With summer comes the perfect opportunity to plan a vacation! But as fun as vacations can be, they can sometimes lead to unhealthy decisions that leave us feeling tired instead of rested and refreshed.
Luckily, this can be prevented with a few essential tips that will help you have fun and stay healthy at the same time. Whether you’re traveling, hopping from plane to plane, or simply enjoying the sun on the beach, here’s what you should know:
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5 Essential Tips To Stay Healthy On Vacation
1) Hydration Is An Absolute Must
Hot weather can be taxing on your body in more ways than one. When temperatures start to climb, your body will begin to sweat in an attempt to cool itself down, which can lead to dehydration if you’re not careful. Not only that, but hot weather can also make your blood thicker, so it’s important to drink plenty of fluids to keep your blood flow normal.
Make sure to carry a water bottle with you everywhere you go during the summer, and try to increase your water consumption overall to stay healthy. If you’re going to be spending time in the heat, especially at the beach, light mineral water is also a good option as it helps to restore electrolytes that are lost through sweating.
2) Make Sunscreen Your Companion
To keep your skin protected from the harmful rays of the sun, it’s important to apply a generous amount of sunscreen in the morning, and then reapply every few hours. If you’re sweating profusely or if you plan on spending time in the water, make sure to reapply more often.
Sunscreen sprays can make reapplication faster and easier:
3) Watch Out For Bugs
If you spend a lot of time in nature, you’re likely to come into contact with various bugs – some of which can be dangerous. Ticks, for example, can carry Lyme disease and other serious infections that can have lasting consequences.
To reduce your risk of being bitten by a bug, it’s advisable to wear light-colored clothes while spending time in nature, and to check your body for unwanted guests every once in a while.
When traveling to areas where there may be a risk of malaria, it is important to take precautions to protect yourself from mosquito bites. Use protective sprays (insect repellents) that keep ticks, flies, and mosquitos away and light anti-mosquito candles around your camping site or hotel balcony. And of course, if you’re traveling to places that have a malaria problem, make sure to get a professional consultation regarding proper protection.
4) Rest Properly
After a long day of travel, your body can feel exhausted. To make sure you’re rested and ready for the next day, take some time to relax. Have a nap, do some yoga stretches, or meditate. This will help your body recover and prepare for the next fun-filled day.
5) Don’t Get Too Loose With Nutrition
If you’re like most people, when you go on vacation, you let all your healthy eating habits go out the window and stuff your face with every delicious thing you can find. And if you wash it down with a few glasses of wine, you might come back from your trip a few pounds heavier.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself on vacation. But if you eat like **** the whole time you’re away, you’ll come back feeling tired, sluggish, and heavier than when you left.
The problem is when we load up on processed foods that are hard to digest. These foods can leave us feeling bloated and uncomfortable. So if you want to enjoy your vacation without gaining weight or feeling awful, focus on eating fresh, unprocessed foods that will be easy on your stomach.