One of my biggest struggles when I started travel nursing was keeping up with a healthy, active lifestyle.

When my boyfriend and I were constantly on the road getting acquainted to new cities, new residences, and new work spaces it was not only time consuming but exhausting as well. After almost a year of falling into a very sedentary lifestyle, I started to feel icky and gross. I knew I was jeopardizing my overall health.

I realized the more inactive I became, the harder it was to want to go out and do stuff.

It was a downward spiral.

It wasn’t just about my lack of physical activity anymore. I stopped going out and exploring my new environment. I became so sedentary that I lacked the desire to cook and started eating out A LOT. My excuse was that I never had enough time to actually cook a healthy, decent meal.

But looking back on those days, I always had plenty of time to binge watch Friends reruns on Netflix and beat ten levels of Candy Crush each day.

Many like me have struggled with the same problems I had when living life on the move.

With being constantly on the run, we travelers lose our motivation and drive to make our health a priority. Unfortunately, some individuals do not even understand the benefits of taking care of their own minds and bodies in the first place.

Here are 7 reasons why you should care about your health while you’re traveling:

1. Being unhealthy increases stress

Traveling is already stressful in itself. You have to make sure you catch your plane on time, figure out transportation to your hotel, keep track of all your belongings, and so much more. This constant go, go, go gets stressful even for some of the most experienced travelers.

If you’re not taking care of yourself both mentally and physically, the hormones in your body will increase your stress to an unnecessary level- a level you didn’t even need to be on in the first place.

A healthy body leads to a healthy mind and a healthy mind will rarely over-stress. You will be able to think much more clearly in order to navigate through the LAX security line or figure out how the Tube operates in London (it took me WAY longer to figure this out than I’d like to admit).

Travel can benefit your mental health immensely. It breaks you away from the daily grind and opens your mind to new possibilities.

2. Bad health gets expensive

Multiple doctor consultations, prescription medications, mental and physical therapy, and hospital visits. It all adds up and makes for one very expensive, could have been avoidable bill- all because you wanted to buy that bag of chips instead of an apple.

3. You’re traveling for a reason – to live.

Stay active, explore, and go do things! Don’t let your body start to rot away from your bad habits. Keep it healthy, strong, and fully functioning by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

As much fun as sitting in a lounge chair on the beach for six hours sounds fun and relaxing- you don’t want your ENTIRE vacation to be that unproductive.

Take the time to explore the local culture, take a dip in the ocean, and take a stroll through some historic museums. These are just a few examples.

4. You’ll have more energy to do more

No one likes to travel when they’re tired or sluggish. Having those feelings take away from the ultimate experience! Taking care of your overall health will in the long run give you more energy to be able to explore the new world around you!

5. Traveling is easier when you’re healthy

Sitting on a plane, bus, train, or car is far more manageable when you’re healthy. If you don’t take care of your body, you’ll start to notice things like your legs starting to swell and even form blood clots (this is actually a very serious medical condition), legs start to have tingling or numbness and become just downright uncomfortable. And you can even get random aches and pains in your back, neck, or shoulders.

See also:

• Simple Exercises & Yoga Poses for Long Flights

6. People love and care about you and your health

Keep them sane while you’re traveling. Don’t have them constantly worrying about you. Give them the confidence that you know what you’re doing overseas, and you know how to take care of yourself.

7. If you keep up an active routine when you’re traveling, it’s easier to get back into your groove when you come home

No more difficult time getting back into your pre-vacation groove. If you try to continue your good habits while you’re traveling, chances are you’re going to have an easier time adjusting. You’ll also decrease your chances of getting post-vacation depression and jet lag.

See also:

• Post-Vacation Depression: 8-Steps to Get Yourself Out of That Slump
• Proven Ways to Overcoming Jet Lag