Health for long haul travellers

Those going on long haul travels should pay close attention to their health, especially if travelling to high-risk destinations such as Africa. You will need to be thinking about your health requirements weeks before you travel.

The first place to start is by researching your destination. What injections are required by law for entry into the country (e.g. yellow fever) and what injections are highly recommended? Your doctor will be able to help. Common vaccinations are: polio, diptheria, cholera, hepatitis A and hepatitis B. If you have had vaccinations for some of these diseases before you may still be protected or may be able to get a booster that will top you up for years to come.

Depending on your destination you may also need antimalarials. Malaria tablets should be taken one to two weeks before departure to build up some protection and to check there’s no adverse side effects. Depending on which antimalarials you are prescribed, the side effects can range from extra sun sensitivity to hallucinations. You will still need to take other preventative measures against mosquito bites as antimalarials cannot prevent infection with malaria – what theydo is inhibit the parasite’s development.

If you are going to be coming into frequent close contact with animals on your travels you may also need protection against rabies but this isn’t standard practice for most travellers.

Obviously you will need to make sure you have plenty of personal medication and a first aid kit that suits the type of trip you are going on. Take more medication than you think you will need in case you are delayed in your destination country. An emergency first aid kit with syringes will be useful for poorer countries and these medical consumables can be easily bought from a medical equipment supplier. An easy way to find a selection of suppliers to choose from would be to do an internet search for ‘medical supplies UK’ or to check out your local pharmacy or outdoor supplies shop.

You must make sure that you have good health insurance – trying to make savings here is not advisable. It would be awful to be stranded in a foreign country with medical bills racking up because you didn’t bother with insurance or thought you could get away with not taking it out. Repatriation can cost large sums of money and you need to be covered. For travel inside Europe, a European Health Insurance Card (available from the Post Office amongst other places) entitles you to free or reduced cost medical treatment.

Air travel may also cause you problems such as dehydration and DVT. Deep vein thrombosis isn’t very common but can be lethal. Make sure you drink plenty of water on your flight, don’t drink too much alcohol or coffee, keep your skin moisturised and keep your body as active as possible with walking up and down the cabin or moving your feet about. It is also a good idea to purchase special flight socks that help prevent the blood in your legs pooling, giving you some protection against DVT.

On arrival at your destination, follow good hygiene practices and don’t take silly risks. ‘Boil it, cook it, peel it or forget it’ is a motto that will see you through in areas of poor sanitation. Make sure your hot food is properly hot and that you stay away from ice cubes if you are not sure if the water they have been made from is safe. Only wash food in boiled or sterilised water and don’t use water from the tap to brush your teeth or drink. Make sure that bottled water served to you is opened in your presence.

If you suffer from an upset stomach it may not be that you have caught anything nasty but that your body is not used to the new food and different water.

If you feel really ill then make sure you take medical advice as soon as possible.

How healthy is the seaside?

Everybody thinks that the seaside is the place where you can fill your lungs with good old fashioned “sea air”, but how good is this sea air for you? Let’s start with the good points to going on a beach holiday, and why it is good for your health, then we can make a decision later…

 

What’s better than going to the beach and having a good swim? Swimming is supposed to be the best exercise form for you; it gets every muscle working together, and your heart will get pumping blood at a constant rate. While you are swimming you are making your heart work harder, this in turn, helps blood flow around the body and you can do all this while having fun. Sea water is very good for your skin, so if you go swimming as well you get exercise too. The high salt levels help to clear up acne and permanent scars.

 

The sun is also good for your skin (in small doses). Skin cancer and multiple sclerosis can both be reduced in risk with vitamin D which is supplied by sunlight.

 

If anything the one thing we can all agree on (as long as you have a good holiday) is that holidays are best for reducing stress levels. Heart disease and skin problems are a cause of large amounts of stress. Stress can cause health problems, and getting this under control could really help. Being able to go on luxury holidays by the beach will relieve stress will help you to clear your head as well.

 

Now for the bad points, let’s say you were looking at Caribbean holidays for example. There are sandy beaches everywhere, and nothing you can do to avoid them. The sun is going to be following you wherever you go. The sun although is good for you in small doses is pretty bad for in high doses, as some of you will know. You know what i mean, when we have not put enough sun tan lotion on and then skin starts to peel and we turn red, our skin just burns.

 

In recent studies it has been shown that the sea air isn’t actually that brilliant for you. Although the air is cleaner than that, say in a city, it contains some interesting substances. Now don’t get all paranoid it’s not serious but it is worth noting. There is a substance that is released by animals in the sea called DMS (dimethyl sulphide), this substance floats around the sea and the beaches and irritates the eyes and nose, it also has that smell you detect when your at the seaside. Another substance that was discovered was nitryl chloride which is a respiratory inhibitor but is the most of it is broken down by the sun.

 

So are beach holidays good for you? Stress can really make a difference in your life so if you do go on holiday this is what you want to remove, if you do then holidays like this are good for you. Nobody is going to stop going to the beach or going on holiday, the bad points aren’t bad enough yet. So if you planning weddings abroad then go for it, swim in the sea and enjoy the sun.