Drinking water - tap, filtered, or bottled - is important for healthy hydration and plays a vital role in people’s lives. Consumers choose bottled water for several reasons, including taste, quality, and convenience.

Bottled water is also an alternative to less-healthy sugary packaged beverages when consumers want to eliminate or moderate calories, caffeine, sugar, artificial flavors or colors, alcohol, and other ingredients from their diets.

Low back pain is an aching discomfort that normally occurs in the lumbar portion of the spine. It is one of the most common health problems, and is the reason most drivers often give for taking time off work.

Low back pain may be the result of excessive strain on the lower back due to a poor posture, bad seating position when driving, being overweight, or hav­ing to do a lot of carrying or lifting of heavy loads. For a few people, persis­tent back pain may be due to arthritis.

Distraction when driving can be a dangerous activity, this has been covered within a previous article and within the CPC course.  Its rather surprising to find DIY within this list of distractions but I have been guilty of day dreaming when I hear on the radio about a person winning the lottery, and by the end of the journey, I have successfully spent the winnings a dozen times over on various activities and joint business ventures.

Being asked recently about the denotation of the 24-hour period, in the context of tachograph legislation. There is some guidance from the European Commission which is aimed at enforcement officials but is a useful reference point on the meaning of 'each period of 24 hour's.

Many professional drivers will have their own views on Marijuana (cannabis) and its recreation usage. I had previously looked at the effects it had on mental health and the research study found that psychotic behaviour’s indents were more prevalent in young adults using this drug.

Introduction to obstructive sleep apnoea

This briefing arose from a campaign by Unite lorry drivers in the North East of England who wanted to raise awareness about obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) for professional drivers.

Feeling tired at work may be for a variety of reasons, not necessarily because they are suffering from OSA, and they should seek advice from their GP.

Proper and early diagnosis of any condition along with appropriate medical treatment from the NHS is essential for members' continued health at work. Seeking medical advice is also important to ensure that professional drivers can comply with the DVSA medical standards - self-diagnosis is not a suitable option.