As parents with kids, family travel defines the holiday season, whether it’s summer vacations or the winter holidays. Of course, the excitement of travel can unravel pretty quickly if even one of you comes down with an illness. While infections aren’t waiting around every corner to sabotage your holidays, the risk can be particularly high during the cold and flu season. Travel, whether by flight or road, increases exposure to disease-causing pathogens, but this doesn’t mean that sickness is inevitable. You can take common sense precautions to protect the health and wellbeing of your family to make sure that your family vacation is memorable for all the right reasons.
Health Hacks for Illness Free Travel this Cold & Flu Season
You’ve probably heard all of these tips and suggestions before, but there’s no harm in repeating them. After all, we tend to treat health care advice just as kids treat admonishments to get their homework done in time!
Get Those Flu Shots
The best way to protect your family against the risk of flu is the most obvious one – getting those flu shots. Despite what you may have heard from self-professed ‘experts’, there’s almost no risk of serious side effects from getting a flu shot. Flu shots are in fact extremely effective and can be quite the lifesaver for many. In addition to protecting yourself and your family with vaccination, you also help other vulnerable groups by minimizing their risk of exposure. Just make sure to get your shots at least 2 weeks before travel and inform your health care provider about any allergies or pre-existing conditions that you might suffer from.
Don’t Lose Any Sleep
It’s something that we most often disregard, but sleep has a huge role to play in immune function. Cytokines that are released during sleep help to fight infection and inflammation when you’re sick. Not surprisingly, studies show that sleep deprivation or impaired sleep can increase vulnerability to infection. Based on what we do know, it is advisable that you make sure that your kids and you get adequate sleep on a regular basis, especially during the weeks leading up to your travel.
Keep Your Hands Clean
Direct transmission of illness from an infected individual is usually easier to avoid, but indirect transmission through contact with contaminated surfaces is a lot more insidious. After all, you can avoid travelling in a coach with a passenger who is obviously ill, but you can’t avoid contact with all surfaces. It’s not even practical or healthy to try avoiding surface contact. However, you can make sure that your entire family makes it a habit to wash their hands thoroughly with soap after making contact with surfaces that could be germ infested. If you don’t have access to soap and water, carry hand sanitizer with you.
Don’t Touch Your Nose
We’ve all been in situations where you feel your eyes or nose itch and just have to scratch at it. That’s something that you simply have to avoid while travelling unless you just washed or sanitized your hands. This might not be easy, especially for kids, but it’s a habit that you’ll have to encourage. Germs tend to linger on the fingers and under the fingernails and can be easily introduced to the mouth, nasal passages, or eyes, causing infections like the common cold, flu, and more.
Stay Hydrated
Maintaining adequate levels of hydration is good advice at most times, but it’s even more important when you’re travelling. Aside from complications that are associated with dehydration, even moderate dehydration can weaken immune function increasing susceptibility to infections. When travelling, make sure to drink enough water or to rehydrate with other natural fluids such as from fresh fruits and fresh juices. Aside from increasing fluid intake, it would also be advisable to take precautions by carrying oral rehydration solutions with you.
Use Saline Sprays & Portable Humidifiers
Cold and dry air does more than cause chapped lips and dry skin. It also dries out the nasal passages, increasing the risk of respiratory infections and airway inflammation. Saline sprays can help to cleanse the passages, flushing out mucus and bacteria, reducing the likelihood of infection. Similarly, some studies suggest that humidifiers may help curtail the spread of airborne pathogens like the influenza virus. If you’re traveling to an area that has dry and cold air, the use of humidifiers and saline sprays can protect your family. Besides, air conditioning at hotels also tends to keep humidity levels low.
Don’t forget that while all of these health hacks will help to keep your family safe while traveling, there’s more than you can do. The best safeguard against infection, aside from immunization, would be to follow a healthy lifestyle that includes balanced nutrition and plenty of physical activity. After all, your immune system is your best defense against infections and there’s no better way to keep it healthy.
