If you often have to travel for business or for leisure, you might know how much of a toll traveling can take on your body. Having to go from airport to airport carrying your bags, aching from the day of rock climbing or hiking you had two days ago isn’t always easy. In other cases, people have difficulty maintaining the level of activity they get at home. But in all cases, you have to make sure that you never forget your health when traveling and do everything that you can to preserve it. Here are some health tips all frequent travelers should follow.
Know the Health Risks of Your Chosen Destination
Make sure that you get a full factsheet on the weather, topographic, and biological risks of the place you’re thinking of visiting. For instance, something like altitude could make a difference for some people and exacerbate some health conditions. Some countries or areas will have specific diseases that you have to protect yourself against.
This is why it’s important that you consider consulting with a travel medicine professional. They’ll be able to tell you the exact risk for the place or places where you’re going, and give you some indications and time recommendations as to which vaccines you should be taking.
Always Find Ways to Stay Active
If you’re going to be traveling, it is recommended that you ditch the business clothes for clothes that are both comfortable and athletic. This will allow you to get some quick exercise when waiting for a flight for instance. Airports tend to be immense, so a nice brisk walk could be all that you need sometimes. You might also have to be inventive depending on where you’re staying, even if that means doing pullups from a branch or doing bicep curls with a suitcase.
Review Your Eating Habits
You might also want to revise your eating habits when traveling. Adopting a better diet could make a world of difference on your health, especially if you’re hopping from country to country. If you can, try to get your hands on fresh, organic produce and cut the meat. Meat is usually one of the biggest causes for food contamination when abroad, so cutting your consumption will lower the risks.
Be Careful with the Drinks
It can be tempting to get yourself a drink or two before embarking or during the flight to take some of the edge off, but you might end up regretting it later. Alcohol is a known diuretic, so not only will you need to take more trips than you’d like to the bathroom, you’ll also feel groggy from the dehydration – and the altitude won’t help either.
Instead, grab a sports drink and try to stay away from anything containing caffeine if you’re flying late. You want to take advantage of the red-eye to actually get some sleep. As a matter of fact, flying during the night is usually a great way to get some sleep and wake up refreshed in your next destination.
Keep Your Circadian Rhythms in Check
Speaking of which, it’s also important that you know at what time your flight will arrive. It’s always better to get in early so you can get some of that sunshine energy. And if you happen to feel tired during the day because you didn’t get the sleep you needed, one thing you could do is try to stay up until around 10pm wherever you are. This will allow you to reset your body clock and feel brand new the next day.
Frequent flyers have to find ways to look after their health, and maintain healthy habits wherever they are. Make sure that you follow these few simple tips, and you’ll be able to not only feel great, but fully enjoy your travels as well.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
