Alternative Health Blog

Flying on a round trip from the East Coast to Seattle for a seminar earlier this month, Lauren Muney logged 17 hours of flights, layovers and delays. She followed her own advice on how to stay healthy while traveling. She drank lots of fluids, stretched, explored new things and packed her own food.

One problem: “They took my yogurt [drink] away when I went through security,” said Muney, who is a certified fitness trainer and “health coach” based in Maryland. “It was more than three ounces. I pouted a bit, then adjusted.”

Muney counsels a number of clients using emails and phone calls, including the Seattle-based Frank Forencich, seminar leader and author of “Play As If Your Life Depends on It” (Go Animal Publishing). She “coached all of the details” for Forencich’s recent retreat that was attended by neuroscientists and movement therapy specialists.

“Play can have a positive health effect on the human body and physicality,” Muney explained. “Play can also be about investigating something new. It can fire up brain cells.”

To that end, Muney said she encourages frequent traveler clients to seek out new experiences, especially at airports, as a way to stay energetic while changing planes or watching the departures board push back your flight departure by, oh, an hour or more.

“If you normally read a book [or browse the Internet], take the opportunity to do something unusual,” she said. “Check out a different part of the airport. Read a magazine you have never looked at before. Find a place to do some stretching. It will make your day feel fresher.”

Muney said she isn’t afraid to perform floor stretches or dance moves that might draw a few looks from fellow passengers in the gate area. As little as three minutes of a mini-workout can be beneficial.

“I will regularly do squats or what used to be called deep-knee bends,” said Muney. “It doesn’t matter what people think. I figure my health is more important than drawing attention to myself.”

On the plane, Muney advises clients to wear shoes that can be easily removed to massage the feet and roll them a bit on the floor. She recommends walking the center aisle one or more times, particularly on longer flights. Research shows that some individuals are subject to the potentially harmful deep-vein thrombosis or reduced blood circulation in the legs (which might lead to a cardiac episode) can be prevented by the habit of getting up to move during mid-flight. You might find this strategy easier with an aisle seat but Muney urges everyone to not feel self-conscious about troubling seatmates for the chance to move around the airplane.

“People who sit long enough on planes, especially if they are taking multiple flights in the same day, feel what they consider tiredness,” said Muney. “But in a way what is really happening is their bodies temporarily forget how to move.”

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.