“Is this a test?” That’s a question that you hear often in school. There’s always someone wondering whether the assignment at hand counts for a grade. There’s no ambiguity about that when it comes to the driving test. You may be a bit nervous knowing that you need to do well on this test. The good news is there are plenty of strategies that can help you gain the confidence to take the test and pass it with flying colors.

Quizzing Your Knowledge

The driving test for truck drivers is like a rite of passage to be inducted into the long list of licensed drivers who take part in making the world a better place. The driving test can be a challenge but preparing for it and ensuring you know your stuff can go far in helping you curb the anxiety you may feel. The best things you can do to prepare are to attend a CDL training class (which is required by most driving positions), research study materials online, and talk to your instructor or other licensed drivers about their experience taking the driving test.

Taking the Test

The driving test is not designed to be difficult, but rather to assess your knowledge to ensure that you will be a safe driver on the road. Through your experience in the CDL training class, your prior experience driving with a CPL, and studying the rules and regulations you must follow on and off the road, the test will be a breeze. The most important tip for studying for the test is to take practice tests. Understanding the format and content of the test will greatly help with combatting stress. There are many free practice tests available online!

In addition to being familiar with the content of the test, being in tune with yourself and making sure you are feeling well enough to take the test, both physically and mentally, will allow your test taking experience to be as painless as possible. If you are feeling particularly anxious about the test, study and take practice tests until you are doing well enough to pass each time. Once you reach this level of knowledge, you should feel comfortable taking the test!

Pass With Flying Colors

Passing the driving test with flying colors is a task that you can surely handle with enough preparation and practice. Being sure to familiarize yourself with the content and format of the test will help to decrease your stress and put your best foot forward! Remember as you are preparing to take the test, to get enough sleep the day before and eat a good breakfast to ensure your brain is ready and that you are as comfortable as possible for your experience. Trucking is a great career, and we are glad you’ve decided to join in on the world’s greatest industry. Good luck on your test!

As a truck driver you are well aware of the long hours, in the seated position, while watching the road pass by. Here are some helpful tips to keep your body limber, even while on the road.

Take Advantage of What’s Around

The easiest form of exercise is walking. Depending on weather and location, walking can be the most convenient option for physical activity. Checking out the local parks or walking around the parking lot of a truck stop can be an easy way to keep yourself moving.

A simple, daily 15-30 minute walk can greatly improve your overall health. Walking is great for your heart, increases your metabolic rate, helps tone your muscles, and can help protect your joints, especially in your knees and hips.

If the weather is unfavorable, you may consider purchasing a gym membership. Nowadays, several gyms have 24 hour access and with locations across the county. The 24 hour access is not only for exercise equipment, but most gyms have amenities such as showers and massage chairs to help relax your muscles. These amenities are excellent for a body that is often in a seated position. 

Stretching

Driving long distances means longer sitting times, which can lead to pain in your neck and back. Stretching your body before, during, and after a long drive can help decrease your chances of having any injury to your neck or back. 

Stretching can greatly improve your physical performance because it helps your joints move through their full range of motion, increasing your overall flexibility. Starting the day out with stretching will help enable your muscles to work effectively and decrease muscle stiffness. The more flexible your muscles and joints are the less risk of injury there is,  which means a smoother drive for you!

Consider keeping simple exercise equipment in your truck, such as a yoga mat or weights, so you can stretch and exercise your muscles while on the road.

Keep Healthy Snacks On Hand

Keeping active and exercising as a truck driver is very important, but we all know that exercise and diet go hand in hand. It can seem hard to eat right while on the road, especially if you have limited time to stop and eat. This is why keeping healthy, easy to grab snacks readily available can be a great benefit to help you maintain your overall health! Some examples of healthy on-the-go snacks would be:

• Trail Mix
• Jerky
• Popcorn
• Dried Fruit

Choosing nutritious and filling snacks may help avoid any hunger attacks while on the road and can play a large role in your overall health.

Truck driving can be hard on your body, but the journey to better health is all about developing good habits. Try implementing some of these recommendations to your daily routine and help guide your body back to good health!

You hear all about it in the news, “eat healthy and be active for a long life,” and you for sure want a long life, but sometimes it’s hard to follow those two directives as a driver whether you’re in it for the long-haul or local transport. 

Healthy Lifestyle

Driving can make having a healthy lifestyle difficult, especially when loads are so frequent and time is so short. Finding time to exercise and plan out meals can become difficult to manage in between journeys. This can add stress to an already stressful day, week, or month. This is problematic because health is so important; it makes you feel better, thus making you a better driver, and it prevents the risk of health conditions associated with being a driver such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes. 

Some drivers may be struggling with these health conditions and are trying to become healthier. It is extremely important to form healthy habits over bad ones and create a lifestyle around these healthier habits. Whether you are already healthy and trying to remain so, or you are on the journey to becoming healthier, setting goals, planning routes, and learning how to eat to best benefit your body are all important steps to take to form healthy habits and eventually a healthy lifestyle!

Goals, Planning, and Healthy Food

Setting specific goals is important to your success. If you just set the goal of “I want to be healthy,” it is not likely that you will achieve it. However, if you follow this set of three S’s (Specific, Scheduled, and Sustainable) you can achieve your goals: Specific (make your goal specific, “I will lose 30 lbs.”), Scheduled (set a time frame for your goal, “I will lose 30 lbs. in 6 months), and Sustainable (make your goal attainable and explain how you will accomplish it, “I will choose healthy food over unhealthy food at least twice a day and exercise 3 days per week”). 

Reaching your goals can be difficult without a plan. While you are thinking about your route, do a search for healthy restaurants on your route, or even find healthy options at fast food restaurants. These may not be nearly as tasty, but the benefits will be evident as you do this consistently and become healthier. Finding healthy food may be difficult, but it is always a good idea to use the internet to assist you. Doing a quick search for healthy restaurants or healthy options at a restaurant can give you some guidance. Also, a talk with your doctor about creating a plan for healthy eating is a great start to creating a very healthy lifestyle!

Can I Habit?

Humans are creatures of habit. We even form routines subconsciously. This is especially true of our eating and sleeping habits. Sometimes our bodies do not know what is best for us, so we begin having strange sleep schedules to stay up and watch the Late Late Show or eat high sugar, high fat, high sodium meals at all hours of the day because it satisfies cravings. People don’t usually form these habits on purpose, but when unhealthy meals are so readily available it makes forming healthy eating habits extremely difficult.

Therefore, forming healthy habits on purpose is important. Rather than breaking old habits, which is nearly impossible, form new ones and the old ones will eventually fade away as your brain pays attention to these new healthy ones. So, how do you do that? The best way to form a habit is repetition, and to remember to repeat the action, you may have to write it down or set a reminder on your phone. Sometimes it may be hard to choose that grilled chicken and veggie plate over a burger and fries, but remember your goal and your reason for choosing health and it will become easier. 

Final Thoughts

Your health is incredibly important and it will help you to live a long life with less risk of developing major medical conditions. If you are unsure where to start or how to set your goals, have a conversation with your doctor and do some research to figure out how to create the best healthy lifestyle for yourself!

It’s electric! As the popular dance song exclaimed in the 90s, electric vehicles are all the rage these days and for good reason. Electric vehicles are now being manufactured by more than fringe corporations, and they are more reliably and neatly constructed than the somewhat disappointing electric vehicles of the past. Touted as the wave of the future, electric vehicles are becoming increasingly more popular as they increase in efficiency and range. 

Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles are far different from most conventional vehicles in the United States. Most cars, trucks, and even planes run off fossil fuels. Instead of combustion engines, electric vehicles use rechargeable batteries (in various formulations, though lithium-ion batteries seem to be the most popular) to power motors. Until the 21st century, electric vehicles were mostly niche, short-range contraptions that were yet to fully pass public scrutiny.

With the rise of mainstream automotive companies making hybrid and electric cars, there has been an upsurge in public trust of these vehicles. A major player in the electric vehicle industry is Tesla. So, what is the benefit of electric over gas? There are actually quite a few benefits for both the consumer and the environment. Electric vehicles do not require fuel to recharge, so they take advantage of a power source in either your home or an electric vehicle charging station (this usually costs about $9 to fully charge an electric car, making it much cheaper than conventional fuel). Also, they do not emit fumes and gases into the atmosphere which is beneficial from a climate conscious standpoint, as well as preventing traces of lead and other heavy metals from entering the air, soil, and waterways.

The Way of the Future?

Average electric trucks are currently only equipped with about 300 miles of range, at maximum, so they are still a ways away from becoming the sole vehicles of the transportation industry. However, most of the trucking in the United States is performed fairly locally, and electric vehicles shine in short-range transportation. Along with no major fuel costs, electric trucks are also less prone to breakage due to the fact that there are not as many intricate moving parts as in the engines of conventional vehicles. 

This reduction of necessary repairs and replacements will save time, stress, and money which will allow drivers to transport more goods more frequently. While this will certainly be a cheaper model for companies to adopt, it will be a challenge to ensure there are enough charging ports at stations. All things considered, electric vehicles will not likely take over as the sole mode of transportation just yet, as there are many improvements and innovations to be developed.

Final Thoughts

Electric vehicles are becoming more popular, but there is no doubt that the trucking industry will persevere since people depend on this intricate system of transportation to receive the goods that they need. There will certainly be challenges as the industry shifts to adopt a more electric-friendly mode. These challenges will be worth it, due to the reduction in repair times and costs for the vehicles. The trucking industry should be excited about the potential benefits of going green, as this will be a cheaper and more sustainable model in the long run. 

It’s safe to say that 2020, the year of perfect vision, has not gone as expected- we have entered a new world of masks, medicine, and isolation. The rise of COVID-19 cases worldwide in the early Spring put much of us in between a rock and a hard place, but it is important to remember that there is still hope, and that we are going to get through this together.

COVID-19 In The United States

COVID-19 is a disease caused by just one type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), dubbed the novel coronavirus, meaning it is the newest one discovered. Coronaviruses have been responsible for epidemics in the past including, SARS and MERS, but none have spread to this global scale before. This is because this strain of coronavirus is quite infective, meaning it’s very good at spreading from person to person- it is spread through airborne droplets.

It came as a shock to everyone when countries began rapidly shutting down as COVID-19 cases multiplied after the discovery of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. The first case of COVID-19 in the United States occurred in January when travelers arrived from Wuhan, but it didn’t really start gaining ground until March when a nationwide call for isolation was released.

Since then, the United States has been locked down, but some states are working on slowly reopening to return to normalcy without causing a huge influx of cases. Soon we will be able to return to the lives we had before COVID-19, and we will return stronger and wiser for the wear.

Staying Healthy

Staying healthy during a pandemic such as this is not limited to avoiding contracting the virus, it encompasses all areas of health. Taking care of yourself and your loved ones is crucial during such stressful times.

The most-reported way of keeping yourself and everyone else safe is by socially distancing by at least 6 feet from others and wearing masks. Social distancing keeps you away from people who may be carrying diseases, and masks block particles that might contain the virus from blowing into the air and infecting others. Masks and social distancing are inconvenient, but they are what research has shown to be effective right now.

Now that masks are out of the way, it is crucial that you pay attention to your mental health. Stress and isolation are not a good combination for the mental health of anyone, especially those who are predisposed to mental illness. However, there are things you can do to alleviate the ill-effects of quarantine: picking up a new hobby such as learning an instrument, woodworking, reading, or painting can all be a good place to start to combat boredom and increase your productivity!

Physical health is also extremely important, so make sure that you are exercising regularly to the best of your ability. You can accomplish this by taking walks, hiking, fishing, or playing golf! If these options are not available to you, then you can work out at home using your own plans or finding resources online. 10-minute High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts are a fun and low-impact way to stay healthy that have recently gained popularity!

Staying Connected

Staying connected is one of the most important ways to stay healthy during this pandemic- it’s so important that it has its own heading. We can have an incredible reach with the technology that is right at the edge of our fingertips- people love being connected, and it’ll make you happier as well. Staying connected is easy once you start, call your family, text your friends and coworkers, and you could even video chat with all of them!

Final Thoughts

2020 may still be the year of perfect vision as we learn more about ourselves and the world which we live in. As we return to normalcy, we should remember to be kinder, more compassionate, and more optimistic than ever before because we have the power to make the best of our situations if we try.

We will beat this pandemic, but right now the best thing you can do is make sure that you and the important people in your life are happy and healthy. Try to learn all that you can about yourself and others so that you can emerge from this time as an even better person than you were before!