Traveling While Sick: How To Help Yourself Feel Better
Today, Tawanna from Mom's Guide to Travel stops by to give us some tips about traveling while sick. We don't want to do it if we can help it but unfortunately, germs don't check our itinerary. Stay healthy, folks!
What's worse than going through the security line at JFK airport on a busy holiday weekend during a snow storm? Traveling while sick!
We've all been there: you're on a trip or preparing for one and suddenly you get the sniffles. Thinking it might just be dry air, before you know it a cough ensues and you realize that you've caught something.
Ask your doctor
You always want to seek professional medical advice to make sure nothing is truly wrong. Once you start feeling aches and pains, dizziness, vomiting or more than just your average runny nose or cough, it's time to pick up the phone.
In the meantime, here are a few quick and easy tips if you're just battling a cold.
If you can't change your travel plans to rest up and get better, because travel takes a toll on our immune systems, then you want to take measures to help your cold from getting worse.
Related: Traveling While Sick
Sleep is your friend
The next best piece of advice is to sleep as much as you can. Giving your body extra time to rest allows it to repair itself and fight off whatever is going on with your system.
Water, water, water
You want to make sure that you increase your hydration. Bump up your water intake beyond the recommended 8 glasses per day.
Related Post: 5 Things to Help You Survive Cold/Flu Season
Not just an apple a day
You also want to increase your Vitamin C intake. 500 mg is the average recommended daily dose but a healthy adult can actually take 1000 mg safely and you can find tablets of that size which help with increasing immunity.
Air on the plane
If you'll be flying, travel with nasal spray to help combat the dry air on the plane. The air pressure and circulating air can do a number on our sinuses.
Sanitizers come in all forms
Travel with a portable air purifier/sanitizer. This device is called the Air Angel from a company called Air Oasis. It's perfect for the plane, rental cars, and hotel rooms. Produced by a NASA engineer, it reduces germs and allergens by 99%. You can purchase it through my Travel Store.
Lastly, sanitize and wash your hands consistently to avoid transferring even more germs to your already weakened system.
Check out this segment I did on WBAL-TV 11 in Baltimore sharing these same tips.
How do you heal yourself quickly when you are traveling (or not)? What are some of your favorite or secret tips? Share with us. I'd love to hear them below.
This post originally appeared at Moms Guide to Travel. Reposted with permission.
Tawanna Browne-Smith is the Managing Director of MGTTravel Media as well as the Editor In Chief of MomsGuideToTravel.com. She's built an online business centered around travel and digital marketing and has written for popular online travel publications such as the Travel Channel, 10Best USA Today, and Trip Advisor to name a few.