5 Ways to Stay Healthy While You’re On Work Travel

Now that things are getting back to normal – to those pre-pandemic days, people are returning to the office. They are also dusting off their suitcases and hitting the friendly skies for work-related travel.

Before the pandemic I traveled a lot for work. Between the airport food and jet lag, you’re hardly thinking about eating healthy and getting a workout at the hotel gym.

The thing with that is, if you keep up the habit of bad eating and not hitting the gym the pounds will eventually catch up to you.

I know this might not be as simple as it sounds. Especially when you have to get re-accustomed to traveling after working from home for the past couple of years. But I hope the tips I’m going to share in this post will make staying healthy while on work travel a little easier to do.

How To Stay Healthy While On Work Travel

If you’re back to traveling for work, here are some things I do to make sure I stay healthy.

It’s all about the shoes. Make sure to bring some comfortable athletic shoes and casual shoes for walking. Oftentimes those hotel gyms are just too sad and depressing and if there’s a possibility for a walk outside that could be a great alternative.

Watch the alcohol. It is so tempting when you see people you haven’t seen for so long to celebrate and pop the champagne or have that third glass of wine. Establish a limit for yourself before you join the party and do your best to stick with it. I find sparkling water to be a great substitute if needed.

Create the best sleep environment you can. If you sleep with white noise make sure you set that up on your phone. If you need earplugs and an eye mask (like me) be sure to bring those. Melatonin is a must for overseas travel. Also keep in mind, that alcohol can really disrupt your sleep so another reason to keep that in check.

Stretch. Every morning when I get up, I do some soothing, deep yoga stretches. When you are on planes, in cars, and stuck in conference rooms, your legs, arms, and back need an extra stretch.

Making healthy food choices can be super hard on the road. Given that we now spend more time at home than on the road, I would just say don’t be too hard on yourself. Do your best. 

Wrapping It Up

Are these suggestions fool-proof? Not all the time. 

This is a pic I took when I went from Boston to New York for work. I was looking for a place to grab a bite to eat but all the restaurants were full. So I decided to walk around the city. I decided to stop at a liquor store and then grabbed a small snack at McDonald’s. Something I would almost never do but it goes to show sometimes things are out of our control. 😉

The bottom line is if you really commit to it, you can practice healthy habits during work travel.

Now let’s chat!

How do you stay healthy when traveling for work? Share your tips in the comments below!