Simple Health Safety Tips When Traveling

There are a number of ways to ensure your health safety while traveling. Follow these simple guidelines to stay healthy. When you travel, you should be aware of your surroundings and be aware of your belongings. Make sure you use a backpack that has a chest strap, and don’t place valuables in your back pockets.

Preparation

Before traveling, it is important to plan your health safety. This includes knowing the symptoms of common illnesses that may be present in the destination country. If you are ill or have preexisting conditions, it is important to seek medical advice. You can also ask your doctor to give you a travel vaccination for a particular disease.

Immunizations

Immunizations are essential for your health and safety when traveling. You should have the recommended vaccinations for the country you are visiting and for the countries you’ll visit. Infants can start their primary vaccination series at 6 weeks of age and receive the rotavirus and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. Children should also receive a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine before traveling outside of Canada or to a country where it is a concern. Also, if you want to travel with pets, they also need their vaccines.

Food

Traveling can be exciting and full of new experiences, but the health of your family and yourself can be compromised by unsafe food and water. It is a good idea to limit your food intake while traveling abroad, and avoid eating certain types of foods, such as unpasteurized dairy products and raw fish. Taking precautions to wash your hands frequently and cook food to safe temperatures will also prevent food-borne illness.

Sanitation

Travelers should always pay attention to sanitation, especially when in a foreign country. Though sanitary conditions may be better in developed countries, they may be inadequate in less developed ones. They should bring sanitation wipes and stay away from high-touch areas.

Drinking water

When traveling to new countries, drinking water quality is an important consideration. While the water in many countries is safe to drink, there are some risks of getting water-borne illnesses. Waterborne illnesses can lead to dehydration, fever, and other symptoms. While most of these symptoms will go away after a few days, severe ones will require medical attention. If you can, avoid drinking the local water, and drink only bottled water. If this is not possible, you should boil the water to kill off most of the disease-causing microorganisms.

Air pressure

Air pressure in an airplane cabin has a significant impact on the health of passengers. During flights, passengers experience a drop in air pressure that is about 10 to 20 percent lower than the ambient pressure. Even this small drop in air pressure can have a profound effect on lung health. Most people do not experience any symptoms from these conditions, but people with underlying health conditions can be affected by the changes in air pressure.

Bug bites

If you are traveling in a densely wooded area, be sure to wear clothing that protects you from bug bites. And we are not talking about mattresses and bed bugs here. Long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and closed-toed shoes are ideal. To keep mosquitoes at bay, wear clothing that is pre-treated with insect repellent, such as permethrin. Be sure to wear clothing that covers your ankles and tucks shirts into pants. If you’re traveling with children, use insect repellent on their clothing, especially if they’re going to be exposed to the bugs. You should also wash your hands frequently, and apply hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.