Nurse Felicia is travelling this week and will resume answering your health questions upon her return. While travel, for work or pleasure, can be a fun, exciting and enriching experience, it can also be rather hazardous to your health. Here are some of the strategies I’ve found helpful in maintaining good health on the go. Before you go: Avoid excess alcohol and get a good night sleep the night before you travel. While friends may want to send you off with a bang, a wild night before travelling can come back to haunt you the next day. The stress of long lines, airport security and frequent delays, coupled with the dehydration which occurs on airplanes, can turn even a minor hangover into a day from hell. On the plane: Reset your watch immediately to the time zone where you are headed. Sleep as much as possible when it is night there and try to stay awake when it is daytime. Drink lots of water but avoid alcohol and caffeine. The recycled air aboard an airplane is very dry and can contribute quickly to dehydration. While water or juice will combat the problem, coffee, tea, caffeinated colas, and alcohol will actually make it worse. They can also interfere with your attempt to adjust your sleep/wake cycles. Finally, get up and walk around periodically during the flight. Aside from minor nuisances like back and neck pain, prolonged immobility can also cause serious circulatory problems which could potentially lead to complications like DVT or stroke. Take a short walk down the aisle and perform some simple stretches. When you arrive: Continue drinking lots of water or non-caffeinated beverages to rehydrate. No matter how tired you may feel, try to stay awake until at least nine or ten p.m. If you take a nap earlier you may not be able to go back to sleep when night falls and if you go to sleep at six pm your body will naturally wake up in the middle of the night. You will be tired again the next day, creating a cycle that can ruin your whole trip! I Bon Voyage!Nurse Felicia Felicia Price is an American Registered Professional Nurse working in Kigali.Please send your health queries – whatever they may be - to askfelicia@gmail.com
