Health & Wellness | How I Stay Healthy While I Travel

This post is sponsored by Swanson Health Products. All opinions written below are mine. Thank you for supporting the brands that encourage my creativity and work.

With time zone differences, changes in eating and sleep schedules, and a packed calendar, it’s always surprising, to me at least, how I’m able to travel and return home to pick up where I left off without feeling like I need days to recover.

Of course, it wasn’t always like that. Two and a half years ago, when I began to add work travel to my job I would return home sick, it took me a couple of days to adjust to the new time zone and felt like “I was coming down with something” for nearly six months.

That’s when I realized that I needed to take care of my body before, during, and after travel. At home, it’s easy to eat healthily and get a decent amount of sleep, but on the road, this can often be unpredictable.

One of the first things I incorporated into my routine were prebiotics and changing up my probiotic supplements to a different strength and bacteria strain during travel. I realized that my body needed more than the normal dose of good bacteria to provide my immune system with the support it needed to stay healthy.

Looking back, it’s no surprise that I was sick for months. Stress, interruption of sleep patterns, and not following my normal diet impacted my immunity. When you pair that with airplanes, public restrooms, and tourist attractions found all over NYC and conferences; giving myself a little immune boost was an excellent idea. Plus, since probiotic supplements don’t need to be refrigerated – they are perfect for travel.

Back then, making these changes wasn’t as easy as it is today. With Swanson’s nearly 50 years of experience providing high-quality health products at a great value, it’s easier than ever to find the right probiotic to suit my health needs. And with their online supplement quiz, getting an answer to “how do I know which probiotic supplement I should take?” is easier now than ever.

As I mentioned in this post, I regularly take Swanson’s Probiotic for Digestive Health and the Ultra Potency Probiotic. When I travel, however, I switch up to the Immune Blend and the Ultra Probiotic Complex, with 25 different strains and 30 Billion CFUs for a more comprehensive support.

Do I take supplements with me when I’m not traveling for work? You betcha. I’ve also learned my lesson after a trip to Hawaii where I was sick for nearly a week because I thought that being in paradise was all my body needed.

While a trip to paradise is always a very good idea; I realized that I need to be more mindful about incorporating wellness into every trip I take.

Other than probiotics, I always bring a large water bottle with me in my carry-on bag (or backpack), so I stay hydrated throughout the entire time. I don’t want to rely on finding a place to purchase a water bottle all day long. Getting it refilled is always much easier and cheaper too!

My other travel necessities for wellness are earplugs to block out the noise and get a good night’s sleep, protein bars for a quick snack since it’s easy to forget about eating when you have a packed schedule of meetings, and workout clothes. I always bring a few sets of workout clothes to squeeze in a workout or two while on the road on my own or with friends.

Do you take probiotics when you travel? What are some of your travel tips to stay healthy?

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