Travel for work? Here's how to stay healthy on the road

Muffins, white bread sandwiches and sugary drinks abound! It’s the traditional diet of the frequent traveller – and one your waist and health, in the end, won’t thank you for. Whether you travel regularly by plane, train or road, sedentary life has its pitfalls. Here are five tips to implementing some healthy living while travelling for work, that won’t inconvenience you or break your allocated stipend.

• Give up your seat. If you’re travelling by train or bus, opt to give up your seat and stand for at least part of your journey. Not only will this reduce your sitting time, it will give you an opportunity to stretch out your leg muscles, and relieve some of the pressure on your back caused by sitting for extended periods of time.
   
• Stay hydrated with nature’s finest. You may be tempted to wake yourself up with sugary, highly-caffeinated drinks during long drives, but these can actually have the opposite effect and result in a sugar crash and feelings of lethargy. If you want to feel alert, hydrate yourself with good, old-fashioned H2O. Maintaining proper hydration levels won’t just improve your overall wellbeing – it can help to enhance your alertness and mental acuity as well.
   
• Take a micro power walk. Stuck on another long flight for work? Get out of your seat every hour or two and go for a walk down the aisle and back. A short stroll can help to improve your circulation and when you add up all of those short bursts of movement, your incidental exercise for the day will have dramatically increased.
   
• Choose the best on-the-go snack. Packaged convenience foods that you can throw into your briefcase or handbag can stave off hunger pangs throughout the day – but they’re also usually high in sugars, and low in nutrients. If you’re looking for a boost throughout the day that requires next to no forward planning or preparation, grab a banana*. These amazing superfoods are packed with vitamins, have been shown to help enhance memory and support concentration, and come conveniently wrapped in their own organic packaging.
  
  *Just don’t pack bananas when you’re flying internationally!
   
• Use the hotel gym (and spa). If you’re regularly travelling for work, make an effort to actually use the hotel gym, swimming pool, sauna and other health and leisure facilities included in your stay. Not only will you burn off some of the energy you stored up sitting around in transit and in meetings all day, but you’ll also get your endorphins pumping! When you choose the hotel gym over room service and a night watching reruns on Foxtel, you’ll feel more refreshed and relaxed, and a whole lot better when you return home after your trip.

If you're travelling by train or bus, opt to give up your seat and stand for at least part of your journey.