The importance of eating healthy and living an active lifestyle is known to many. Yet it’s often hard enough to stay on top of your diet and exercise regime at home, not to mention when on the go or traveling.
In this article, we will take you through 12 pro tips for maintaining healthy habits while traveling so you can live your best life no matter where you’re headed. Eating healthful foods, exercising, meditating, and washing your hands frequently are among some of the healthy habits that many people have adopted, especially since COVID-19.
You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your health just because you plan on taking a trip, so keep reading to learn how to navigate your travels healthily.
1. Eating Healthy
Eating healthy takes many forms, but it generally comes down to eating as many unprocessed whole foods as possible. This is because whole foods (like fruit, vegetables, pulses, and grains) offer the most nutrition for the least calories.
So it’s safe to say that renting an Airbnb or other type of accommodation with a kitchen will probably be easiest for cooking your own groceries (which you can get from hello fresh) instead of eating takeout. If you need help meal prepping for your travels, it’s a good idea to look into a home box service, as seen in this hello fresh evaluation, to make eating healthier even easier.
2. Exercising
Exercising is a physical activity that maintains or enhances fitness and overall wellbeing. It’s performed for a variety of reasons, including to improve strength, develop the cardiovascular system, assist in weight maintenance or loss, and sometimes for sheer enjoyment. One of the best pieces of advice for staying fit while you travel is to do what you can, when you can.
3. Meditating
Meditation is an ancient practice whereby a person uses a technique like mindfulness, or alternatively focusing the mind on one specific object, activity, or thought, in order to train awareness and attention.
Meditation helps to achieve an emotionally calm and mentally clear state of being. If you want to keep meditating while you travel, it’s a good idea to download a mindfulness app or to create a playlist of your favorite meditation songs before you leave on your trip.
4. Hand-Washing and Sanitizing Frequently
Covid 19 is still at large among us, so it’s important to wash hands for twenty seconds or to sanitize frequently. Sanitizing and washing your hands properly helps to prevent the spread of germs and to stay hygienic. The best way to ensure that you are sanitizing enough is to carry your own sanitizer. Take a look at this link to find out what else you should remember to pack for your travels.
5. Saving Money
Going on vacation is often a reason to live a little larger, but it shouldn’t mean blowing the budget. Without a sensible mindset to expenditure, you could end up with a rather big hole in your pocket. The psychological stress that this will cause isn’t good for a person’s mental health, so remember to stick to your budget when traveling, whether for business or pleasure.
6. Practicing Gratitude
Practicing gratitude has been proven to boost overall life experience, impacting positivity, self-esteem, autonomy, relationships, environmental mastery, personal growth, life purpose, and self-acceptance.
Gratitude has additionally been found to lower the chance of illnesses such as depression, anxiety, phobias, addictions, negative emotions, and more. If you want to practice gratitude while traveling, buy a journal and dedicate 20 minutes to writing down the things you are grateful for each morning.
7. Prioritizing Sleep
When sleeping, the body maintains physical health and supports optimal brain function. Sleep deprivation can increase a person’s risk for chronic health problems over time. It’s especially important to get a good night’s rest while traveling, so consider ways in which you can make yourself feel the most comfortable and relaxed while you are away from home. This could mean packing a book, your own pillow, or a white sound app to help you drift to sleep peacefully.
8. Journaling
Journaling has been proven to be good for mental health, and research shows that as little as 20 minutes per day can positively benefit your immune system and overall health. It’s a good idea to journal when you travel, not only about gratitude but about any thoughts and emotions that may surface. Writing down your inner musings in this way has been found to offer a great deal of emotional relief.
9. Taking Medications or Supplements
It’s important to continue taking any chronic medication or courses of antibiotics you may be on while you travel. Equally important is to supplement your diet with the right vitamins and minerals for your body so that you can stay strong on your trip. If you find it difficult to remember to take medicine or supplements, set the alarm on your phone to help remind you.
10. Practicing Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the art of paying attention to your surroundings using all of the senses, and it has been found to boost overall physical and mental health. Research has revealed that mindfulness practices might play a role in helping people to manage stress, reduce depression and anxiety or cope better with illnesses.
A number of people who practice mindfulness report an increase in their ability to relax, as well as greater self-esteem and improved enthusiasm for life. Mindfulness on your travels can be done at any time, improving your health exponentially.
11. Avoiding Single-Use Plastics
Apart from its environmental impact, single-use plastics typically used in food packaging, bags, and bottles contain chemical additives like endocrine disruptors. These endocrine disruptors have been linked to negative health consequences, such as different forms of cancers and immune system suppression. To avoid using single-use plastic, it’s a good idea to prepare your own food and beverages at home before you travel. This way, you can choose to use glass containers.
12. Managing Stress and Anxiety
If you want to stay healthy while traveling, managing your stress and anxiety is very important. Negative emotions such as these are not only bad for mental health but for physical health too. Creating an itinerary for your trip can help reduce anxiety about moving around in unfamiliar places. Try to plan your transportation, food, and activities in as much detail as possible.
Staying Healthy While Travelling: The Takeaway
So there you have it, 12 pro tips on maintaining your health while traveling. From eating healthy and exercising on the go to meditating, journaling, and managing your stress and anxiety, no one tip is more important than another. Even taking care to avoid single-use plastic and remembering to take your medication and supplements will go a long way toward maintaining health in the long run.
Simple habits like sanitizing serve to protect you from illness, while getting enough sleep and practicing gratitude can boost the immune system. Last but not least, creating a budget serves to create a healthy mindset free of financial stress.
