STAYING HEALTHY ON HOLIDAY

Want to have a well-deserved break, a time out from your usual routine, but come home feeling fresh and not as though you need to sign up to a 7 day juice cleanse!

 Maintaining your health and fitness whilst being away from your home can be challenging, especially with all the delicious food! Life is all about balance. If health and fitness is important to you, it doesn’t have to be hard. Here are some useful tips for staying healthy on holiday.

• Fitness
  • Pack exercise clothes
  • Schedule in an active time. I prefer mornings as then I don’t have to think about it for the rest of the day.
  • Walk as much as possible.
  • Gym passes. Treat yourself. Find local gyms that may offer a week trial and try a new class, if anything- could just be a funny story.
  • Massage – Still deemed health & fitness in my books. I often trade my workout in for a massage as it can give me different results that I didn’t know I needed.
  • Pack skipping rope, resistance bands – Hotel room workout !
  • Visit the hotel gym.
• Food
  • Grocery store – find a local grocery store and stock up on healthy snacks. I love trying different foods whilst travelling, including local groceries. Being prepared can save a binge later on.
  • Google / research restaurants to make suggestions
  • Order extra vegetables with meals
  • Everything in moderation – don’t forget you are on holiday and it is okay to eat the Italian pizza and gelato.

Apps for combating jet lag

Long flights and change in time zones can result in lots of sleep and generally feeling fatigued. This is not how most people envision the start of their holiday. There is an App for everything! There are extremely clever apps that help your body to adapt to your destinations time zone and prevent jet lag. These are some of my favourites.

1. Timeshifter

Timeshifter is an app that helps resynchronize your circadian clock with your new time zone through a unique sleep, light and caffeine schedule. To create a custom travel plan, you simply answer a few questions about your trip and your natural sleep cycle.

Timeshifter then presents you with an up-to-date timeline of when you should try to get some sleep, when you should seek light, or when you should drink or avoid caffeine. The app also sends you alerts so you can stay on track without constantly checking your schedule.

Timeshifter is a paid app, starting at $9.99. Frequent travelers can also purchase an annual subscription plan for $24.99.

3. Jet Lag Night Train

This app will tell you when to seek light and when to avoid it. The app also works as a world clock and tells you the sun rise and sun set times.

4. Uplift

If you’re looking for a quick fix for your jet lag, Uplift is the app for you. Unlike the other apps on this list, Uplift doesn’t try to shift your sleep schedule. Instead, it uses biorhythmic acupressure to end jet lag.

The Uplift app will ask you some questions about your travel plans, then present you with a 5-minute acupressure exercise to help you readjust to your new time zone.

Uplift does have a $9.99 one-time cost, but for travelers always switching time zones, it can be a great investment. You can even use Uplift in conjunction with another app to adjust even faster.

Don’t let jet lag ruin your trip. These four apps can help you get your body back on schedule and allow you to make the most of your time in a new time zone.

Health strains of travel

Travelling overseas can really test the immune system with the different foods, new environments, and public transport. These are some useful tips to avoid getting sick on holiday.

• Natural supplements: begin building up your immune system two weeks before travel.
  • Vitamin C
  • Zinc
  • Echinacea
• Move – circulate blood. Try to move as much as possible, this includes the plane/train.
• Adaptability
• Hygiene
  • Hand sanitiser – in every bag.
  • Anti-bacterial wipes. Wipe everything.
• Healthy snacks
• Hydrate – I pack hydrolytes, especially for long flights as you feel dehydrated at a higher rate.
• Travel amenity kit: neck pillow, eye mask, scarf, lip balm, hand cream, ear buds/headphones
• Gum, Listerine strips