Buckle Up and Enjoy Travel: Staying Healthy on the Road
Compared to the technologies of one hundred years ago, transportation and exchange of information moves at an insatiable pace.
That said, frequent travel can often take a toll on one’s resources, and even pocketbook, over time.
This article will explore ways for making travel more compatible with staying healthy.
Plane Diet
Oftentimes travel robs the traveler of the opportunity to get the right proportion of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Some basic knowledge can go a long way in remedying this predicament. The World Health Organization disseminated the now famous food pyramid back in nineteen eighties. The food pyramid essentially posits that around fifteen percent of one’s daily caloric intake should come from protein, around thirty percent should come from fats, and the rest should derive from carbohydrates. In addition to following this protocol while on the road, eating fairly regularly should prohibit blood sugar spikes.
Reishi Mushroom
Reishi mushroom, also known as Ganoderma Lucidum, is a medicinal mushroom originating from the traditional chinese medicine system. Reishi Mushroom is chock full of immune-boosting polysaccharides, beta-glucans, and triterpenes. Polysaccharides are crucial for maintaining adequate immunity while traveling and perhaps becoming bombarded by unknown pathogens in the water and air in foreign climates. Polysaccharides are complex sugar molecules that help to regulate blood sugar levels, boost the immune system, and ultimately increase day-to-day energy reserves. Reishi mushroom is only know being introduced to the West but reishi is actually currently used in Japan as an approved treatment for cancer as well as angina and cardiac issues.
Frequent Exercise in the Sun
The sun is crucial for providing adequate levels of vitamin D to the body. Fair levels of vitamin D have actually been implicated in reducing depression and assisting the functioning of the body’s cells. While being out in the sun is healthy in itself, exercising outdoors takes being outside to another level. Exercise, such as jogging or cycling, has been shown to tone the heart, joints, and muscles while leading to enhanced feelings of well-being and better sleep. That is, intense exercise has been shown to increase the brain’s output of serotonin and endorphins, which leads to better mood, while helping one get a better night’s rest. In fact, according to a 2005 sleep study, exercise is more effective than sleeping pills in curbing mild insomnia. Especially in an unfamiliar environment, maintaining normal sleep patterns can facilitate an enjoyable trip.
Plan to Plan
Anxiety is often the result of failing to prepare properly for upcoming events. The psychologist community actually breaks anxiety down into two classes – trait and state anxiety. The worry spawned from not preparing properly would actually be state anxiety because it’s related to a specific outcome and not an underlying, often permanent, personality feature (trait anxiety). By properly planning one’s trip months in advance one can avoid any unnecessary stress such that the only thing left to experience is joyful anticipation.
Conclusion
This article has explored dietary and lifestyle strategies for avoiding stress and disease, before and during any vacation. Some of the presented strategies may have been obvious beforehand – e.g., adequate exercise – but other strategies – reishi mushroom – perhaps present new ways to take your vacation to the next level.
Marissa West writes about travel, health & more at healthinsurancequotes.org.
