On the road and keeping healthy

Being away from home, whether for work or play and keeping healthy can be challenging.

Our routines get messed up when it comes to sleep, food and exercise. Then, of course, add travel into the mix too!

Travelling saps your energy, especially flying both short and long haul. Before you even get on the plane you’ve got the stress of getting through the airport – queues, security checks and lots of waiting around.

Then the fact that flying isn’t that brilliant for your body. You’re stuck in a thin metal tube with the cabin pressurised between 6000 – 8000 feet, which is the equivalent of base camp at Everest with humidity levels less than the Sahara desert.

Getting a great night’s sleep in a hotel room can also be a challenge – sleeping in a strange environment with windows that don’t open or only very little. And temperature thermostats that either make the room a freezer or a furnace.

If you’re on the road for work, you have hotel menus and buffets to navigate and to try and make the right choices when it comes to eating healthily and not pile on the pounds.

Then with busy schedules how do you fit in exercise?

Having been both a very unhealthy and healthy road warrior in my corporate days years ago and more recently doing a lot more travel, here are some of my tips to maintain your energy and to keep healthy.

Travelling

If you hate packing, like I do – create a packing list (I know this sounds a bit OTT) that you can print off every time you travel – it saves so much time.
Travel with a water bottle in your hand luggage so you can fill up in the terminal to keep you hydrated on the flight.
Buy food in the terminal, then you can eat the food you want and when you want to eat it instead of being at the mercy of sad looking airline food and the cabin service.

Hotels

Ask for a quiet room on a high floor away from lifts and noisy ice machines.
Set the thermostat to either 18 degrees Celsius or 65 degrees Fahrenheit for optimum beauty sleep.
Travel with lavender oil and put a few drops on your pillow before going to sleep.

Eating and drinking

Buffets are a nightmare for being able to pile on too much food on to your plate. In fact, it’s a staggering 65% more than what we’d normally eat! I used to be an expert ‘food stacker’ but I’m now pickier. Even though I hate wasting food and try and avoid taking too much, I’ve got out of the mentality of having to finish everything on my plate.
Try and avoid the heavy sugary and savoury carbs – they will make you sleepy and bloated. Event organisers are getting better at offering healthier options such as fruit instead of dessert and plenty of vegetables and salads.
When everything is free, it’s so easy to overindulge on both food and drink. Free alcohol is great. However, pace yourself, especially if you’re at an event over several days. There is nothing worse than feeling rubbish the morning after a heavy night before when you’ve got a full day of sessions or meetings. DRINK lots of water to keep hydrated and to minimise the effect of too much alcohol.

Exercise

Check out the hotel gym – I always do but never go! They’re either massively under-equipped or take too much time to get to from my hotel room. I always travel with a lightweight exercise mat so that I can either do a quick workout, stretching or some yoga.
If you love swimming – take advantage of the hotel pool. I love a morning swim.
Organised fitness activities – quite a few of the conferences I’m going to now have early morning activities such as yoga and a 5k run. I’ve done both and found it a great networking opportunity.

Hopefully, these tips will keep you firing on all cylinders.

I love giving talks and workshops on health and sharing my knowledge. If you would like me to come to your place of work and give a talk, then please CLICK HERE for more information.