How to Stay Healthy While Driving

Are you overwhelmed and disturbed about how you could stay healthy on long journeys? Do you often get carried away by traffic noise and ignore eating? Do you submit yourself to the cool and conditioned air in your vehicle, and you sleep off in traffic?  Has it been so boring that you feel like zooming off to a studio? Do you often feel sick during and after your journey?

There are pretty different reasons people get engaged in long journeys. You might be a trucker who drives 24hrs around the state; you may be on vacation and wish to visit your loved one through the air, water, rail, or road; your distal workplace might be another reason you travel that long. How healthy you stay on the journey might determine how well you would achieve your journey’s aims.

I have discovered several smart tips from my traveling experiences on how to remain healthy on long journeys. I will gladly share the most important and general ones with you as well, just be patient enough to read through the end;

Never forget your normal eating periods.

Avoid sedating medications

Always use the restroom before your journey.

Hydrate to reduce those travel headaches.

Wear sunscreen

Cut it down on alcohol

Study road conditions alongside your abilities

Don’t forget your snacks

Take some sleep breaks

Don’t text while driving

Keep to an eating routine

1. Never Forget Your Normal Eating Periods

Sometimes, there are early morning long wait at the airport or bus stops station. Suddenly you are overwhelmed about the delay and completely forget to eat.

To avoid the consequences of missing mealtime, you’re advised to set a mental (or phone) reminder for eating at particular periods. It may be helpful to get into an eating pattern that is similar to the times of the location where you are traveling to if you are traveling across places with different time-zones.

By eating periodically and avoiding too long gaps between each meal, your energy level remains balanced. You’ll be left with few chances of developing getting a bloated tummy.

2. Avoid Sedating Medications

The more you increase in age, the more you take prescription drugs; these drugs often cause mental slowing. Leading examples of these drugs include; Tranquilizers, potent analgesics, and antidepressants. Be careful, too, with over-the-counter medications. A study proved that diphenhydramine (Benadryl), a common non-prescription antihistamine drug, has tremendous negative effects on driving than alcohol. Check the labels on that medicine you’re about taking and find out if it may cause drowsiness. If it becomes necessary for you to take these drugs, it is always better to suspend all trips until all drowsy signs varnish.

3. Always Use The Restroom Before Your Journey

It is better not to “hold it for long” — doing so may cause some infections to your urinary tract. Keep in mind that urinating before entering the car means more juice or water intake to keep you hydrated on the road.

4. Hydrate to Reduce Those Travel Headaches

Switch off that engine and pick up your bottle of water! Fatigue and headaches are often the first signs of dehydration. An uncontrolled feeling of headache while driving might reduce your concentration on traffic and thus expose you to accidents.

Make drinking water your habit as a driver, starting from your next drive or journey. You should drink at least two liters (2L) of fluid every day. And of course –tea, juice, and coffee count as well. Don’t be too shy to request for an extra cup of drink during each drink service while flying.

Staying hydrated does not just help you to reduce those nasty headaches. It may also save you from risks of getting ischemia or blood clots in your legs!

5. Wear Sunscreen

Have you imagined how brutal the summer sun could be? Even as you may be spending all your time inside the car. You’re more likely to be sunburned on the left arms and cheek while driving, so you should apply your sunscreen and pay extra attention to such areas.

6. Cut Down on Alcohol

Alcohol drinks do not make a great traveling companion, as it can leave you weak, dehydrated, and at high risk of blood clots.

More so, as traveling already places pressure on your hydration needs, alcohol aggravates your risk of dehydration further! Since dehydration and alcohol intake is linked to a high risk of developing deep vein thrombosis, I recommended you bring your alcohol intake to a minimum when traveling.

7. Study Road Conditions Alongside Your Abilities

A pilot will not take off if the visibility is not good or if the runway is icy; you should be just as responsible. Age is a huge factor here. Young drivers might be able to compensate for snow, while the old ones are better off with the wheels in a hard rain. The same cautions apply to high-speed roads, driving after dark, or hectic traffic. The best is to know your capabilities (and those of your car, train, etc.), and adjust your travel schedules to suit accordingly.

You’re not only just “abiding by traffic laws,” but your strict concentration to dynamic traffic obligations keep you farther away from your grave.

8. Don’t Forget Your Snacks

Did those last-minutes rush before the start of your trip grant you the time with your home-made food? Or are you pessimistic about meeting your preferred food types at those bus stops? Having some travel-safe snacks with you is another brilliant way to aid your journey. Some small stash of nuts, not-too-squishy fruits like apples and oranges, and some crackers are good snacks to keep your body well-nourished through your trip!

9. Take Some Sleep Breaks

With a lot of us living continuously in states of sleep deprivation, sometimes we may be tempted to keep pushing through that destination even we start feeling drowsy. But since it can be difficult to predict when you’re about to be carried away (which may lead to some severe or fatal accident), let your partner (if any) keep up with the wheel or look for a safe place to pack as get some rest. Take note when you begin to yawn and your eyes feeling heavy.

10. Don’t Text While Driving

It is always tempting to operate your phone, make calls, or send text messages while you’re driving, but it’s not safe. According to the United States government, about 300,000 people were paralyzed, and over 3,000 died in 2014 due to crashes caused by traffic distractions. Please stop your engine if you must either eat, send a text, eat, put on makeup, or take a selfie.

Reduce those traffic troubles by taking adequate traffic cautions, follow these road safety tips to stay safe;

• Know your health abilities alongside that of your vehicle.
• DO NOT make phone calls in the gas station.
• Be sure that your fire extinguisher is always up to date.
• Obey the speed limit.
• Ensure the vehicle is in a roadworthy situation.
• Do some vehicle maintenance and pre-trip inspections.
• Be sure that all vehicle occupants wear a safety belt.
• Plan your journey well in advance

I hope the article has equipped you with various ways to stay and remain healthy on whatever journey you might be planning next.