 

In many cases, these accidents are relatively minor, but it can mean big dollars when a commercial vehicle is involved.

It’s worth having a car accident lawyer to help you with anything that comes up. As unlikely as accidents happen, having a professional there to help you can be vital. Talk to your company or driver wellness program coordinator if the company you work for has one, and if you want to talk to them about scenarios to ease your nerves, it might be worth it. 

The same can also be said for insurance. Having both of these will ensure that there shouldn’t be anything for you to worry about. Don’t hesitate to talk with your insurance agent and ask the hard questions. If you are a part of a driver wellness program, tell your insurance agent, you could qualify for lower rates and build your confidence at the same time.

Practice, Practice, Practice

You’ve likely heard that practice makes perfect before. That’s typically when it comes to developing a skill, such as learning the guitar.

It’s also true with driving. The more you do it, the better you’ll be. That’s why beginners have to take so many lessons before they’re legally able to drive.

If you’re not a confident driver, then it’s worth spending time practicing. There’ll likely be a few places near you where you can do so.

Alternatively, you could practice in your local area regularly. Doing this on any route you’ll typically have to take can be recommended.

With time, you’ll be much more confident than you are now.

How To Be More Confident On The Road: Wrapping Up

Figuring out how to be more confident on the road can be overwhelming. You could have multiple worries in your mind and find yourself struggling with leaving those stressors at home. Try to relax and breathe and take it one day at a time. 

Getting past this doesn’t have to be difficult, however. Each of the above steps can be more than helpful. And if you aren’t yet, consider practicing meditation or trucking yoga to help build confidence and reduce stress. 

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You are not alone. The longer you’re driving, the more confident you’ll be. Surround yourself with other seasoned drivers and never be afraid to ask questions and share concerns.

Keeping safe will be a priority, regardless of how confident you are.

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7 Ways to Supplement Your Yoga with Increased Mental Function

You may be practicing yoga solo or alongside us here on our membership platform- Mother Trucker Yoga LIFESTYLE JUMPSTART Platform and APP and you are noticing physical and mental benefits. Trucking yoga is an easy way to add a little yoga to your life, even if you don’t own a yoga mat. And for drivers, when you combine a stressful day and physical exercise, you can find yourself fatigued or mentally tired at times. But we don’t want you to ditch the yoga or movements because your brain is drained, instead, let’s boost your brain with the following strategies. 

A poor diet, not getting enough vitamins and minerals, or poor sleep are significant contributors to brain drain. Fortunately, you can supplement your yoga with increased mental function with some simple changes to your life. Supplements, physical and mental workouts, and changing your diet can significantly impact your brain health. As a result, you will have increased focus, reduced tiredness, and an ability to boost both your creative and logical sides.

Supplement Brain Boosters

While exercising, you can use a lot of supplements. Vitamins and minerals are great for your health, of course. They make your muscles stronger, your bones more robust, and give you more energy. But you can also get brain tablets. Nootropics are unique formulas like Unlocked Supplement Co. (click here for more info). Vitamins and minerals work the same way, but brain-boosting recipes work differently. They’re tablets that improve your logic and memory. Improved logic and memory help you stay alert and responsive when driving or doing your job.

7 Ways to Supplement Your Yoga with Increased Mental Function Mother Trucker Yoga blog post

Easy Brain Workouts

You probably already work out somewhat. Maybe a little, perhaps a lot. You can also keep your mind active by doing puzzles such as Sudoku and crosswords.- Who doesn’t love those? You can consider anything that requires concentration or creativity as a brain workout. Activities like the above are wonderful ways to stimulate the brain and beat brain fog and mental fatigue, two things that plague truck driver health.

Some examples of activities that require you to use both sides of your brain are exercise reps, learning an instrument, or playing games. However, logic and creativity don’t always go hand in hand, especially in today’s world. And when you make it a priority to give your brain a workout both sides of your brain benefit from better neuron health.

In trucking yoga, we focus on movements that require you to cross the midline as those are easy movements to help stimulate your brain chemistry.

Two examples are cross-crawl workouts and windmills where you take your opposite arm to the opposite leg. 

Body Movement for Brain Health

If you exercise or do yoga regularly, you already help your brain. The brain releases serotonin when you move quickly and use your muscles. So you know that you’re doing things right when you have serotonin in your brain. When you’re done with a project, for instance, serotonin helps you feel good. It also allows you to feel less stressed by reducing cortisol. So you’ll have a healthier hormonal balance. Having too much cortisol is concerning because it increases feelings of depression, anxiety, and self-doubt. So natural serotonin (not from drugs or alcohol) always helps.

Eating the Right Brain Food

For your brain to stay healthy, you need a healthy diet. Your body can benefit from a variety of foods that help it exercise. Fruits and berries are loaded with antioxidants, caffeine is motivational (in small doses and healthy sources), and protein repairs muscles.

You may already eat these foods if you eat a healthy diet and good sources are fish and seeds high in Omega-3, dark chocolate, and certain berries. These help maintain cell structure, serotonin, and age-related brain issues like memory loss and lowered concentration. Chemicals in leafy greens such as broccoli and fresh spices also help.

Today take a look at your diet and take inventory, does your fuel match up? Truck driver health is critical to the health and success of the trucking industry.

A Good Night’s Sleep

You probably know how vital sleeping well is, whether you exercise or not. A new bed or mattress can be a significant expense, though. If you want to save money on your bed and mattress, there are a few things you can do. First, try buying a memory foam mattress topper. These work exceptionally well. In addition, try not to let your bedroom get too hot, or you’ll be restless. And finally, make your sleeping area quiet and dark so your brain can function well. These will help your brain go through the sleep stages. It needs to be considered refreshing, including much-needed REM sleep.

Increase Calcium Intake

Calcium maintains the proper communication between your brain and the body, which controls muscle contractions. Plus, it’s good for your brain too. Your brain and body are always talking to each other with neuron activity. Axons need it to transmit electrical impulses so synapses can work. As a result, the brain forms neuronal synaptic pathways. Calcium deficiency causes extreme tiredness, insomnia, confusion, and memory loss. But you can quickly get more calcium from milk and cheese, dark greens, and fish with bones you can eat, such as sardines.

Cut Out Alcohol

Alcohol is a socially accepted drug consumed by millions of people each day. However, it is a known contributor to increasing brain fog. Brain fog is a tiredness-related issue that reduces concentration and neuron activity. Quitting alcohol altogether helps minimize brain fog. But doing so can be challenging. Many people across the globe use alcohol to manage their feelings, but what ends up happening is they simply mask or numb them. Trucking yoga can help any person create space, breathe and improve mental function. Regardless of how much you drink, alcohol often leaves the user drained, in a mental fog, physically drained, and emotionally low. When it comes to truck driver health, alcohol also dehydrates your body, which results in headaches, lethargy, and trouble concentrating, something truck drivers should pay attention to. In addition, alcohol even reacts with many medications, making the symptoms worse or even dangerous in some cases.

No matter where you are in life or in your yoga journey, any one of the above seven could help you improve your mental health and truck driver health. Here at Mother Trucker Yoga, we believe it’s about the small simple changes that lead to the big results so you can feel good again™.

 

 

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