On Staying Healthy While Traveling

Travelling is fun, but it isn’t always luxurious plane rides and glamorous dinners by the Eiffel tower. Often, adventure can come at the price of your health, especially when you’re out there off the path of home-cooked meals and regular exercise. But don’t let that stop you from exploring. After all, there are ways to maintain wellness even when in transit. 

So whether you’re looking to avoid getting sick on vacation or hoping to continue your fitness journey on the road, keep these in mind the next time you go on a trip:

Get enough sleep

When you’re constantly crossing time zones, sleep is the best thing you can give your body. Travelling can actually be physically taxing — whether you’re hauling your heavy suitcase from location to location, or walking countless kilometres exploring a new city. That said, always listen to your body to see how much rest it needs. Have at least eight hours of shut-eye so that you’re energised for the next day. 

Eat healthy

When you’re on vacation, it’s tempting to ditch healthy eating and just devour anything you can get your hands on. However, don’t take this as an opportunity to stuff yourself with junk food. This is especially crucial for business travellers who are constantly flying for work, for whom CNN warns it is usually a bigger struggle to maintain a healthy diet. That’s because of a host of factors like irregular schedules and heightened stress.

But it doesn’t have to be complicated. Lifestyle writer Abby Phon points out that it can be as simple as bringing healthy snacks with you to avoid bingeing, and making it a point to choose meals with vegetables when eating out.

Keep moving

Exercising doesn’t have to be a chore when you’re travelling. Business Travel Life listed many exercises you can do virtually anywhere, like squats and lunges. The only equipment you need is some space and your body, so there’s no excuse for you not to be able to break a sweat. Moreover, there are other smaller activities you can opt to do, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or walking instead of taking a cab. 

Stay hydrated

Although it’s important stay hydrated, there won’t always be a water fountain around. Therefore, it’s a good idea to carry your own water bottle with you wherever you go — to be refilled once you settle down in your hotel or a restaurant. Not only is this good for your body, it will also save you cash.

Maintain your healthy habits

When coming home from a trip, your body might feel heavy and thrown off its usual state. In times like these, we often end up turning to short-term solutions like wearing loose clothes, which we talked about previously here on La Elegantia. But of course, healthy habits are more important, and what you do after travelling matters just as much.

Very Well Fit suggests going on a post-vacation detox to help your body get back into to the swing of things. This basically involves cutting down on your carbohydrates and upping your water and fruit intake. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of vitamins and supplements as well, which Pretty Me’s Detoxi Slim notes can flush out your digestive tract of toxins. This is important because it is these toxins that usually slow down your metabolism and make you feel bloated, which are all common post-vacation experiences. After your body has settled down, you’ll thank yourself for cleaning up after those bad eating habits and losing the extra vacation pounds, too.