Tips For Staying Healthy During Travel
Posted in Travel Tips on Mar 1st, 2008
Although most of us feel good about our health, it is important to realize that we can get sick anytime during our travel and take necessary preparations and precaution before and during the travel. If you are unhealthy at the time you are going to travel, don’t take the trip because you will not enjoy the travel.
In my own experience traveling places, the most common problem I encounter is having diarrhea due the food and water. This is probably because the food is not clean being handled by so many hands. The waters on the other hand are still untreated in many developing counties.
A good tip is to avoid buying food and drinks from the roadside sellers.
If you are staying in a five star hotels in a big city, it is quite safe to eat and drink there but when you are on the road trekking a remote country side, it’s totally a different case.
Yet even in a big city with all the facilities, you still can get sick usually because of the air and environment.
Some cities in the world like New Delhi and Shanghai for example, has a very high level of air pollution which can cause uneasiness to you especially if you have asthma. You won’t know unless you inhale such airs of course, but prevention is better than cure.
If you insist going anyway, to stay healthy during our travel find out about the common diseases and problems you might encounter in the country you are going to visit and get yourself immunized and prepare yourself with necessary medications.
Immunization means taking the necessary vaccination, for example, country like Nepal has a lot of wandering stray dogs. It is advised to take relevant vaccinations like Tetanus immunization or prophylaxis in case you are bitten by the stray dogs during your travel there.
Medication means having the necessary medicine like allergy medicines, diarrhea pill like Ciprofloxin or altitude pills like Diamox, or diabetes pills if you have diabetes or oils which can soothe your veins if you got cramped feet while walking or trekking or inhalers if you have asthma.
These are just some of the things I can remember and I have learned from my travel experiences, there might be other health issues you might want to consider, but basically you know your own health condition and fitness level.
Always find out about health hazards in the country you are going to visit. A good source of reference is the world health organization.