Jeremy Reymer [00:00:00]:
This is the monthly show for Project 61. We are here to help drivers take control of their health one mile at a time. The reality, the average life expectancy for a truck driver is 61 years old. But it doesn't have to be that way. This show is about simple, practical changes that can add years to your life and. And life to your years without taking away from the job you love, the job that's so vital to our nation's economy. I'm Jeremy ramer, founder of Project 61. On each episode, I talk to health experts, drivers, and other industry thought leaders working to create a healthier future for themselves and our industry.

Jeremy Reymer [00:00:45]:
Because your health isn't just about you. It's also about the people who count on you. Let's get started. As a commercial driver, you have one of the most difficult and most important jobs in our nation. As far as trying to make healthy decisions, it seems like all the cards are stacked against you. There's. There's no time, there's constant stress, and not a lot of opportunity to move or to get good sleep. But what if I told you that small changes, you know, things that don't take extra time can make a huge difference? On this debut episode, I'm joined by a great friend and driver, health advocate, Dr. Mark Manera, Founder and CEO of Offshift, a digital health company focused on this nation's critical workforce of commercial truck drivers. Together, we'll break down exactly how you can make some minor changes that lead to major results. Welcome to the show, Dr. Mark.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:01:37]:
Jeremy, thank you so much for having me.

Jeremy Reymer [00:01:40]:
During the time that we have together, I'd like to learn a little bit about why you decided to really lean into the trucking industry and build a solution to address driver health challenges. I'd also like to, you know, share with the audience what Offshift is and how you're making a difference. And then, as I mentioned, I'd like to get into some practical takeaways, specific changes that drivers can make today in order to improve the quality of their lives. You ready to dive in?

Dr. Mark Manera [00:02:05]:
Let's dive in.

Jeremy Reymer [00:02:06]:
All right. Well, I've known you for several years. I've always appreciated your. Your passion, your energy, your drive. One thing I recognized right away, you care. Can you share a little about your journey? You know, that led you to focus on the trucking industry and drivers specifically.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:02:24]:
You know, it's been four and a half, five years ago, I was working in a physical therapy clinic in St. Louis. That's where I'm born and raised. And you know, at this point I had personally never known a truck driver, didn't really know anyone in the supply chain, the trucking industry as a whole. And in walked in a bunch of truck drivers to that clinic and it was the first time I got to know some drivers on a personal level. And it was also, you know, first time seeing what 20, 30 years behind the wheel can do to someone's health. And it threw me down this, you know, rabbit hole of, of trucking. And I'm a little bit of a research nerd.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:02:58]:
And so like digging into some of the statistics that I know, like we've shared back and forth and just kind of collaborated on and like saw from the outside looking in of just honestly how messed up it is and how bad it is, of just like truck drivers have the highest rates of obesity and diabetes among any other occupation. And you know, the scariest one that Project 61 is built around is the fact that truck drivers, you know, unfortunately die 16 years earlier than the average American. And the fact that someone can go out, get a CDL and your life expectancy, 61 years old and you have 16 years cut off the back end, it's just messed up. I don't think anyone's career should define their health. And as I've gotten deeper and deeper into trucking, that's exactly what's happening. And so that sparked me to spend three years on the corporate health side of things, working with dozens of trucking companies, a bunch of insurance companies, and just spending hundreds of hours talking to drivers, really getting to know them on a personal level. Like I went all in, I was doing ride alongs, I was hanging out at truck stops. Like I just got to know some drivers on a personal level.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:04:03]:
I think I'm the only physical therapist in the world that between patients, I was on a discord channel talking to drivers as they're driving down the highway and just really became good friends with some of these drivers. Last year, my wife and I were two of 30 people at this driver's wedding. Just to kind of give some context around, just like the types of relationships I built. I think it's really important because to really create a solution that's going to work for drivers and start combating some of these health issues. You have to understand what they go through on a day-to-day basis. You have to understand the culture, you have to understand the lifestyle, you have to understand the barriers. And from an outsider in, I didn't have a full picture of that in those three, four years that I Spent, like I say, getting my MBA in trucking gave me that context and really gave me an understanding of why solutions that are built for someone who works in a cubicle or somebody, you know, a lawyer or software engineer, and then when they're handed to a driver, why they don't work, right?

Dr. Mark Manera [00:05:06]:
And that's unfortunately been what's happened in the industry because a lot of the health benefits that companies have available to offer to their drivers are built for that white collar office worker who gets off after 5pm, goes back home, has all the resources in the world and they just live a complete 180 flip from a lifestyle perspective, from your average truck driver, especially over the road drivers. And so for me, seeing that and seeing the, you know, quality of life impact that being unhealthy throughout your career as a driver had, and then also from a company or industry perspective, the risk and costs associated to having a large employee pool where health is maybe not one of the top priorities. I saw a really big opportunity to build a solution tailored to this specific industry, this specific problem of how do we help drivers lose weight, prevent and manage, you know, chronic conditions and really start shifting some of these statistics that is impacting everyone at every single level.

Jeremy Reymer [00:06:10]:
Yeah, I love that. And you know, you immersed yourself into the industry and again, as I said earlier, you, you care and when you do that and you take that sort of action, I think some real effective change can take place. So excited to get into, learn a little bit more about Offshift, especially for the audience. But even before that, you touched on from a carrier's perspective. And I can't help but consider the parallel where carriers spend a lot of money on equipment, right? I mean, that's one of their biggest line items is the cost of their equipment, you know, the truck and so on. And they take really good care of those, or at least, you know, most do.

Jeremy Reymer [00:06:46]:
And they understand how important that is. Preventative maintenance on a regular basis, yet their most critical, most valuable asset, the driver, is not, you know, considered through that same lens. And so from that perspective, I think there's a lot of opportunity and hopefully that's maybe a good segue to dovetail into Offshift in what you do. I know you work with drivers specifically oftentimes, I think through, through the carrier. But if you would just, you know, share a little bit more about how Offshift is making a difference in the quality of lives for drivers.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:07:17]:
I just think trucking companies, a lot of times, because of the way the status quo has been set up, around retention and recruiting and this like merry go round of drivers coming in and then a whole bunch of leaving. It's been set up where they're just okay with the status quo. And they're like, hey, you know, why do I do preventative maintenance on this person that's going to be gone in 12 months? And to me, if we're really going to shift that retention and shift. And when you look at these carriers that are getting their retention under control and really looking at their drivers not as a line item, but as a human and as an employee. You know, a lot of trucking companies love to say we're family, right? Are you treating your drivers as family? Right. And so if you really want to shift that, I think that we have to show, number one, the ROI and value from a bottom line perspective and make the business case on why dry, healthier drivers are, you know, safer, less risk employees, which honestly I don't think that's actually the hardest part. I think the bigger part is drivers as a whole need to continue showing and showing this like, growth from a culture perspective within the industry and the driver base that they care about their health, they want to make their health a priority as a part of the culture within a company, and they want to work for a company that has these types of benefits that care about them outside of where their next load's at. You know, coming from someone who is a millennial, like Gen Z area, I, I just know that this next generation of drivers, it's going to be a top priority and not a nice to have, but a must have if you really want these people to work for your company and staff their company.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:08:55]:
And so for Offshift, what we do is we come in as an employee, benefit as a part of and work directly with the trucking company. And so typically, you know, like, they'll offer a bunch of different health benefits as a part of the health plan will be one of those and we'll be the only trucking specific one. And so for us, we really want to come in and drive a lot of engagement because we know how to talk to drivers, we know how to market drivers. And then the goal would be we're kind of like the top of the funnel in the health plan. And instead of a driver ending up using their health insurance for an ER or hospital visit, they're using us because they're getting their diabetes under control, because we're helping them move more, eat healthier, you know, do all of these things that prevents them from ending up in the er. From an on the ground program standpoint, we're focused on helping drivers prevent and manage obesity related chronic diseases. So that means helping them be more physically active, help them eat healthier, help them adhere to their medication, and then also help them proactively take advantage of the healthcare system and utilize their health benefits instead of reacting to it. When you know something, a major medical emergency occurs.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:10:04]:
So the difference of how we've really built this trucking specific is we're not giving a driver an hour long gym routine that they have to find a gym there, can park their truck at, then go in there for an hour, lift weights and then try to figure out the truck parking situation afterwards. We're giving a driver a 10 to 15 minute workout they can do in the back of their truck when they're waiting at a customer's to get reloaded. Because, because that's that small time frame where they can fit in it in throughout their day. Or on the nutrition side of things, we're not handing someone a meal plan saying hey, flip your whole lifestyle upside down, throw everything away in your pantry and like don't even look at a carb. Especially in this culture of fad diets. I think that's the mindset a lot of people have when it comes to eating healthier. And we take a habit based approach and we really focus on giving them actionable things that they can help them eat healthier, you know, at the Love's truck stop or McDonald's attached to it. So anywhere they drive, we want to arm them with the knowledge and the resources to make the healthiest decision.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:11:05]:
Because I just believe that if a driver, regardless of where they're stopping, goes into the truck stop or the restaurants that they have access to and picks the healthiest option available to them versus picks the Big Mac, large Coke and large fries every day for 20 years of their career, all of a sudden you're looking at two different people at the end of the 20 years are living a different quality of life. But then throughout those 20 years, every single day living a different quality of life and being there for their family, being there for their kids, and just being able to enjoy their life overall. So that's kind of an overview of Offshift.

Jeremy Reymer [00:11:40]:
Part of the reason why I founded Project 61 and that's so important to me is I understood that that that's unacceptable, right? You know, you mentioned 16 years younger than, than most others in the United States. It's important to raise awareness, it's important to educate the audience, the industry. But certainly the drivers where the issue is most acute. But then also, at the end of the day, there are some behavioral changes that are going to be necessary or we're still talking about this for the next decade. My question is, you know, what is one of the, maybe the biggest challenges for you for Offshift when working with carriers and with their drivers? How do you help them to transition towards some of those necessary behavioral changes?

Dr. Mark Manera [00:12:22]:
So I think there's two layers, right? So let's talk at the company layer. I think the biggest problem that trucking companies have is marketing and getting engagement in these programs. And that's been something that we've been focusing on. And we've really figured out how to speak to drivers, how to market internally. And that's both the language. You send out an email to a driver and it sounds like the HR department wrote it.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:12:43]:
I'd rather, you know, watch paint dry, right? Than read that. So you have to be able to speak to drivers and, you know, get them excited about it and, you know, speak in their language and hopefully also create some incentives of why they want to take the leap and join if it's a challenge or a giveaway or something like that. But then also you have to figure out what communication channels that you send it in, right? Within companies that might be different company to company. So some companies, drivers are looking at their email and that's the main source of communication.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:13:10]:
But others, drivers are getting text messages or sending an ELD message, or they've got a mailbox at every terminal that they get all their mails and notices at. So it's really crafting that message that's driver specific and then continually sending that message through the channels that drivers actually use. And so this can't be one email on January 1st and then talking about it during open enrollment, right? The average Facebook ad, when we're scrolling on Facebook takes 15 to 20 touch points for someone to see it, click on it, and buy it. This type of program is no different. And so it's kind of a mindset shift. It just needs to be a continual part of the conversation.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:13:50]:
And when the HR or safety team is the one leading that on their own, it oftentimes, because there's so many fires internally at companies, ends up not being a top priority of falling off. And so with us partnering with companies, we take the lead, we take the accountability, and we make sure it's a continual part of the conversation because we're all aligned of we want as many drivers as possible to be engaged and then at the driver level. I think the biggest problem and the biggest barriers that they face is twofold. It's you know, number one time, which we mentioned earlier, you know, they work long hours, they're driving, you get done driving, you're mentally drained and you just want to veg out and you know, eat a burger and then you wake up and do the same thing over and over again. And then you pray to God that you don't, you know, have a delay at a shipper and then all of a sudden you're instead of starting at 6:00am, you're starting at, you know, 4:00pm and then your whole life's flipped upside down and you're in this survival mode until you know, you get home time or you get your reset. And it's like there's a lot of things on that end from a day-to-day that makes it really challenging. And you know, it's kind of the hierarchy of need of like if you can't even get the baselines down, you mentally can't move to the next level to think about your physical and mental health from a long term vision standpoint, right. You're kind of just trying to survive on a day-to-day basis.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:15:11]:
And so that's one aspect is like making it so small on the ground where it seems like regardless of what happens, it's able to fit into their life, right? And it's not this huge time commitment. The other aspect is the environment, right? If they don't have environment specific solutions that are helping them when they're walking into the truck stop, walking into the fast food restaurant, trying to figure out how to be physically active around their truck or inside of their truck, it's just going to be really difficult. And that's why I think a lot of these solutions that aren't tailored to trucking don't work because they don't peel back the layer of the onion and get really specific to how a driver in their environment can actually make these changes.

Jeremy Reymer [00:15:56]:
I say all the time that the three most critical elements to health, you know, nutrition, you know, what you eat or don't eat, movement or exercise, and then and sleep, they're like three legs of a stool. And it's important that we make each of them a priority. And I know again, as a driver that is really, really hard. As you know, just by nature of the job. I'm curious how important is each of those elements in your opinion?

Dr. Mark Manera [00:16:20]:
They're all intertwined and they're really important. You know, I think from each angle you can make an Argument on why that one's the most important or this one's the most impactful. You know, at the end of the day they're all really important. But what I've seen from a driver perspective is number one, the one that's most important is the one that you do on a consistent basis and you can make the changes and that ends up being driver by driver, what their preference or their goals or their focus on, right? You've got some drivers who are like I want to eat healthier and they're all in on eating healthier and that's all they're focused on. If they do that consistently, I've got other drivers who are like, I feel like crap at the end of the day. I want more energy.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:17:00]:
I'm trying to figure out my sleep situation now. I think trucking in particular has some really different challenges with just how dynamic the schedules are on a day-to-day basis. We're sleeping on a consistent basis in a different environment with noises and all this other stuff can be really challenging. But it's not impossible, right? What I found in general, and this is just like this is trucking wide, but I think this is just cultural wide is nutrition can be really challenging to make a change to. It can just be a bigger barrier, a bigger leap to do consistently. And I found that physical activity is a really good starting point.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:17:35]:
It's like a check the box. I did it, I didn't do it. Versus did I eat healthy today? I'm not really sure, right? And so like when I think about a starting point oftentimes again it's person by person. It's situation by situation as well. Is physical activity can be a really good starting point. And it's like one of those things of like you start exercising and all of a sudden you're eating healthier automatically as well, or.

Jeremy Reymer [00:17:58]:
And hopefully sleeping better.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:17:59]:
Yeah, exactly. That too, right? And so I think they're all important. I don't think one is more important than the other. I just do think that if you look at a thousand drivers and you're like how do we make these people healthier? A larger percentage in them is potentially going to be more successful long term by starting with trying to how do we fit some physical activity into their day-to-day life?

Jeremy Reymer [00:18:20]:
Yeah. I think that's a probably a perfect segue. We can transition into the better everyday segment where we get into some specific takeaways for drivers that they can incorporate into their day immediately. You know, some small, some impactful steps towards improving their health you and I, we can relay back and forth for the next few minutes. I will start with you. What is one thing, one, one baby step that you would recommend to the audience?

Dr. Mark Manera [00:18:45]:
I think it's off of what I just said there. Find a way to be more physically active throughout the day, right. So it doesn't have to be this 30 minute chunk. An hour long chunk of like I go and got my workout in at the gym could be as little as like I parked at the forest end of the truck stop and I'm gonna do a couple of laps between the truck stop and my truck. And you know, the, the CDC actually put out a study a couple of years ago that as little as five minutes of exercise at a time can have long term health impacts. So I would just start thinking about is like, how can I fit in a five minute chunk of going for a walk or doing any other physical activity that you enjoy? Because at the end of the day, this whole game of health is how do you do it for the rest of your life? And if you don't enjoy it, you're not going to do it for the rest of your life. So maybe start with what activities get your heart rate up a little bit. Do you enjoy or are peaceful and you can fit it into your day.

Jeremy Reymer [00:19:40]:
I love that you're talking about being really intentional with that movement, with that activity, parking far away, those sorts of things. And I would add to that since, since we're talking about movement there, especially when you only have a few opportunities to move, timing that in a way where it's, you know, on the, on the heels of, of a meal I think helps a ton. I tend to focus mostly on the nutrition side of things because I've noticed in my life some of the changes that I've made and how dramatic that they've been. I've always been pretty active, but when I made some changes to what I eat and specifically what I don't eat, that's been a big difference. So, so that said, I think focused on when you do eat and we can get into some things that you should or shouldn't eat shortly on the heels of that, maybe within, you know, 20, 30 minutes if possible, is just go for a walk if you can, 10 minutes if you have that sort of time or some sort of exertion, doesn't even have to be much. Like you said, you can walk around the truck, you can do some push ups, squat, sit ups, anything like that. If, if that sort of movement, if you're used to that or if you're comfortable with that.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:20:40]:
And off of that, and again, this is not medical advice. Maybe we should have phrased that as at the beginning of all this.

Jeremy Reymer [00:20:45]:
Wait a minute, you're a doctor?

Dr. Mark Manera [00:20:46]:
This Is not medical advice. Please talk to your doctor. On a personal note, but what you just said there is really interesting. So there, there was actually a study that was done where they looked at people who were diabetic and their blood glucose levels and A1C levels and they looked at someone who was eating and just using like metformin versus someone who was eating and going for a 10 minute walk immediately after they went. And there was some really interesting, pretty similar results of taking metformin versus just getting some physical activity after each meal. You know, it could be really beneficial for a driver or anyone out there who's trying to, you know, manage pre-diabetes or diabetes as a whole. But my, my second actual thing is kind of going to that next sleep. And I think one of the easiest ways from a behavior standpoint to focus on getting better sleep is to try as hard as you possibly can to go to bed and wake up at the same exact time being consistent there.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:21:45]:
Even if it is only six hours or six and a half hours, maybe it's not, you know, over seven, eight hours. Like having that consistency is step one for your body to be able to regulate, to be able to go to sleep and get deeper sleep states faster. And that's a really good starting point before trying to say I need to sleep eight hours a night.

Jeremy Reymer [00:22:06]:
Excellent point. Sleep is, is super important. And the, even the harder part there is you've got a 10 hour window generally speaking for, especially for the over the road driver, you know, they got a 10 hour window. That's the, all of their downtime, all of it and including inside of that they need to do a lot of things right. They've got any other outside normal business that they need to take care of in their life, you know, stuff like that and obviously eat, you know, if they need to shower, do you know, laundry, anything like that, and then get seven to eight hours of sleep. So there's not a lot of opportunity there to, to do that. But to be so intentional and so disciplined, I think is, and because it is so, so so important. I've read a lot the last few years about the importance of when you consume calories.

Jeremy Reymer [00:22:50]:
Way better to eat them than to drink them. Especially. You know, I drink water all the time now and I, I do know from, from a driver's perspective that they, they even frown upon drinking too much, they don't hydrate enough. And they do that intentionally because that's less times they have to stop. And they don't understand that that's not how your body works. Your body needs it. Your body needs water, it needs hydration. And so it's really important to drink water.

Jeremy Reymer [00:23:14]:
But I say that and not drink soda, not drink sugar. And you might think, well, I'm going to drink juice. That's healthier. It's not. It's sugar. And I know you say, well, there's. But there's no added sugar. That is true.

Jeremy Reymer [00:23:27]:
It may not be added sugar, but it's sugar. That's what fruit juice is. It's sugar. If you eat a piece of fruit, it comes with fiber and it's fine. And there's all kinds of other nutritional, you know, components. But if you just drink juice, you're literally just drinking straight sugar. And the worst part about that, whether it's an energy drink or, or a soda or diet soda or juice, is that it's going straight to your blood immediately because there's no fiber to slow it down. So back to this glucose levels that you were talking about, which is what precedes generally pre-diabetes.

Jeremy Reymer [00:24:04]:
And diabetes is these continual and in some cases consistent spikes that you can never sort of smooth over and, and keep limited from those spikes, which cause insulin. And I'm not a doctor, but I just read a lot about this stuff all the time. I actually went as far as. And I'm. I'm wearing it now. You might see it on the back of my arm. I'm wearing a continuous glucose monitor, CGM. I just wanted to see what I eat and how I move, how it affects that.

Jeremy Reymer [00:24:36]:
The glucose in my blood, I'm only a few days in. It's really, really interesting stuff. I will probably share whole separate segment and conversations about that, but it's a real thing how to, you know, control your diet and your weight gain and your health in really trying to curve those glucose spikes.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:24:57]:
One of the first drivers that I ever worked with before I started Offshift, I was just like learning the industry. And I'm on the phone with this guy, talking to him. He's driving down the road. I'm like, you don't do any physical activity. You're trying to manage your diabetes. Like, what do you feel like is like the first starting point? And he was like, I feel like I eat pretty good. I do try to get out and walk. And I'm like, okay, what do you drink throughout the day.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:25:21]:
And this guy drinks two 12 packs of Pepsi a day. I didn't even know that was possible. Regardless of if that was his like big fish story or not, he was drinking a whole lot of Pepsi and you know, he's consuming thousands of calories a day, hundreds of grams of sugar from Pepsis on a day-to-day basis while driving down the highway. I don't know how he drove any miles. I'd just be peeing all day if I was drinking that much. But the first thing that we did is, all we did is swapped out and went to zero calorie beverages, right? So, you know, do I think that drinking water is better than a diet soda? Yes.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:25:58]:
But a diet soda might be a first step away from getting, you know, rid of 40 grams of sugar from a Pepsi, right? So we switched to diet Pepsi. Then he eventually switched to water with a MiO calorie free meal fruit punch switch. And just from that switch alone, his blood sugar was controlled, he lost a bunch of weight. He didn't do anything else with his diet or nutrition. It was just controlling how much he was drinking. So I completely agree.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:26:23]:
And I think a lot of drivers out there, you know, adding sugary creamer or drinking sweet tea through the road and there's a whole lot of hidden calories that they don't realize they're consuming.

Jeremy Reymer [00:26:33]:
Well. And I know on this particular segment we could do this. A whole nother show, we could do this. This is fun. I enjoy this commentary, but that'll wrap up our better everyday segment. And I'm curious, just, just for our audience sake, you know, who'd like to learn more about Offshift? Where should we direct them?

Dr. Mark Manera [00:26:51]:
Yeah, if you want to go to offshift.ai is our website. Or if you want to connect with me, Dr. Mark Manera on LinkedIn drivers.

Jeremy Reymer [00:26:58]:
If you're on LinkedIn and anybody listening, if you're on LinkedIn, if you're not connected with Dr. Mark, you absolutely should. A lot of great content and just a genuinely good human being. So, Dr. Mark, thank you once again for joining me.

Dr. Mark Manera [00:27:11]:
Thank you so much for having me.

Jeremy Reymer [00:27:18]:
That's it for this episode of Project 61, but remember, change doesn't happen overnight. It happens in the small decisions you make every day. You don't have to do everything at once, but you do have to start. Try at least one thing we talked about today, today. See how it feels. If you found this episode helpful, share it with a fellow driver or leave us a review. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, And keep moving forward.