How to have the best (and healthiest) spring break of your life
Spring break is right around the corner and it’s always a time to look forward to. Whether you’re vacationing with family or friends, or just heading home to relax, there’s always something that will boost your spirits. But sometimes some of the things we enjoy so much can actually negatively impact our health. To avoid that this year, we are giving our top tips to have the best and healthiest spring break of your life.
Have The Best Spring Break!
Gut healthy travel tips
Nobody wants their spring break to be completely ruined by stomach problems. But oftentimes when we travel, we end up with some form of a stomach ailment.
So here are some of the best tips to keep your gut healthy and happy so you enjoy your spring break travel (and so you don’t spend the whole thing stuck in the bathroom).
- Drink water often. Don’t skip out on drinking water because you’re afraid you’ll have to stop too often to go to the bathroom on the way. Inadequate water intake leads to constipation which will result in running to the bathroom later.
- Don’t overeat or undereat. During travel, we don’t eat much or we eat too much. Listen to your body and pace yourself so your gut isn’t overwhelmed.
- Eat fibrous and fermented foods. Fiber and fermented foods are a great way to support the good bacteria in your gut. This allows them to prevent the growth of bad bacteria, protects the integrity of your intestinal tract, and keeps your bowel movements regular.
- Introduce local foods to your gut before you travel. Different cultures prepare food in various ways — often not the same way you do in your own country. Sometimes the foods or spices they use while cooking can upset your stomach since it’s something new and your stomach isn’t used to them. Do what you can to prepare ahead of time so you don’t get a true case of culture shock.
- Eat local produce and make sure you prepare/wash foods carefully. Much like the cultural food differences, there are different bacteria in foods than what your body knows. Make sure you are protecting it from unknown bacteria.
- Go to the bathroom when you have to! This one is so often overlooked but so important. By not using the bathroom when you need to, you throw off your normal bathroom cycles. This can cause a lot of stomach issues down the road. So if you gotta go, make sure you go.
- Take your Atrantil. Atrantil helps keep your gut in shape. It feeds the good bacteria, starves the bad bacteria, and nourishes your extremely important microbiome.
Learn more about these travel tips and more in this blog post.
Get a kick start on spring cleaning (your house and gut)
Spring cleaning isn’t just for your house. If you aren’t traveling, now is a good time to start spring cleaning your house and your gut. So while you start filtering through old items, you can begin a juice cleanse or even try out fasting.
Fasting and cleanses allow your gut to actually clean out all of the food that has been stagnant within your digestive tract. When your digestive tract is clogged up from food it doesn’t have time to break down, it becomes slower and more inefficient. This can lead to gas, bloating, and brain fog. Allowing it time to completely remove all of this built-up food will not only have your gut functioning better, but it will also help you have more mental clarity and control.
Schedule time for resting
Rest, much like spring cleaning, is extremely important for your body to recover and perform optimally. If you aren’t traveling, and especially if you just had exams for school, now is a great time to schedule some resting time.
Even if you are traveling, schedule some time to just relax in your rental home. Sit down with a book, meditate, or just catch up on some sleep. Rest allows our bodies to process and reduce the negative impacts that stress can have on us. Schedule a yoga class, guided meditation, or massage to help you if you don’t want to “waste time” but still want to reap the benefits of a form of relaxation/rest. A healthy sleep schedule has also been shown to improve your social interactions.
Whatever you do, make sure you are with people who make you laugh
When they say, “laughter is the best medicine.” They truly aren’t far off. Laughter improves so many things in our lives.
- We release happy chemicals in our brains and guts.
- We have reduced stress levels.
- We are improving our ability to be social. By having healthy social interactions so we are more apt to try having more of them.
- We experience improved life satisfaction.
Laughter has become so effective that they’ve started incorporating it into a therapeutic tool called laughter yoga.
So go join a laughter yoga class, watch your favorite comedian, or spend time with people that you laugh until your tummy and cheeks are sore. This could be the absolute best way to have a great spring break this year.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, but some sweating is good
Reducing stress is going to be the best way you can have a great spring break. Leave this baggage at school or the office. Schedule things that you truly enjoy and feel like your best self while doing.
Do things that help you break the stress cycle like dancing, jogging, singing, or lifting weights. When we experience stress, our body gets a crazy dose of adrenaline and this puts our body into fight or flight mode. That allows our bodies to move quickly. But since most of our stress now is in an office or school building, we don’t run, we sit. So doing things that cause us to sweat like working out actually allows our bodies to use up that extra adrenaline.
Using the adrenaline lets our bodies know that we have moved away from the stress-causing item. Then our brains know that we are safe. So get your body moving to stop the stress cycle and to improve your health.
Practice mindfulness and being present in everything you do
Whether journaling, yoga, or a timer helps you to be mindful and present do what works best for you. By really living out these fantastic experiences rather than through the screen of our cell phones, we are able to experience a much better time.
When we eat, exercise, or are just being around the people we love the most, being mindful of what we ingest or put out into the world helps improve all of these experiences. Being present is the best gift you can give yourself and those around you this spring break. So take your photos and post them to Instagram, but then put the phone down and experience every sweet moment you get.
We’d love to hear what you have going on this spring break! Let us know in the comments what excitement or relaxation you have planned this year (and maybe which of these tips you’ll be using too)!