Driver Lifestyles

Drinking and Driving?

So, you're sitting there in your comfortable, temperature-controlled truck cab, with your favorite beverage no more than an arms-length away.

 As a professional driver, there's a good chance that it's a caffeine-laced beverage - after all, who needs the "stay awake" quality of coffee, Mountain Dew or another product more than someone guiding a big truck down the road?

Did you know that some of those favorite drinks are actually robbing your body of life and health-giving water? That caffeine-containing coffee, tea, and cola (and other sodas) have a diuretic effect, causing your body to eliminate more water.

This precaution is especially important if your hydration is already marginal, such as while you are working, exercising or if you are sick. Sugared drinks can also rob you of water, since sugar may lessen the absorption of water from the intestines.

Why the body needs water
Over 50 percent of an adult's body is water; that figure goes as high as 75 percent in an infant. Blood is 80 percent water and even muscles are 70 percent water. The waterway flows through your body, delivers nutrients to cells and carries away waste.

Water acts as your body's cooling system, moving heat to the skin surface where it evaporates away in sweat and breath. Water lubricates joints, softens skin, and makes muscles work more smoothly. If your body is temporarily short of water - a condition called "dehydration" - every organ in your body is affected.

So how much water do I need?
Infants need around 1-1/2 ounces of water per pound per day. So, each day a 20-pound baby needs around 30 ounces of fluids, usually in the form of milk.

Adults need half as much water as infants - between 1/2 to 3/4 ounces of water per pound per day, depending on the amount of exercise, heat loss, illness, etc. A 120-pound woman should drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid per day.

You need to drink more water if:

You're exercising or performing physical labor
Pre-hydrate yourself by drinking at least two glasses (16 ounces) of water an hour or so before you work out. As you work up a sweat, take frequent sips of water, as dehydration makes muscles tire more easily. After exercising, top off with two more glasses of water to rehydrate yourself.

You're sick
Bodies lose a lot of water with illnesses that cause fever, vomiting, or diarrhea. Becoming dehydrated makes you feel doubly sick.

You're hot
Duh! During hot weather or while working in the hot sun, bodies perspire more. Drink several glasses of water before going outside and drink more water afterward.

You're thirsty
A big Duh! Obviously, you should drink water when you're thirsty. Thirst means your body already has a water shortage. Best to drink enough water so you don't get thirsty. If thirsty, quench your thirst and then drink two more glasses of water. This is especially important for senior citizens, since the thirst signal declines with age.

Water - A health food?
Water, the original health drink, is underrated and overshadowed by commercial substitutes. Consider these health uses of plain water:

Drink to think
Water even contributes to healthier brains. The brain is a water-loving organ. If it doesn't get enough, it doesn't work right. Dehydration can impair concentration, which is most apparent following sweaty exercise or doing brain work in hot weather. So, drink to help you think.

Drown the cold
You've heard the expression "Starve a fever, feed a cold!" This bit of medical folklore is only half true. It's best to "drown" the fever and the cold with water. Fever makes you perspire and lose water, which not only dehydrates your body, but dehydrates your brain, causing you to think and feel even worse from dehydration.

During a cold, the mucus membranes of your nose and breathing passages lose water and dry out.  Drinking water keeps these mucus membranes moist, which allows the inflamed lining of your nose and breathing passages to heal more quickly.

Dehydration also thickens the mucus, making it difficult for the tiny hair filaments in your nose (called cilia) to oscillate back and forth and move the mucus and the germs along. As a result, the mucus plugs collect in the nose, sinuses, and airways and serve as a culture-medium for bacteria.

Keeping the mucus and the membranes moist and water-logged keeps mucus plugs from forming and even getting stuck in the lower airways where they are difficult to cough up. In fact, among pediatricians, water has often been dubbed the "best and most readily-available cough syrup."

Drink to go
Not drinking enough fluids is also a subtle contributor to problems with constipation, especially in the very young and very old. The colon is your body's fluid regulator. If you're not drinking enough, your colon robs water from the waste material and gives it to the body, causing the stools to be water-deprived, or hard.

People eating high-fiber diets actually increase their risk of constipation if they don't drink extra water along with fiber-rich foods, since fiber needs water to do its intestinal sweeping job. More fluids in your diet put more fluids in your bowels, lessening constipation.

How to tell if you're drinking enough water
Don't rely on thirst to judge if your body is adequately hydrated. Waiting until you're thirsty to take a drink of water is waiting too long. If you're drinking around 1 ounce of fluid per pound per day (around 1/2 ounce of just water), plus an additional two or three glasses during times of increased water need, chances are you're drinking enough. (This amount includes all fluid sources: soups, fruits, milk, etc.)

Also, your kidneys can give you a clue. Notice the color of your urine. If your body is low on water, your kidneys try to conserve it by concentrating the urine. If you have enough, or even too much water in your body, the kidneys excrete more water in the urine. If your urine is almost colorless or slightly yellow, you are probably drinking enough liquids. If your urine is darker than usual, like apple juice, drink more water.

A few ways to improve your water habits
*Drink water-rich foods. Don't like to drink plain water? No problem. Many foods, such as juice, soups, fruits, vegetables, and milk are 80 to 90 percent water. While it's healthier to get in the habit of drinking a lot of plain water (and model this wet taste for your children), if you absolutely must have some sweet-tasting water, try: water-logged fruits, such as, you guessed it, watermelon, juice popsicles, fruit-rich smoothies, and plain water flavored with juice.

*Find fluid companions. Get in the habit of taking along a bottle of water when you're driving.  When water is close at hand in the truck cab, you're likely to drink more of it. Keep a glass of water or water bottle in the sleeper next to your bunk and imbibe as soon as you get up.

*Try waterless meals. It's best not to consume too much fluid with meals. The body normally produces its own fluids to help digest food, beginning with saliva in the mouth and digestive juices in the stomach and small intestine. Drinking too much fluid with a meal can dilute these natural digestive juices, contributing to indigestion. Better to drink most of your fluids between meals. If you like water with meals, it's best to drink a little room-temperature water, since ice water slows digestion.

*Try water a bit before breakfast. Beginning your day with several glasses of water rehydrates you after the night and helps your body begin the day in better biochemical balance.

Bottled vs. tap water
There are several factors to consider when deciding whether commercially bottled or your own tap water is best for you. For the professional driver on the go, his local tap water is not an option unless he bottles his own before leaving the house and then carries it with him.  In most cases, the only practical choice is bottled water from the grocery or C-store. 

When you look at the labels on the various bottles of water in the grocery store, here are the terms you are likely to see and what they mean:

Spring water: natural underground water that comes up to the surface.
Mineral water: water containing only the natural minerals from its underground source, but not less than 250 parts per million of dissolved solid material.
Sparkling water: water that has been naturally carbonated
Purified water: all contaminants have been filtered out.
Drinking water: ordinary tapwater
Artesian water: water from an underground, natural reservoir.

Now, which one do you choose?

Consider the source. This is one of the main facts you want to know - where does the water come from? Does the bottle contain that pure-as-snow, fresh mountain spring water that the bottle pictures seem to portray?

Or, is it simply municipal water that has been ultra-filtered or purified? If the bottle doesn't list a source, the stuff inside may be little better than what comes from the tap. If you're not sure, don't be afraid to call the 800-number listed on the bottle and ask. Members of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) must list the source of the water (e.g., spring). If the bottler doesn't list the source, the contents are probably municipal water.

Consider the tester. Bottled water is regulated by the FDA because it's considered a food, and the FDA should require that the label identify the source of the water, not what's in it. Tapwater, on the other hand, is regulated by the EPA and state governments. Would you rather have your individual state or local government test your water or the FDA?

The International Bottled Water Association includes 85 percent of bottled water processors, and the organization claims to have a stricter code than EPA regulations. Members must submit to an annual, unannounced inspection by an independent, third-party tester. So, at least in theory, bottled water seems to have a slight safety edge over tap.

Practically speaking, the bottled water industry is primarily self-regulated. One thing you can be certain of in nearly all bottled waters: the water is chlorine-free. Bottled, distilled water is the cleanest water you can buy. For general information about bottled water, call the International Bottled Water Association (800-WATER-11)