How to Stay Healthy While You Travel

Anyone who has been travelling for a long period of time knows how quickly your health and fitness can deteriorate. The combination of days spent on the road and late night drinking, followed by a 4am trip to sample the local fast food all catch up with you in the end. Even the biggest fitness freak can turn into a wheezing doughy mess in a couple of weeks. 

While some people are more than happy to sit back and let the transformation happen, others try to fight the inevitable. If you’re one of those people, here are a few things you can do to stay (relatively) healthy while you are travelling.

Walk Everywhere

While you’re travelling, it’s likely that you’ll be doing a lot of walking anyway as you discover new places for the first time. The vast majority of places you visit are not like London or New York, where you can spend hours of your life on underground transportation only to surface in the same city. When you get to a new place, avoid buying a travel pass and try walking instead. Ultimately, this is the best way to get to know a place anyway, so you’ll be discovering a city and staying in shape at the same time. If you’re looking for a different way of getting around, try cycling instead. This still gives you the workout, while also giving you that little bit more freedom to travel further distances.

Drink More Water

When you’re taking long walks around a city or epic trips across a country, always carry plenty of water with you. Not only will this make it less likely for you to want to buy expensive drinks when you are on the road, water has a wide range of health benefits. If you’re still nursing a hangover, carrying water with you can be a lifesaver. Always check whether the tap water is drinkable in the country you’re in. If not, it’s likely that you’re in a country where bottled water is ridiculously cheap anyway!

Drink More Tea

A subtle variation of the drink more water point, try making tea one of your main beverages of choice. I’m not talking about classic English builder’s tea, although this is likely to bring a patriotic tear to your eye every time you have a cup. Instead try a green or herbal tea of some kind. If you’re travelling around Asia, this is the perfect opportunity to sample a whole load of delicious teas. Many of these have been shown to have various health benefits such as helping with weight loss and boosting your immune system. The Chinese swear by green tea, which contains plenty of antioxidants, and their culture has been around for over 5,000 years so it’s worth listening to them! 

Eat Breakfast

All those irritating people who say breakfast is the most important meal of the day probably are right after all. When you’re travelling, this is usually the easiest meal to skip, but you will definitely notice the difference if you eat something. Even if there’s nowhere to get some hot food, carry some fruit or breakfast biscuits with you at all times so you can have something while you are on the go. Ideally, you’ll eat a breakfast that is protein rich as this is more likely to keep you full up for longer.

If You’re Staying Somewhere For Longer, Buy Groceries

Sometimes when you’re travelling, you fall in love with a place and decide to stay for several days, a couple of weeks or even months. When you settle down for a while, it’s a good idea to take a trip to the grocery store. Not only will you end up saving money, you’ll be able to eat healthier too.Always, make sure to stock up on plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Try New Sports/Activities

If you’re by the sea, it may be the perfect opportunity to try some watersports that you’ve never attempted before like surfing or wakeboarding. Not only are these a lot of fun, they’ll work out a whole load of muscles that you may not have used in a long time! Swimming is also a great activity that gives you a tough workout. Alternatively, look for the best spa to give you some much needed rest and relaxation. Sometimes, it’s worth getting involved in a sport that is part of the local culture you’re in. When in Brazil, it would be rude not to have a kick around. When in India, give cricket a try. You may not find it’s as boring to play as it is to watch! 

Calisthenics

If you’ve never heard of this term before, it’s basically just a fancy way of saying working out without any apparatus or equipment. When you’re travelling, it’s unlikely you’ll be making any trips to the gym or carrying a set of dumbbells with you. Make your own workout routine that you can try from anywhere. The beauty of this type of workout is that you can exercise whenever you feel like it, and you can set the pace. If things start to get too easy, simply up the number of reps you are doing. 

Lower Calorie Drinking

When you’re travelling, it’s likely that alcohol is going to become a good friend of yours. Instead of drinking high-calorie drinks like beer, try switching to wine or spirits. Though this may not strictly be the best health advice, you’ll probably feel less bloated and are more likely to avoid the dreaded beer belly!     

Try to Get Enough Sleep

It’s likely that your sleeping patterns are going to get messed up while you’re on the road, but try to get your 8 hours a day somehow. There are so many health benefits associated with sleeping and our bodies simply can’t function without it. If you’re struggling to sleep in dorm rooms, try using earplugs to block out the noise. They really can make all the difference.

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