Tips for Staying Healthy While Traveling for the Holidays

Filed in archive Travel Tips on November 11, 2009

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The holidays are meant to be enjoyed. Whether it is a cold or the swine flu, no one wants to ruin their holiday by spending precious time sick. While traveling over the holidays there are a few easy-to-implement tips to keep you and your family virus-free.

ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner Dr. Tom Bayne offers these preventative measures for staying healthy while traveling:

• Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of water especially while flying to keep your immune system strong. Water helps keep mucous membranes moist enough to combat the viruses they encounter. Dry mucus membranes are a breeding ground for infection


• Say no to dessert: Sugar decreases immune response and provides an environment in the body where infection can thrive. When white blood cells are exposed to high levels of sugar in the bloodstream, they have a decreased ability to fight infections.


• Sleep it off: For many people vacation is a lot of visiting and doing, and not much different from the stress of their normal life. Plan things for later in the day and sleep in a little. Get to bed before midnight.


• Stock up on your D: Vitamin D is necessary for your body to mount a defense against viruses. The dark winter months keep our body’s covered and inside most of the time. Unable to process Vitamin D from the sun our body loses the ability to fight viruses when we come in contact with them.


• Go easy on the holiday cheer: A glass of wine or two can be very positive to your immune health, but many days of heavy alcohol consumption can leave your body fatigued, toxic, and susceptible to infection. When it comes to booze a little really can go a long way, in keeping you healthy.

The holidays are just around the corner, so...gear up for your health.