Did you know that an average American travels to and from work consuming about 51 minutes in a single day on traffic? In as much driving comes with freedom and fun, getting stuck in traffic flow for long hours isn’t.
About half an hour in rush-hour traffic exposes us to potential negative driving-related health effects.
Nevertheless, driving is part of our daily lives but it turns out it can also lead to serious health effects on commuters.
We take an exhaustive delve into how driving can affect your health for cognizant health care. These include;
- Tiredness and Exhaustion
Spending hours behind the wheel can take a toll on your body resulting to exhaustive fatigue. This is especially the case when you don’t enjoy enough sleep, have heart problems and other health conditions.
However, with enough sleep, diet and exercise, you can revitalize some endorphins (good feeling hormones), stay lively and energized.
- Chances of developing chronic back, neck and joint pains
Notably, for one to develop back pains and joint pains would depend on how long is the drive, individual health conditions among other factors. This is why such effects will differ from one driver to another.
Besides, the constant vehicle vibrations as you maneuver bumps and the road terrain can exacerbate your back or joint problem.
This is also in cognizant of the fact that your body has a limit of the vibrations it can absorb.
Long hours spent on the driver’s seat with the body slumped forward could cause back pains. This is a very common type of pain amongst regular drivers.
Moreover, the fact that your body is confined and slouched in the car seat could build pressure on your back and neck.
Remember, neck muscles are interlinked to your back and shoulder muscles. Hence, you could be exposed to conditions like frozen shoulders, spondylitis among others.
Furthermore, bad posture while driving can strains joints of your elbows and knees resulting to pain and lethargy. As you keep adjusting the accelerator, brakes, and clutch, the frequent body shifting stresses your knees. This is the cause of most knee-associated aches.
- Lack of enough sleep
You are likely to suffer from insomnia if you drive for long hours. In addition, this might expose you to further risks such as poor concentration on the road.
- Plumpness and developing blood pressure
Could you be a driver who eats a lot of junk foods and yet you don’t hit the gym regularly?
Then chances of you becoming obese are high especially once you start gaining weight. However, this can be better reversed with specific diets, exercise for healthy living.
On the other hand, long hours driving on the road stationery (less active) behind the wheel isn’t good news. This might slow your blood flow throughout the body contributing to blood pressure health problems.
Furthermore, if you happen to be a stressed driver, the risk of developing high blood pressure is also high.
- Negative effect on driver mood
Getting stuck for long hours under acute and chronic nature of straining isn’t good for your mood.
This is associated with the calculative and psycho-physiological responses the driver mind goes through coping with diverse situations.
Resultantly, on and off cases of worry, anxiety and irritation on the road could contribute to a bad mood.
- A polluted environment
Adjusting to every other new atmosphere as your car and those of fellow motorists releasing emissions around isn’t your health cup of tea either.
According to the Center for Transportation excellence, vehicles on the road contribute to about 44% of carbon dioxide emissions in the US?
The sulfur dioxide, butadiene, benzene and other gases from carbon dioxide released by vehicles can cause serious lung infections.
Besides, the frequent smoke, dust, fumes, heat and other inhalable toxic substances in the air could affect your respiratory system and general body health.
In addition, gases emitted on the road might cause ailments like asthma, bronchitis and whooping cough. In fact, there are many cases of lung cancer related to exposure to diesel gases from vehicles.
Besides, embrace regular cleaning of your car and cover it while in the parking lot.
Such covers keep off the dust and other unhealthy air substances away while your car is at rest until next use.
Thankfully, there are diverse models in the market to choose from. This includes the famous waterproof car cover, corvette car covers, Chevrolet camaro car cover among many others.
In addition, enclosing or rolling tight your windows while on the road will keep off any gaseous air.
Other effects of driving on your heath
- High level of exposure to traffic could bring about physical and mental tiredness
- Continued exposure to emissions can cause potential negative effects on your body central nervous system (CNS).
Conclusion
Consider installing car accessories like air fresheners to help control gaseous exposure on the road among many other measures.
Yes! Driving can expose you to adverse health effects hence the need to adopt proper health care while taking necessary precautionary measures.