All of us must have the responsibility of protecting our own health while traveling. But, the fine travel health can be ensured with proper eating habits.
Traveling internationally needs to be aware of the conditions (both natural and man made) in other countries also. The injuries and illnesses during travel are caused by:
- Not having proper protection against disease causing substances or ignoring vaccines
- Consumption of contaminated food or water
- Not taking proper preventative medications, for example malaria pills
- Participating in risky activities like having unsafe sex, tattooing and excessive drinking
Travel health risks:
The most common complaint while traveling is diarrhea. It is the result of drinking unpurified or uncultivated water. Also, you are at a risk of having various childhood diseases when you travel. Improper immunization can also lead to various health risks. They include:
- Diarrhea
- Diphtheria
- Mumps
- Measles
- Polio
- Rubella
- Tetanus
If you are traveling for countries where sanitary conditions are poor, you need to take vaccines against hepatitis A and typhoid. Also, based on your travel activities, you need to take the following vaccines to protect against the diseases like:
- Encephalitis
- Hepatitis B
- Meningitis
- Rabies
Tips to enjoy your trip with safer travel health:
- Ensure that all your regular vaccines are up to date.
- Before you plan for your vacation travel, consult your doctor before six weeks to your trip in order to take vaccines that you may need. This is essential particularly if you are going for tropical areas or developing countries.
- Private health insurance is necessary when you are away from your home. Consult your travel agent to get any suggestions about this.
- Washing your hands with soap or any sanitizing agent before you eat or drink is very important.
- If the area you are going to visit is usually hot then you need to use sun block with a minimum SPF (Sun protection factor) of 15.
- Don’t share needles of anyone to inject drugs.
- Avoid walking alone in remote areas, beaches or back streets where you are at a risk of personal attack.
- Carry a first aid kit along with you. In that, include the things like pain medications, prescriptions, antacids, bug repellents and sunscreen.
- Before you are leaving for your vacation, check the latest travel advices about your destination at smartertravel.com.
Maintaining travel health is utterly important if you don’t want to carnage your traveling binge.
