The routine of a truck driver can be very stressful as many may end up feeling frustrated, angry and even anxious. The anxious person can develop emotional symptoms such as:
• Nervousness
• Fear
• Sexual problems
• Suspicious
• Difficulty to sleep
• Lack of concentration
• Fatigue
• Irritability. To the point of losing the stirrups

But it can also develop physical symptoms such as:
• Dizziness
• Difficulty swallowing
• Muscle tension
• Dry mouth
• Accelerated breathing
• Pain in the abdomen
• Headache
• Irregular or accelerated heart rate
• Tremors
• Excessive sweating
• Diarrhea
• The need to urinate frequently

What care should truck drivers have to improve and reduce their level of anxiety?

First of all, truck drivers must recognize that they have a problem and look for the source of their stress, honestly listing all the possible reasons for the increase in their level of stress. For example:
• What worries you so much while driving?
• Are the events on the road capable of affecting your stress level?
• If you deal with imprudence on the road, are you able to continue driving without problems or do those events affect your driving?
• Is your head somewhere else while driving?
• Do you drive with fear? Are you afraid of a fatality on the road?
• Does driving generate sadness in you?

Once truckers identify the source of their stress, they should find someone they trust, like a psychologist, and share what they are feeling. The act of speaking can generate tranquility.

Another important measure is to improve truck driver’s lifestyle:
• Avoid smoking or using drugs
• Adopt a balanced diet with healthy food
• Play sports or at least walk by a truck stop before going to rest.
• Sleep well. When stopping the truck, they should take full advantage of that time of rest
• Reduce the consumption of alcohol and caffeine
• Perform activities that relax such as reading, listening to music, talking to colleagues and family.

Truck drivers should seek emergency services if their anxiety is accompanied by:
• Severe pain in the chest, causing difficulty breathing, excessive sweating or dizziness. They could be suffering a heart attack.
• Thinking constantly about suicide

Truckers should visit their doctors if:
• Don’t know why they feel anxious
• Have dizziness
• Breathe quickly or the heart beats are faster than usual
• Are in panic suddenly
• Are unable to continue working as a truck driver because of the anxiety they feel
• Feel very afraid of what may happen to them while they are on the road
• Every time they remember a traumatic event, they begin to feel very anxious.
• Have been trying to reduce their level of stress and anxiety by their own for several weeks with no success.