Travel Nurses: Keep Fit While Traveling

Traveling as a lifestyle is fun and exciting but it can take a toll on your health. Given your busy schedule and the constant moving, it’s easy to lose sight that you’re supposed to take care of yourself as well and as much as you do your patients.

The truth is you help no one if you fall ill or fail to operate at an optimal capacity. So, make sure that you stay fit while on an assignment. Here are a few ways to do so:

Carve out Time Every Day for Exercise

Being on the move constantly makes it difficult to make time for exercise. When you’re exhausted after a tiring day at the facility or while on the road, exercise might be the farthest thing from your mind. However, know that exercise will actually give you more energy throughout the day. When you get a gym membership, make sure that you do so at a place that has multiple branches and allows you to work out at any of their branches. If you don’t like going to the gym that much, wake up an hour earlier than normal and jog or brisk walk.

Breakfast, the Most Important Meal of the Day

Another way to keep healthy is to start each morning with a healthy breakfast. Busy people tend to skip breakfast in the morning. However, you really don’t need to be told how important breakfast is, right? If you don’t have time in the morning, make one before going to bed and put it in the fridge. Make an egg casserole that can last for several days and freeze it. Pull out a serving when you wake up, microwave it and eat. Other options include having a bowl of cereal coupled with a piece of fruit. The goal is to make sure that you’re energy-filled before you get to work. And breakfast is really the one meal you can’t afford to skip.

Drink Plenty of Water

Instead of coffee or soda, you should drink plenty of water. Sugar-filled drinks tend to leave you dehydrated and feeling sluggish. What’s more, they’re packed with unnecessary (and unwanted!) calories. Keep a large water bottle with you and drink that instead.

Get Enough Sleep

Fatigue happens when you don’t have the right amount of sleep. Being in a new place all the time because you travel for a living can disrupt your sleep cycle. So, don’t add to the problem by finding excuses not to sleep early at night. For instance, if you just moved to a new assignment, adjust your body clock by going to be an hour or more earlier than normal. Turn off the TV and just relax in bed. You’ll fall as sleep in no time at all!