Wellbeing and Work: Travel Special   7 Jul 2014

Tricia Alach

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Tricia Alach

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The Holisitic Helper's Guide to Wellbeing and Work: Part Six

I used to travel a lot for my job and my husband still does so I know a lot about what frequent flying can do to your physical and mental health. In terms of advice, the basic principles of my previous posts apply but what's different when you are travelling is that you lose a lot of the control you would normally have over your environment so, if you travel a lot for work AND you want to stay healthy, you have to figure out how to get some of that control back. Here are my top trips for travellers with a little help from a few people who live their lives on the road...

Food

Make home time, healthy time:  when you are home, in between trips make it count. If you know you've got a busy travel period coming up take extra care to eat and sleep well. This will help boost your immune system meaning you are less susceptible to getting ill on the trip as well as making you physically more able to cope with the stresses of the trip.

When you can, take your own: if you're travelling within your own country or a free-movement zone like the EU, there are very few if any restrictions on what food you can take with you. So make sure you've got some seeds, nuts, dried fruit, raw chocolate snacks with you so you always have something nutritious to munch en route.

Choose the vegan meal: stop rolling your eyes and stay with me for a moment! Air travel is hard on the body and digestive upsets are really common in frequent flyers, constipation in particular. The vegan option is a meal that is entirely plant based which means it will be the easiest for your body to digest AND have the highest levels of fibre - both of which help beat the bloat and other digestive nasties!

Check out your hotel before you check in: most hotels that cater to business travellers will be happy to accommodate any special dietary requirements and you may even be able to pre-order a healthy meal to enjoy at whatever time you arrive. If your hotel isn't so accommodating (pun intended) have a look at some traveller’s forums, or the Lonely Planet chapter for wherever you're going, to find healthy eateries near where you're staying.

Go out for breakfast: I know, I know you're all so busy that you just want to get started on your day BUT spending a long time on a plane followed by a cab ride and a night in an airless hotel room is not the way to stay healthy. So, get up and go out for your healthy breakfast - it may be the only exercise you get all day.

Sleep

Mobilise your ideal sleep-space: pack your ear plugs, eye mask and lavender oil and take them with you. Go through your regular wind down routine and do what you can to create a dark, noise-free and restful sleep area in the hotel room. Choose hotels that advertise black-out curtains and use the wake-up call service so you don’t need to use your phone as an alarm – and then turn it off!

Open the window: one of the most useful pieces of advice I got on travelling was to always open your hotel window for 10-15 minutes before you go to sleep or longer if you can. Hotel rooms are often left shut up for days (if not weeks) on end meaning there is lots of stale air and little oxygen. This can lead to fitful sleep and contribute to you feeling really sluggish when you wake up. Unfortunately a lot of hotels are taking this option away with hermetically sealed windows but if you have a choice, go old school and choose one without.

Honour your hormones: some level of jet-lag is inevitable when you are travelling long distance or even short-distances a lot. This knocks your endocrine system out of whack which affects the hormones that control sleep. There isn't really anything you can do to override this but you can try to help your body restore its inner balance which will then recalibrate your hormones. A lot of airports and business hotels now offer complementary therapies such as reflexology or aromatherapy massage which can help with this.  Remember also to go outside during the day and keep your sleep space really dark at night so the melatonin knows when to release.

Yoga of course! restorative yoga postures can be used to help you relax and unwind, prepare for sleep and recalibrate your endocrine system. There are loads of online resources like this one or attend a restorative class in your home town before you go and ask the teacher for some tips. Some US airports have recently introduced meditation and yoga rooms so you can chill, stretch and get centred before your next flight.

Managing Stress

Travelling can be very stressful. You're in unfamiliar places where you often don't speak the language, usually on your own with deadlines to meet, place to be and important people to meet.

Meditation in motion: the BEST stress management tip for frequent fliers is to adopt and adhere to a daily meditation practice. The fact that there are so many downloadable and live-stream options mean that you never have to miss a session. Of course to really benefit from this practice you should continue when you're at home and you can always up dose to have more sessions a day if you feel like you need it.  Being over-meditated isn't really a thing...

Work it out, work it off: staying active and getting enough exercise while you're travelling is also key to managing stress and staying healthy. Even if you're not trying to lose weight check out these tips for how to turn anyplace into your personal gym.

TURN IT OFF! you know what I mean and I know it’s even harder to turn off the technology and disconnect when you're alone in a hotel room, lying awake at 4am. But telling yourself that 'you may as well work since you're already awake' really is the unhealthy option here. Much better to get up, do some yoga, hit the hotel pool or just go out for a walk if you can't sleep. You will thank yourself for it later! If you don't believe me, write the emails but save them as drafts and then read them again when you've properly woken up.  Trust me, you'll be glad you didn't hit send :-)

Cash in those miles: remember time out is better than burn out so schedule regular breaks from all that hard work and go on a proper holiday with your nearest and dearest. And then make sure you really tune in, switch off and drop out for a while...

About the author:

London based Natural Therapist and Wellness Coach, Tricia Alach specialises in working with busy people who want to relax, rebalance and revitalise their lives. Visit www.flowmindandbody.com or follow her @tricialach or on facebook for tips on how to live happier, healthier and more holistically in each and every day.

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