Why Health Maintenance is Important for Construction Workers
Equipment requires maintenance to keep it operating smoothly and working at max productivity. In many ways, humans are like machines: we require maintenance to stay healthy. Taking care of your health is so important. For the entirety of your life, your body is your main companion. It is what carries you from adventure to adventure and allows you to do all the things you love. For construction workers, the body can have a rough go; this industry challenges the body and a person's health in ways that just don't happen in other jobs. Practicing health maintenance is a great way to keep you at the top of your game both physically and mentally.
What Is Health Maintenance
Health maintenance is a lifestyle principle that emphasizes prevention, habitual care and overarching health practices to help avoid health challenges or diseases later on in life. On a really basic level, health maintenance includes regular checkups with a family doctor as well as dentist and eye doctor, exercise, proper nutrition and general self-care.
Taking care of your body, following health and safety protocols and prioritizing self-care can make a difference.
6 Easy Ways To Practice Health Maintenance
1. Eat Healthy and Drink Water
Hydration and proper nutrition are the foundations of health. Our bodies need minerals, vitamins, water, veggies, carbs, healthy sugars, protein and nutrients to function properly.
Staying hydrated and fed boosts metabolism, reduces daytime fatigue and headaches, and can even improve memory and concentration. Being awake and aware at work is so important for construction workers because it helps to prevent onsite injury.
If you’re going to do one thing to practice health maintenance, focus on nutrition. It impacts everything else in your life.
2. Stretch Daily - Or As Often As You Can
Stretching for 10 - 15 minutes a day can reduce the risk of onsite injury, keep your body flexible, help to calm your mind and is great for your heart health. If you’re looking for stretching ideas, we’ve got you covered. Check our 10 easy stretches that you can do to help keep your muscles performing at their best. If you can't commit to stretching every day, start with every other day or 3 times per week.
3. Make Sleep A Priority
Sleep is the time when our bodies heal and repair themselves. Sleep is also the time when our immune systems reboot, our mood settles, our attention span widens and our ability to focus is restarted.
Construction workers are more likely to sleep less than 7 hours a night on average compared to any other industry. Getting less than 7 hours of sleep a night can cause sleep debt over time. Sleep deprivation is linked to hypertension, diabetes, a suppressed immune system and higher levels of irritation. Being unable to focus or dozing off are two very dangerous things for construction workers.
What many people do not know is that sleeping in on the weekend is not enough to make up for a lack of sleep throughout the week. It can take an entire night of quality sleep to make up for a single hour of “sleep debt”. So if you’re sleeping 6 hours a night Monday - Friday, you need 8 hours of sleep for 5 nights to make up for it.
Sleep can be challenging for construction workers because of shift work, long hours and the need to do everything else in life after getting home. If you’re struggling to maintain a sleep schedule as well as a work-life balance, consider speaking to your doctor about attending a sleep clinic or to get support outside of work. You also can speak to your boss or site supervisor if you’re struggling to maintain a healthy balance.
4. Don't Overlook General Hygiene
Hygiene includes everything from washing your face in the morning and showering regularly to wearing a clean work shirt every day and washing out your lunch box. It may seem like a silly thing to think of as “health maintenance” but there are many benefits to basic hygiene.
General hygiene lowers the risk of diseases or illnesses caused by bacteria. It can reduce the risk of infection in cuts and scrapes - something that is super common for construction workers. Feeling clean is also related to better moods, confidence and a sense of self-assurance. It’s an easy way to feel good about yourself.
Hygiene is also something that should apply to construction sites in general. Clean drinking water, sanitary washrooms and access to hand sanitizer or a handwashing station should be found on every single construction site.
5. Wear Your PPE
Many of the onsite hazards can be avoided with PPE. Wearing breathing protection, earplugs or earmuffs, goggles, gloves and following other PPE recommendations can help keep you safe. If there’s a reason you choose not to wear PPE such as comfort, fit or availability be sure to speak to your supervisor. It’s a right in construction to have access to PPE.
Wearing it on the job is one of the best ways to practice health maintenance in construction, especially because many hazards have an impact over time. Noisy machines, dust and other air pollutants and hazardous materials can be dangerous. Prevention truly is key.
6. Don’t Ignore Mental Health
Anxiety, stress, insecurity, depression, anger and mental exhaustion are just as dangerous as physical illness. Mental health is often referred to as the silent epidemic in the construction industry because so few people talk about it.
Mental health maintenance can include spending time with family, doing something you enjoy, or seeing friends. It can also include speaking to a professional, setting workplace boundaries or - in certain cases - swapping jobs to a new company.
Never be afraid to speak up about the importance of mental health for overall health. If you or someone you know is struggling, there are many support systems out there. There is no shame in asking for help.
Common Health Challenges for Construction Workers
Construction is a very physical job. Over time, this can cause wear on your body. A 2016 study from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that working in construction directly contributes to a higher chance of having certain health risks. Some of these health risks come from the physical side of the industry and others come from the social habits related to the job.
How Construction Impacts the Body
Carrying around tools and materials every single day can cause wear and tear on the body. Twisting, pulling, pushing and lifting cause sprains and strains. Even something as simple as the dexterity demands on fingers can put pressure on hand joints, causing injury from repetitive action. Other lifestyle habits and actions like smoking, chewing tobacco, binge drinking, a lack of after-work activities and lower usage of seatbelts are all more common for those in construction compared to other industries.
Physical safety and lifestyle health cannot be addressed in isolation of each other. The two are equally important and you do have the power to make a difference.
Health Maintenance for Construction Workers
Practicing health maintenance doesn’t need to mean an overhaul of all your daily habits. Try something small this week. Drink more water. Try stretching in the morning. Say no to overtime and visit with friends. Go to sleep early.
These small acts will help to keep you healthy in the long run. And you deserve it.
