Four ways to look after your body on holidays

Planning a winter getaway? As wonderful as travel is, it can be hard on our bodies.

While there are lots of pluses, including that we often walk far more on holidays than we do at home, there can also be minuses, not the least of which are those long hours of sitting that travel often involves.

That applies whether we’re in a plane, car, bus, or train.

It doesn’t help that the law of travelling says it takes twice as long as the holiday to prepare and recover from it.

There’s also Murphy’s Law which says that the dog sitting arrangements will fall over at the last minute, or the fridge will start to leak the night before we’re leaving.

So at the outset we might be heading off a tad stressed and weary.

I’ll refer to planes and cars, but if your trip is by bus or train, apply what I’m saying to that scenario.

On a long trip of any sort we’ll spend many hours with hips and knees at 90 degrees, which can result in tight muscles and joints.

In addition, we’re often packed in with a stack of other passengers and their assorted viruses and bacteria.

Four things to think about… and I know most are in the category of teaching you to suck eggs: we know these things but in holiday mode just forget to do them.

First, ridiculous to say, but aim to get you and your immune system in decent shape before the trip. Try to eat well, exercise, get enough sleep, and haha, minimise stress.

Second, avoid dehydration. In a plane we’re dealing with dry air and not wanting to drink too much lest we have to visit the toilets again. On the road it’s also tempting to drink less to limit the toilet stops.

But dehydration isn’t good for our gut, joints or blood pressure, and it can make us tired or headachy, so be intentional about drinking water.

Third, try to protect yourself from all those viruses and bacteria. There are likely to be more bugs about in winter, and sickness makes a trip memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Don’t forget the hand washing and hand sanitiser because some surfaces get touched an awful lot — tray tables, belt buckles, and the like. Even if you’re driving, you’ll be stopping at places that have their own germy surfaces.

And fourth — the main reason I wrote this piece, of course — is that we need to move.

Yes, there’s DVT, and if you’re flying, follow the advice about exercise to prevent it. Staying hydrated also helps reduce the risk of clots. Not that DVT is the only issue: everything works better with good circulation.

Aisle seats make it easier to get up and walk, stretch and do basic movements such as heel raises, or shoulder and hip rolls.

If you have a few hours to kill in an airport, do the same thing — go for a brisk walk, do a few squats, and move to ease out your muscles and joints.

If you’re driving, break up the trip to give yourself regular stops to get out and do this.

It’s also smart to help our bodies transition from the confined space of whatever we’re travelling in to being able to handle the next round of physical demands.

For example, after being cooped up in a plane for umpteen hours, we head to the baggage carousel and start hauling off our luggage, though in fairness it’s more often older men who injure their shoulders during the bag lunge and need physio when they get home.

The same applies when we get out of a vehicle after a long journey and start carting bags upstairs, over uneven ground, and so on.

We need to have done some loosening up and make sure we lift properly.

Then, when we get to where we’re staying, it’s wise to give our bodies a bit more TLC.

Here are a few simple moves for hips, backs and shoulders. They involve lying on the floor or bed. Alternatively, stay vertical and stick with movements you know.

If you’re heading for the floor, you might want something like a sarong, big scarf or towel as protection from less-than-spotless carpets, etc. Support your head if you need to.

• Bring your knees to your chest and hold them to stretch your lower back, then rock gently from side to side. Try also tracing a few circles right and left under your back.
• To massage and loosen your hips, bend your knees with your feet on the floor a bit wider than your hips, and roll your hips and knees from side to side, like windscreen wipers.
• Draw one knee to the opposite shoulder to stretch your hip and bottom on the same side as that knee. Hold it there until you feel some ease. Do both sides.
• With knees bent and feet on the floor, bring one knee into your chest, then extend your leg out straight. Do this a few times on one side, then switch sides.
• Good back stretches include a yoga child pose or the one in the photo — as long as your shoulders are comfortable with that one because it stretches them too. You might also need to bend your knees if the stretch in the backs of your legs is too strong.

It’ll all take about five minutes or so, but it’s time well spent.

If we can do something similar after every long bout of sitting, including when we get home, our bodies might feel like they’ve had a holiday too.

Photo Source: Katy Bowman