AUTONEWS

How can long-term car driving affect your health?

Few people think about it when they get behind the wheel, and they should, because the health problems of drivers, whether professional or not, can be surprising.

Frequent daily use of a car is particularly harmful to health, and long-distance travel is also dangerous, as it can cause or accelerate diseases, primarily of the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, writes Autonews.

First of all, because prolonged exposure to sitting behind the wheel, as well as the demanding position of the hand and foot controls, is exhausting for the body. The spine is heavily loaded, as is the circulatory system due to the forced contraction of the body, and fatigue also occurs in the arms and legs.

When it comes to the hands, drivers often suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, which occurs due to pressure on the nerve inside the bone-ligament tunnel in the hand. It manifests itself in numbness of the thumb, middle finger, index finger and half of the ring finger, and the tension and pain are especially pronounced at night. If left untreated, it gradually leads to nerve damage, causing permanent loss of sensation and loss of thumb muscles.

To provide support for the cervical and lumbar spine during long drives, ensure the correct sitting angle and proper backrest along the entire spine, at shoulder height. Avoid lying down while driving and adjust the seat to an angle of 15 degrees.

In the second case, any irregularities in sitting behind the wheel will lead to back pain syndrome, which is often diagnosed in drivers. When considering the fact that 80 percent of people's daily movement is related to the car, it is not surprising, doctors point out, that diseases of the musculoskeletal system are on the rise.

A fixed body position while driving leads to damage to the vertebrae because the muscles are also immobile, and this is especially a problem for the elderly and those who already have degenerative changes in the skeletal system.

Proper sitting while driving must be taken care of, first of all, by people who have problems with the lumbar spine, or if they suffer from sciatica, which can be aggravated by forced positions. They are characterized by pain and burning that spreads to one or both legs, so because of these problems they should not drive much.

Simple stretching exercises help...In addition to people with low blood pressure, people with high blood pressure and those with atherosclerotic changes in the blood vessels must be more careful behind the wheel. For them, prolonged sitting can be a kind of threat to health due to impaired circulation, which is facilitated by the forced and tense position of the spine. This is especially true because there is no proper blood flow, and if problems with the veins are added to this, driving can become a threatening factor.

All forced positions are not good for the locomotor system, so drivers must take care to break them at certain intervals and exercise as much as possible. These can be simple stretching exercises that are beneficial for the spine, but it is not advisable to drive for more than five hours without a break.

This is especially important for people with problematic veins. Since they already have bad venous valves and therefore poor circulation, they should wear compression stockings while driving. A poor venous system is not able to properly return blood to the heart through muscle contractions and (already) damaged venous valves, so it accumulates in them, and the veins expand and swell.

This can lead to their damage, or venous insufficiency. Therefore, frequent long-term positions, especially when the legs are cramped and hanging, require simple exercises of raising the toes back and forth and tightening the feet, which you can perform briefly while waiting at traffic lights or in a queue of vehicles.

Healthy people should also do leg exercises to prevent the above-mentioned problems, which are manifested, among other things, by cramps and a burning sensation in the legs, especially in the calf muscles. In severe cases, life-threatening blood clots can form.

Therefore, people suffering from hypertension and atherosclerotic changes must maintain their disease under medical supervision, including blood pressure measurement. Its values ​​​​of 160/100 are a risk factor for participation in traffic and unpredictable situations on the road.

Avoid energy drinks...People who have had a heart attack should not get behind the wheel of a car for at least six months and can only get started if they have received the green light from a doctor. Both chronically ill people (heart patients, diabetics...) and healthy people should not consume excessive amounts of caffeine while driving, which can cause heart arrhythmias and a general feeling of fatigue.

Large amounts of energy drinks are also undesirable because they can reduce the driver's concentration and attention, the doctor points out. He adds that one should never smoke in a vehicle because, in addition to being suffocating, cigarette smoke binds to hemoglobin in the blood 300 times faster than oxygen. This can cause dangerous dizziness and drowsiness while driving.

The toxicity of tobacco particles in the cabin of a car is 27 times greater than if you smoke in your home or another space, and it also produces more harmful effects on human health than inhaling exhaust fumes while driving.

Toxic nicotine particles also enter the upholstery of cars after quitting smoking and remain as hidden air pollution. Studies have shown that so-called passive smoke causes respiratory problems, from bronchitis, allergies to asthma and other respiratory infections.

In combination with tobacco smoke, dust particles and other microelements and the blowing of warm or cold air from the air conditioner, it can significantly irritate the respiratory system, especially in more sensitive people. This can cause sneezing, dry cough, scratchy throat, itchy nose and other symptoms.

The air from the air conditioner should always be adjusted so that it does not blow directly towards the driver and front passenger, otherwise the sinuses, nasal mucosa and eyes can be damaged. It is not uncommon for drivers to suffer from dry eye syndrome, the problems of which should be treated with so-called artificial tears that moisten the mucous membrane of the eye in order to prevent it from drying out and reduce visual acuity. It is better to wear glasses than contact lenses while driving.

Also, do not overdo it with cold air conditioning in the summer and warm air in the winter, and the difference between the inside and outside temperatures should be a few degrees. Since warm air especially dries out the skin, which needs a lot of moisture in the winter, do not raise the temperature of the air conditioning in the vehicle to a fever. The air becomes dry when it heats up, and by (de)taking moisture from the skin, it leads to irritation, itching and redness.

To avoid such problems, air humidity should be maintained at around 60 percent, doctors recommend. These values ​​are the most acceptable for the good condition of the body, including the skin.

Intensive seat heating and prostate problems...Intensive heating (especially seat heating) in combination with long sitting behind the wheel can also lead to prostate problems in men, because there is excessive stagnation of blood in it and the venous plexus around the gland. If prolonged and/or forced sitting is repeated, the way is also open for prostatitis, or inflammation of the gland.

Younger men with full working and reproductive capacity who often drive professionally are the most likely to suffer.

Postmen were once the most common patients with prostate problems precisely because of frequent cycling or motorcycle riding. In order to avoid its more frequent inflammation due to pressure on the lower body, one should work on an adapted seat and, as much as possible, take frequent breaks from driving.

Prolonged sitting can also disrupt the motor function of the digestive organs, so drivers are not without problems with constipation, irregular and irregular bowel movements. Also, due to the pressure of the digestive organs on the diaphragm, breathing can become difficult, as well as the supply of oxygen to the body, which can be dangerous for the heart and circulatory system.

Drivers should always be warned not to drink alcohol, which poses a great threat to their safety and the safety of other road users. Lack of critical thinking, excessive self-confidence, slow reflexes, overestimation of the situation and drowsiness are just some of the symptoms that occur due to alcohol.

The doctor says that overeating can also be a threat while driving, as blood is busy digesting food, which causes drowsiness.

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