One of the things about traveling that I tend to forget about is that it takes a toll on the body. I was kindly reminded of it this past week when my immune system said “nighty night” and shut down Sunday evening, mere hours after getting off the road from a weekend getaway.
The change in environment, introduction of new germs, lack of sleep, change in diet, exposure to more people are all leading factors to why we tend to get sick when we come off of a trip. I’d say the main factor is pure lack of sleep. It happens to me everytime. I go away, I’m pumped and excited to be somewhere other than the “4 walls” of my house, I stay up later watching t.v. that I don’t normally watch at home (although I get the same programming), and before you know it, “kachoo”, the first sneeze and accompanying sniffle make their way to the surface. Apparently it isn’t enough that I take Clorox cloths and wipe down various surfaces in the hotel room or that I travel with my own washcloth and sometimes my own towel or that I wear slippers in the room or flip flops in the shower or line the bathroom seat with paper. No, that’s not enough. Somehow, someway those sneaky bastard germs make their way through all of my other protective barriers and catch me through that one little crack…sleep.
Bottom line: I need to take better care of myself when traveling with my children. I make sure that they are in bed on time and that they’ve taken their necessary vitamins. I even try to maintain my workout schedule when I’m away from home. It’s just a challenge for me to wind down and go to sleep at a human hour…kind of like now. I was lucky this time around, getting over my sickness in a few days but it took discipline to do so. I went to bed before 11pm most nights this week; I didn’t workout before 6 am in the morning; I took either Nyquil or TheraFlu to have uninterrupted slumber; I drank 3-4 packets of Emergen-C a day coupled with double shots of vitamin C chewables; and I napped in the day, whenever my body wanted to say “nighty night”. I didn’t fight it.
Moral of the story: Go to bed! You’ll do your body good. Everything that’s there now will be there tomorrow. Traveling can be exciting and we may try to cram as much as possible into our schedules so that we don’t “miss anything” but what’s the sense in going away on mini-breaks or vacations if you come back sicker than when you left? None whatsoever.
So, on that note: Good Night.
Leave a Reply