5 Tips on how to stay healthy while traveling.

Now that traveling ban has been lifted in some countries, people started planning their future trips since. You might be waiting impatiently for your aesthetic destination near the beach or counting the days until your next business trip to a hectic city you’ve always dreamed to visit. Traveling could be fun or stressful depending on how you prefer to spend your trip. In addition, the virus is still actively present and has not been tackled efficiently in most countries around the world. Unfortunately, this takes traveling into a whole new level. Therefore, here are some tips on how to stay healthy while traveling.

1- Drinking lots of water.

It is very important to have a reusable water bottle with you wherever you go. One, to keep yourself hydrated. Two, to fill it with clean water before leaving you hotel, in case you end up spending time in areas where there won’t be easy access to clean water, or just water in general!

2- Sleep, sleep and sleep!

Having enough of sleep (7-8 hours daily) releases toxins from your brain and energize your body afterwards. Traveling could be physically hard on the body due to carrying heavy luggage, or maybe running in airports to catch your next flight, you may also travel between time zones and that alone disturbs your biological ‘sleep’ clock! The first time I went to Los Angles, CA. It was for a business trip, yet I ended up extending my stay two extra days to explore the city. I was overwhelmed with time and felt I won’t be able to sleep and discover the city. long story short, I was running from one place to another and having little sleep hours every night. As a result, I felt tired! In addition, at the morning of my last day in LA, I felt sick and had to take the day-off the following day.

3- When you have options, take the stairs!

I have to admit, I rarely stick to a my diet when traveling. And the reason why, I embrace the change and enjoy it. To me, traveling should be a full experience to get closer to understanding a community I am visiting. Therefore, in order to have a full experience, I prefer to eat what locals eat. And let me tell you, it is not necessarily healthy! With that been said, I try to go with the ‘healthier’ option, when I had one. So, how do I outweigh that? I take the stairs! For example, when I have to choose between an elevator and the stairs, I take the stairs so I can burn calories I ate previously. Another alternatives, walking, cycling, hiking and swimming. These can all be great options to keep your body physically active while enjoy your amazing trip.

4- Keep your hands away from your face.

While managing to stay healthy during a trip, you might touch your mouth, nose or eyes often without noticing. It is well known by now, washing your hands before touching your face can prevent you from getting covid19 and it is the same for other diseases. Unless you are traveling to a developed country, many under developed countries are still battling vector borne diseases which rarely to be found in developed countries.  For example, an individual could get a disease after touching an infected animal such as a street dog. While animals could be cute and tempting to touch, you never know what that animal carries on its skin. with that been said, if you happen and touched an animal, wash your hands afterwards with soap and water (hand sanitizer is not be enough). I have had some friends who got parasites, food poising and sick for days after petting dogs on the streets. Believe me, the last thing you need is getting sick when traveling.

5- Skin care is essential

Traveling will defiantly leave an impact on your skin either you liked it or not. Depending on the type of food you consume, the amount of water you drink, the number of hours you sleep and the kind of sunscreen you wear, It will all show through your skin.  So, keeping your skin protected with SPF 70+ is highly recommended; specially if you are traveling somewhere with direct sun light or located in high altitude. Also, try to reduce your intake of sugar per day due to sugar has a direct correlation with facial irritation. Third, I highly recommend massaging your face, neck and feet after a long flight to grow blood circulation and decrease the feeling of stiff muscles.

These where some of the tips and highlighted things I normally consider when traveling. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on them in the comments section below. And if there were any points you would like to add to the list, I would love to hear about them! 🙂