Obesity: A Health—and Safety—Concern in the Trucking Industry

The trucking life aggravates one chronic condition in particular—obesity.

Drivers spend long hours for days at time sitting. Many live on fast food, sugary drinks and cigarettes (50% of drivers smoke, about four times as many as the general public). A 70-hour, high-stress work week is not uncommon, and many truckers report getting less than five hours sleep per 24-hour period.

And the sum of those take a toll on drivers’ health and potentially expose owner-operators and trucking companies to liabilities.

The trucking life aggravates one chronic condition in particular—obesity. 70% of truckers are significantly overweight, and that contributes to a diagnostic guide full of other illnesses:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Cardiovascular disease (including stroke)
• High blood pressure
• Certain types of cancers
• Fatty liver disease
• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)

And that last one—OSA—is a health issue that can lead to safety issues, including daytime drowsiness, falling asleep at the wheel and crashes.

Obesity: A Serious Safety Issue

A study published in Accident Analysis & Prevention evaluated connections between obesity—which affects truckers at twice the rate of all other adults—and OSA. An estimated 26% of drivers have OSA, about three times the rate of the public. The study concluded:

“Because of robust associations with obstructive sleep apnea, excessive daytime sleepiness, and fatigue, obesity could present significant risks during the performance of complex tasks such as driving trucks ... .”

Connecting the dots

In severe OSA cases, sufferers often stop breathing and wake up gasping for breath several times an hour, fragmenting sleep and leading to daytime drowsiness and fatigue.

And the dots lead here:

• Nearly four in 10 commercial truck drivers reported driving while tired.
• Driver fatigue is a contributing factor in 30 to 40 percent of all heavy truck accidents.

While that’s straightforward, the relationship between obesity and sleep disorders is circular.

On the one hand, virtually all studies point to a direct connection between obesity and OSA. On the other hand, research is finding out the problem works the other way around, too. Truckers’ irregular sleep patterns and erratic schedules wreak havoc on their internal body clocks, release stress hormones and contribute to overeating, which intensifies OSA, and so on and so on.

Breaking the Obesity/OSA Cycle

There are several therapies that treat the symptoms of OSA. The most popular, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), streams air into the airways to keep them open.

The most effective treatment, though, is more complicated than sleeping with a mask on: “Lifestyle modifications combining healthy diet and exercise should be integral to OSA management,” according to research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Healthcare professionals play a key role in helping patients lose weight. They are experts at devising eating plans that reduce calorie intake safely and sustainably, providing accountability and feedback, reducing grazing, preventing relapse and encouraging physical activity.

But one-third of trucker don’t have healthcare benefits, and 50% of truck drivers do not visit doctors for check-ups, screening or preventive care.^{7 8 10}

However, even when they are on the road for weeks out of every month, truckers can benefit from remote interventions that help manage weight. It provides a safe, effective alternative to office visits, and researchers are still studying its long-term impact on weight management.⁹

Telemedicine intervention was effective in improving body mass index whether it was used for diabetes control, hypertension control, weight loss, or increasing physical activity and was also effective for people with and without diabetes or hypertension.¹⁰