How to stay healthy while traveling during the holidays

AccuWeather

When you're traveling to visit family and friends for the holidays, your lifestyle tends to change a lot from your norms, which can take a major toll on your health. Here's what to know to stay healthy through the holidays.

Transcript

00:00 All right, folks, many of you are getting ready

00:01 to start your holiday traveling,

00:03 whether it's a much needed vacation

00:05 to visit family or friends.

00:07 While staying healthy during travel like this,

00:09 it's not an easy task all the time.

00:12 Dr. Jessica Shepherd is the Chief Medical Officer

00:14 at Very Well Health and is kind enough to join us

00:17 this morning ahead of the holidays here

00:18 to share some steps that you can take to stay healthy

00:21 while you're traveling this holiday season.

00:23 Thank you so much for joining us.

00:26 - Thank you for having me.

00:27 - Happy to.

00:28 Now let's get into it here.

00:29 What are some health challenges

00:31 that many people face during the holiday travel?

00:33 It really isn't easy to focus on health

00:35 when there's so much going on in your head.

00:38 - It isn't.

00:39 I mean, I think that there's a lot of distractions.

00:41 I think that there's a lot of people around.

00:42 There's a lot of hugging and sharing.

00:44 And so with all of these,

00:46 you're gonna find that it's sometimes hard to stay healthy,

00:49 but I have some tips for you today

00:51 that are really gonna help,

00:52 especially when you're traveling.

00:54 So the health challenges that we see

00:55 are people are fatigued because they're doing much more

00:59 than they usually do in regards to travel

01:01 and visiting with others, and also dehydration.

01:03 Because of much of the movement and the travel,

01:05 a lot of times we're not getting in that fluid

01:07 that we actually need.

01:09 And then that can also lead to some other things

01:11 such as GI issues with constipation and bowel habit changes.

01:15 So what are we really going to do

01:17 when we think of practical tips or strategies

01:19 to fend off some of those things

01:21 that we might see during the travel season,

01:23 in addition to maybe even getting some diseases

01:26 like flu and/or COVID?

01:27 So with that being said,

01:29 we wanna make sure that we check our vaccine requirements.

01:32 A lot of people actually do international travel.

01:35 And so with that, you wanna make sure

01:36 that there's no changes in recommendations

01:38 when you're traveling overseas.

01:39 But for local, make sure that you're staying

01:42 with your flu shots and your COVID boosters,

01:45 and making sure that you plan these out well in advance

01:48 to taking the trip so that if you have any issues,

01:50 that it's not gonna impact your actual trip.

01:52 And then also considering where you're going.

01:55 Are you going to somewhere warmer?

01:56 Are you going to somewhere colder?

01:58 Making sure that you're taking the proper clothing,

02:01 but also making sure that you're staying adjusted

02:04 to the weather change that may come.

02:06 And staying active.

02:07 A lot of times when we travel,

02:09 whether you're in a car for a long period of time,

02:11 or you're in a plane and sitting for a long period of time,

02:14 that decreases your physical activity.

02:16 So making sure that you put some breaks in there

02:19 in between the day to make sure

02:20 that you're getting your movement in.

02:22 - Now, with all the temptations and challenges

02:24 that might arise during the holiday gatherings

02:26 and celebrations as well,

02:28 maybe some thoughts on nutrition.

02:30 I mean, look, don't get me wrong.

02:31 I love a good dessert,

02:33 but sometimes you feel a little bit run down

02:35 after eating too much sugar, for example,

02:38 after the holidays.

02:39 - Now, I would say probably the top tip

02:42 that I would say when it comes to nutrition

02:44 is make sure that you enjoy all of the foods

02:47 when you're with your family and friends,

02:48 but portion control is probably the best way

02:50 that you can have a bit of everything, but not so much.

02:54 So limiting yourself to the things

02:55 that are really rich in calories or really rich in sugars

02:59 is making sure that you may take smaller slices of that pie

03:02 or smaller portions of the foods that you really like.

03:05 And then also liquid calories.

03:07 So there's a lot of calories in things

03:09 such as holiday drinks and/or alcohol.

03:12 So making sure you limit those as well.

03:14 And I think that I've even taken like this tip

03:17 and used it as staying active.

03:18 So what does that really mean?

03:19 There are studies that have gone out to show

03:21 that immediately after a big meal or shortly thereafter,

03:24 if you take as little as 20 minutes,

03:27 20 minutes to go take a brisk walk,

03:29 you can do like monumental things

03:31 when it comes to decreasing calorie intake,

03:34 energy expenditure, and again, limiting.

03:37 So what you'll usually see after the holidays

03:39 is sometimes a little bit of weight gain.

03:41 - Absolutely love it.

03:42 Great tips, great tips

03:44 as we head through this holiday season.

03:45 Dr. Jessica Shepherd,

03:47 Chief Medical Officer with Very Well Health.

03:49 Thank you so much for joining us

03:50 and for all the help this morning.

03:53 - Thank you.

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