Truckers are often stereotyped as middle-aged men with more than a spare tire around their waistlines. This is obviously unfair — but it also speaks to the fact that good food is hard to come by on the road. Think of your favorite truck stop. It probably has an actual restaurant, right? Most come equipped with a fast food joint that barely manages to be edible day in and day out. When you’re faced with such limited choices, the focus becomes on how to feed yourself at all, much less how to feed yourself healthy, nutritious and well-balanced meals. The very nature of the job contributes to a lot of truckers’ unhealthy choices, but it doesn’t mean you can’t find solutions. Here are some suggestions for a healthier life on the road. [Read more…]
No Danger From Blood Clots During Long Air Travel
I remember all the hullaballoo about deep vein thrombosis, blood clots forming in your legs when you sit still for very long periods of time. Sitting behind a desk every day, sitting at home, etc – all these are “activities” that may leave you prone to blood clots. Air travel, in particular, is one of the main sources of concern. Short flights, of course, do not pose much of a threat, but extended flights just might.
Or at least that’s what we thought. New developments tell us otherwise, though. According to a report published by Reuters, researchers have not found any concrete link between immobility in long flights and the formation of blood clots:
They report in the Annals of Emergency Medicine that 545 patients were diagnosed with venous blood clots within 45 days, and 1394 had at least one reason for immobility. Those included being bed-bound, travel of more than 8 continuous hours in the previous week, and paralysis due to brain injury or disease.
Compared with patients with no immobility, immobility of a limb was most strongly linked with a blood clot, closely followed by paralysis due to brain injury or disease.
Although travel was the most frequently observed reason for immobility, there was no evidence that it was linked to blood clots.
That is excellent news, don’t you think? Even if you have not really been worried about blood clots, knowing that you do not increase your risk for this when traveling should make your trips all the more stress free!