Here is some great advice from a very unique individual. Tony Blake was the first African-American swimmer to be named All-Ivy league. The Yale graduate traveled the world, changed his name, started a family and became a truck driver. Siphiwe Baleka (his new name, which means Gift of the Creator in Zulu) is now a fitness guru, and his goal is to transform what has been one of the most unhealthy occupations into a healthy one. Baleka shares 4 simple tips that will help people with CDL permit jobs maintain a healthy lifestyle.
1. Get enough sleep
‘The change in your circadian rhythms and the interrupted sleep creates sleep deprivation that accumulates. The problem with that is that the hormones
that regulate metabolism are produced in your sleep. When that production cycle is thrown out of whack, the drivers are not able to regulate metabolism properly.”
2. Eat regularly, eat right
‘The other thing that happens is that drivers aren’t getting the signal that they’re full and that they should stop eating. They’re fighting fatigue and boredom, so they’re eating again, and they’re not getting the signal to stop eating, so they overeat. The root of the problem is their sleep cycle and the freight schedules.”
3. Don’t focus on calories, focus on metabolism
‘Instead of focusing on calories we … trained a driver’s metabolism to get higher and trained it to stay up there longer. The outcome was that we could make a driver’s metabolism 8 per cent more efficient if they could get four minutes of vigorous activity every single day.
4. Do whatever you can
‘Drivers have to sit behind the wheel, but there are plenty of opportunities through the day to get movement: before and after work, during breaks, when deliveries are coming off trucks.
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The Ultimate Guide for Truck Drivers to Maintain 3 Healthy Habits Over the Road
Download the complete guide for tips to easily maintain healthy habits over the road.
