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Traveling for work is a common business practice. But it can sometimes take a toll on your well-being and your ability to perform at your best. What if you could become an empowered, productive road warrior, without annihilating your health? On this episode, Deloitte chief well-being officer Jen Fisher discusses strategies for staying energized and resilient on the road with traveling naturopath, speaker, trainer, and author John Ayo.
The WorkWell Podcast™ is back and I am so excited about the inspiring guests we have lined up. Wellbeing at work is the issue of our time. This podcast is your lens into what the experts are seeing, thinking, and doing.
Hi, I am Jen Fisher, host, bestselling author and influential speaker in the corporate wellbeing movement and the first-ever Chief Wellbeing Officer in the professional services industry. On this show, I sit down with inspiring individuals for wide-ranging conversations on all things wellbeing at work. Wellbeing is the future of work. This podcast will help you as an individual, but also support you in being part of the movement for change in your own organizations and communities. Wellbeing can be the outcome of work well designed. And we all have a role to play in this critical transformation!
This podcast provides general information and discussions about health and wellness. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast. The podcast owner, producer and any sponsors are not liable for any health-related claims or decisions made based on the information presented or discussed.
Staying energized and resilient on the road
Jennifer Fisher (Jen): When I travel, I get frequent comments on my snack bag. Yes, I carry a pretty robust array of snacks with me at all times and I learned the hard way
because I never know what kind of food will be available to me when I’m in transit or even when it’s part of my travel routine. I have even become known for it. Knowing that I always have snacks that are not only nutritious, but that I really enjoy eating, helps me deal with the unexpected, which is an almost constant for those of us that travel frequently. Delays, adopting to new time zones, and of course, lack of healthy food options are just a few of the many challenges that all travelers deal with. But travel doesn’t have to be the enemy to your well-being, with the right planning, tips and tricks, you can stay energized and resilient on the road.
This is the Workwell podcast series. Hi, I am Jen Fisher, chief well-being officer for Deloitte
and I’m so pleased to be here with you today to talk about all things well-being.
Teaser - John Ayo (John): So, I’m sitting there lying on the floor of a conference room and
my class is next door and I’m just looking up and I’m disoriented and I’m wide awake and
I’m sleepy, I don’t know what I am. But that was it, you know, jetlag, so I learned then, oh, my god, I’m going to do something about this. So, I started researching and learning and practicing and trying, so I came up with a series of, I don’t know maybe eight or nine different things to do. The more of them that you do, the better your chances of not getting jetlag.
Jen: I’m here with John Ayo. John is a speaker, trainer, and author focused on inspiring and empowering professionals to stay energized, healthy, and balanced while traveling.
John: It’s fascinating how life takes you on a completely different path then you started or planned, right, so I started out as an engineer at Texas A&M. I’m graduating, I’m like I don’t want to be an engineer, so I went to get an MBA and I joined IBM and I was in sales
for 19 years at IBM and had a very successful career, and actually led a team that closed the largest software deal in the history of IBM for a billion dollars and I’m just sitting there after doing this and I’m just not feeling fulfilled. So, I’m praying, what am I supposed to do? What I’m supposed to do? And the answer was I got sick and I felt like I had 102 fever every day, I was in pain and miserable, couldn’t sleep, and I went to all the doctors and thousands of dollars, scan, scopes, test and they said, it’s all in your head. So, my engineering brain kicked to problem solving. I started going to chiropractors and acupuncturists and they became my teachers and friends. I got fascinated with natural health and I got a doctorate in naturopathy, and that’s when I took a job in IBM where I was doing a sales training class, so I had a five-day class and we had, I don’t know anywhere from 80 to 150 students and I was the leader of that class and we did it in 26 countries. So, I learned the hard way as a traveling naturopath how to stay healthy when you travel doing business travel.
Jen: Okay. How often were you traveling during that time?
John: Probably by five to eight a year that I would do, usually I’d be gone for 10 days at a time and I’d not done that before because before that I had been pretty much domestic, and so things like jetlag were like a couple of hours, you know, because I live in Dallas, so hey, an hour or couple of hours, you can do it. But when you go to…my first intro to jetlag was South Africa, so…
Jen: Yeah, I was going to say, was there particularly bad or memorable business trip that kind of set you on this journey of having to figure it out for yourself in a different way?
John: Several, so we'll talk about that one first, because that one is the jetlag introduction and so I’m sitting there lying on the floor of a conference room and my class is next door and I’m just looking up and I’m disoriented and I’m wide awake and I’m sleepy, I don’t
know what I am. But that was it, you know, jetlag, so I learned then, oh, my god, I’m going to do something about this. So, I started researching and learning and practicing and trying, so I came up with a series of, I don’t know maybe eight or nine different things to do. The more of them that you do, the better your chances of not getting jetlag. So, I have been able to knock it out pretty well now, traveling just about anywhere in the world, coming back from Asia is difficult.
Jen: Yeah, I do think jetlag is, it’s the number one thing I get asked about when it comes to traveling, what are some strategies to help alleviate the symptoms of jetlag, so let's just go right in and talk about…
John: Well, for some people, daylight savings time is jetlag, right, just one hour will do it. And so, when you go across 3, 4, 5, you know, 6 times especially traveling east is more difficult. So, the first thing I do like as an example anytime I go to Europe, it's usually through London, so we get on that plane and the first thing I do is just set my clock to that destination time zone immediately. So, if we leave usually about 6, 7 PM., if it gets in, you know, in the morning, next morning, but it's 6, 7 hours difference in London, so as soon as I step out my plane, I immediately set my body clock and say it's 1 am. So, am I going to eat 1 am.? Probably not, so I’m get on that plane and getting into London time immediately and never look back. So, when the little clock comes up on the airplane and says time in Dallas don’t look, just look at time in London, because that’s where you are and don’t think back.
The next thing and probably the biggest one is hydration and so we are going to spend a bit of time on that one because it’s so foundational to health. We are so chronically dehydrated and unfortunately just drinking a lot of water is not going to do it, because it's like flash flooding your body and just goes in and you go to bathroom especially when you are in places like Vegas or desert, it's very difficult and planes are incredibly dehydrating. So, one of the things we have to do is figure out is how to get water in a form that’s absorbable into the cells of the body called structured water. So, we know about solid, liquid, and gas forms of water, but there is a fourth form called structured water and what that is, it's basically the gel like water that’s inside the cells and the way we get it is by eating plants, fruits, and vegetables, pull this water off the ground and into the plant bodies and we eat them, so eating your water is the best. So, when you can't get to the fruits and vegetables, eating them or smoothies or things like that one of the things, I’m kind of known for, is putting chia seeds in your water. So, a tablespoon or so of chia seeds in your water will give you the omega 3s and the proteins from the chia seeds, but also converts it into structured water, so it’s way more absorbable.
Jen: Going back to the fruits and vegetables, are there certain fruits and vegetables that
are better when it comes to water content or no, any fruits and vegetables…
John: Well, it depends. There are pros and cons in all of it.
Jen: I’m thinking of watermelon.
John: Exactly. Well the trade-off here is sugar. Sugar is our biggest enemy. Watermelon is awesome for water, but it also has a lot of sugar in it. Same thing with melons, and things like that. So, when you’re traveling, your best bet is always to find dark green juices. A lot of airports now have juice bars. You could go there, but make sure you’re not getting the orange juice, pineapple, etc. Carrot juice taste good because its got a lot of sugar, but go for the greens if you can. Just a couple of more things on jetlag. Again, I’ve got a whole lot of these that I talk about in my book. I’ll just give you some highlights.
So the other one is stay awake until 9 p.m. the first two nights. Especially like when you fly to London or going to Europe you land at 7 a.m. It’s hard and you’re sleepy. You can get to your room by 10 a.m., you can take a nap for about 1 hour, but you got to be up by
11 a.m. and go and go and go. Drink coffee or, do whatever you have to do.
The other big deal is, bare feet on earth. Called earthing. So, we have disconnected ourselves from this planet and this is a common theme with everything that I talk about with travel balance, it’s how do I remove stressors. Because if I can remove the stressors, it’s going to help my body to respond and heal. There are certain stressors I can’t control. I can’t make the flights not be delayed and I can’t make them not lose your luggage.
So, when you get to your destination, if you can get bare feet on the earth for about 20 minutes and from a Good/Better/Best perspective, getting on the earth would be great. Wet grass would be even better. And best would be an ocean, if you could be in there 20 minutes. So, I just came back from Monterey and I shot some videos when I was there during the Pacific Coast Highway and just stand in the ocean to help sink you into the time zone. It helps discharge static electricity from the plane. And it puts electrons into your body which helps you to heal. So it’s a really big one.
Jen: What about exercise? I’ve heard, try to exercise as soon as you can after you land or
go for a walk. It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise, but walking, moving, and sunlight.
John: Movement and sunlight, absolutely key. Whenever I speak, I talk about how I’m an advocate for the fruits and vegetables, the spinach and carrot lobby doesn’t have a lot of money or the sun or the earth. I’m representing them and they’re free. So if you can get
barefoot on the earth while you’re looking at the sun and you’re walking, that’s an awesome thing. So movement is key. One of the main reasons is that it helps move the water through the fascia. That’s how it gets to hydrate your cells. If you can do nothing else from this whole podcast, if you would just drink more water with the chia seeds and eat your water, you’re going to feel so much better.
Jen: So, give us two more jetlag tips and then we will move on.
John: I have a couple of more jetlag tips. So movement was one definitely. One of the other things I do is an energy technique called EFT. Have you ever heard of the Emotional Freedom Technique? So, tapping certain parts of the body. It’s tapping the energy meridians at acupuncture points. And when you tap these things on your face, and there are certain things you can look up. And tell your body that your body clock is now set to 1 a.m. and it is 1 a.m. And you are telling your body energetically, sink in to this time zone. That is a huge one. I usually go in to the bathroom in the airplane so people don’t think I am crazy. But sometimes I don’t care and I just tap anyway. But that sinks you in as well. And the other part, as you mentioned is getting into the sun. That resets your circadian rhythm.
Looking at that sun really helps and that takes us into a whole other topic that you may not want to talk about, but you might. It is how do you sleep in a hotel room.
Jen: Let’s do it. Let’s go there!
John: So a big part of that is the set up in the room. But it starts with what I just talked about, the sun. When I get into the sun and I’m looking at the sun it goes through my eyes and it activates this gland in my brain called the pineal; that makes the hormone called melatonin. So you’ve got to be in the sun. During your travel and business conferences, a lot of times it’s hard to get in the sun. But if you can look at the sun.
Jen: Or you’re in a hotel ballroom.
John: Florescent lights don’t count. You have to be in the sun. So that’s a big one. And when you get to your hotel room one of the biggest things is focusing on and kind of appeasing your mind; because it’s a freak out. This is a new place, this is scary, I don’t
know what’s going on, I don’t know the smell, I don’t know this lighting. So how do I tell my body that it’s okay, to chill, calm down? What are the smells I can use to make it more memorable for me, using essential oils or whatever? What are the sounds? White noise, different kinds of things. What are the things I am looking at? Maybe pictures. What are the feels? Can I make the thing be as cool as possible? We sleep better in a cool room. Some people travel with their own sheets to make it feel better.
Jen: I have a pretty extensive sleep ritual that I developed actually at home, but it works on the road too. Because it’s the same sounds, signals, scents, and smells that remind me of sleeping at home. So I’m pretty well known for my sleep rituals.
John: Well, that’s pretty much the key. And it’s not just when you’re there. A lot of people
have a hard time sleeping today.
Jen: There are other things you can do. I have multiple things that I pick and choose from. A menu of things that are kind of a wind down routine for me. Sometimes I don’t always want it to be the same. But I liken it to remembering when you were a child, you had a sleep ritual. Your mom or dad was like, go take a bath, put on your pajamas, brush your teeth, get in bed and I’ll come read you a story. Kind of following those same principles at a certain time.
John: Yes, so sync that as well into that time zone.
Jen: So going to sleep and waking up at the same time on the time zone that you’re on.
John: On the destination time zone absolutely. You got to get there. “Well I’m not ready to go to sleep, because back home…” You don’t want to think about back home. You’re not
back home, you’re here. So be here and you’ll get there and your body will adjust. And it
will adjust very quickly if you’ll do just the tips I mentioned.
Jen: My sleep ritual or my sleep routine is usually I’ll be coming back from a dinner
(especially if I’m traveling for work). So right away I lower the temp in the room and turn down the lights. I make sure that not every light in the room is blaring. I do a chamomile tea at night and so typically there is always coffee maker in the room or I’ll order some hot water. Just do my regular kind of wash my face, brush my teeth routine. I’ll journal 5 things that I’m grateful for. If I am really tired and I don’t have a lot of time to sit and write, I also read. I always carry a real book with me. I never read on an electronic device of any kind.
Electronic devices are not on my night stand. They are somewhere across the room and the alarm still works across the room. So you don’t need it on your night stand. Sometimes you can put it in the bathroom. Consistent variations of that depending on how tired I am or how much time I have to make sure that I’m putting my head down on the pillow to get an adequate, at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep, regardless of where I am.
John: That sounds awesome. Sounds fabulous.
Jen: What’s your sleep routine?
John: I have a whole routine. I’m setting the temperature when I get in the room and I move all the electronics away from the headboard because electromagnetic fields are a big deal. I spend a lot of time talking about that and the impact on the body. So put it in airplane mode, 6 feet away, definitely do that. I use essential oils. Sometimes I bring a
defuser. Usually, I’ll just have a cotton ball, I’ll put some drops in the cotton ball and stick it in the air vent. Kind of get the smells going in the room. Making the room look homey and right for me. I wear a sleep mask. I used to fight the light wherever I would go. Constantly trying to get those curtains to close that never close.
Jen: I have some tips for that. I can’t wear a sleep mask. I don’t like to have anything over my face, so I think housekeeping usually thinks that something is going on. I take towels or whatever I can to put it over the lights. Inevitably, the curtains never close and that
sunlight just finds it’s way to my eye in the morning, so I carry binder clips with me. I
actually close the curtains that way.
John: Yes… I used to carry binder clips. One other thing is, usually if you go into the closet, they have the hangers with the double clips. You can do those too.
Jen: Yes, if you’re desperate you can do the hangers and there are all kinds of tips and tricks, but I always think that when I leave the room in the morning, I try to take the towels and put them in a pile. But if I’m in a rush or in a hurry, I just leave everything. Hopefully, housekeeping is getting more and more used to it. Because more and more people are doing it. We are seeing some of the hotels adapt to having more of the wellness-related things like circadian rhythm lighting, essential oil infusers. I’m always interested when I walk into a hotel room and I’m seeing more and more of this stuff. I do feel like the hospitality industry is starting to kind of catch up with those of us who desire wellness for our travel.
John: That’s perfect, there is one more I will add. I do a lot of videos on LinkedIn and I put little tips on there. I was hesitant on this, but turned out it was pretty popular. The thing is, if you’re laying in the hotel bed and you can see yourself in a mirror, you need to cover that mirror. From a Feng Shui energetic perspective, it’s something that keeps you away. If eyes open a little bit, it senses movement in your brain. So that’s just one more thing to calm you down. I was in a hotel room that had that, so I said let me shoot a video of what this looks like. And people were guessing, is this the blank hotel? And I’m not saying or picking on hotels. Because a lot of people don’t think about it. You just put a towel over the mirror; it’s fairly simple. So, we got a lot of towels… Can we get 10 more towels up to Jen Fisher’s room? (laughter).
Jen: I know that would actually freak me out if I woke up and saw movement in the mirror
too. I’d be like, somebody’s in my room!
John: That’s right.
Jen: Yes, cause your brain isn’t always oriented to exactly where you are; especially if
you’re in a new place. Alright, let’s move on a little bit. Let’s talk about food and tips and tricks for healthy food options while on the road. What do you do about those things? Or what do you suggest about finding healthy options, traveling with healthy options, being aware of what your options are? Especially when many of us go to lunches and dinners that are planned for us. What does that look like?
John: Yes, that can be tricky. So bring your food with you. You always want to have your just in case food, just in case supplements, and just in case everything, right? So, I have bars and nuts, trail mix, and all that kind of thing. But when you’re traveling, what you’re looking for… and a lot of this depends on what you’re feeling. So, I have a whole routine and maybe we’ll talk about this next, is how do you not get sick? Because it all plays together. When you’re traveling, you’re traveling for a reason and there is an impact on your business. When you get there and are supposed to do the presentation, you don’t feel good, and you cannot present from your hotel bedroom. How do I focus on that? When
you’re eating, there are certain things you think about from an eating perspective. One of them is that when you’re eating things like fruit, they are pretty much sugar and water, and they go through your digestive system very quickly. So if I eat a meal and I eat fruit last, the meal is going to be sitting there digesting slowly, here comes the fruit. The fruit is going to ferment and cause gas and digestive problems. If you’re a meat eater and you’re eating
steak or chicken, and you have potatoes and starch with that, your body (stomach) makes hydrochloric acids to digest that meat. When you eat the starch, the potatoes absorb the
hydrochloric acid and now you’re sitting there with this thing. Ideally, you want to eat early. I usually eat around 6 p.m., which is good. Unless of course if you’re in South America on an island or Buenos Aires, and they…
Jen: Or in Miami where I live. We eat at 8 or 9 p.m. The restaurants don’t even open until like 8 o’clock.
John: I know! And I’m the first one there knocking on the door, “Are you open? You open?”
Because you want to have at least 2 to 3 hours after your meal before you try to sleep.
When you look at it from a travel perspective especially, you’ve got a battery of energy in you; and one of the things that drains your battery more than anything else is digesting. It just takes a lot of energy. So, you want to make sure you have a couple of hours to digest your meals because you’re not going to be able to sleep.
When you’re out in the forced-choice options, a lot of times you have some choices because you don’t have to eat what they put in front of you. Even if they serve you meals. When you go to the buffets, you’re looking for more vegetables, obviously, as much as you can.
Avoiding, we’re going to talk about the getting sick part. When you start to feel like you’re getting sick, one of the things you want to avoid is sugar, dairy, and wheat. Most of the time I try to avoid those anyway. But those things really knock down your immune system’s ability to keep you well. Especially if you’re feeling sick, I’m just going to have a bagel with cream cheese or a piece of pizza. That’s just going to make it much worse. The only other thing I will mention quickly on digestion and eating is… I’m a huge fan of water obviously.
Tons and tons of it throughout your meal, but not when you’re eating. You want to drink a bunch before your meal (about 30 minutes before); and you’ll find out that you’re not as hungry as you are dehydrated. But when you’re eating, try and minimize the liquids;
whether it’s wine or alcohol or whatever you’re drinking. Minimize that during your meal because it dilutes the digestive enzymes and the hydrochloric acid, and that’s going to impact your ability to digest your meal.
Jen: Let’s talk about alcohol and caffeine. I know we’ve already talked about how airplanes dehydrate you and the impact of alcohol and caffeine on many of us, when we travel first thing in the morning, we’re downing the caffeine. And maybe when we’re traveling at the end of a long week or a long few days, we get on the airplane and say, “Ahh, I’m just going to have a drink.”
John: Well, it all plays in and if you get upgraded, oh my gosh! Then they are like throwing
these things at you, right? So it’s tricky.
When I have clients come to see me at my practice they ask, “Is coffee good or bad for
you?” I say, “It depends. Do you need it or like it?” If you can’t function without your coffee, then we have an adrenal issue going on that we need to talk about. So coffee in it’s natural state is pretty good. When you’re on the plane you have to be careful, because the water on the plane is really not so good for us because it comes from the water tanks. So you want to make sure when you’re getting refills that they are pouring it from the plastic filtered water bottles. Unfortunately the coffee and tea are made with the water from the planes.
So, you’ve got a couple of double whammies going there. But if you want to drink before,
it’s okay. It’s just that it can be dehydrating, as is alcohol. And that’s the big impact on jetlag; the dehydration part is a huge piece of it. So, I have a whole section in my book that talks about alcohol. Are you really going to talk about this? Yes, I am, but I’m not going to tell you not to have it. Because it’s part of when you go eat these business meals, it just shows up. Sometimes several bottles show up. What are you going to do about that? One of the things you can do is drink at least 1 glass of water in between each glass of wine. If
you’re going to drink alcohol, I’m more a fan of red wine. The white wines tend to be more sugar oriented and the red wines have polyphenols and some other goodies in there that
can help if it’s good wine. You just don’t want to drink too much, but sometimes that happens and you do and you get back to your room and you have a big meeting in the morning. So what you have to do is drink a ton of water and yes, you’re going to be up all night. The other thing is to use something like an herbal supplement. This is part of travel and this is why my book is called Travel Balance. Because when you go to France, you drink the wine. When you go to Belgium, you have to eat the chocolate.
Jen: And it’s not realistic to tell people in any area of wellness, well-being, or life to say,
“You absolutely cannot…” Because when we do, we feel like we’ve failed.
John: Exactly. And then from a diet perspective, I try to focus on an 80/20 rule. We really do well 80% of the time and 20% of the time, do whatever you need to do and enjoy it.
Make the best of it.
Jen: Life is short.
John: Yeah, have the good wine. Get the good croissants that are warm and put a lot of butter on them. (laughter)
Jen: I want to travel with you. (laughter) Often when we’re traveling, whether it’s in a car, plane, train, automobiles, we’re confined to the sitting position for sometimes extended periods of time. And we are all, hopefully, familiar with the latest research that has come out about sitting, and sitting is the new smoking, and the impact it has on our bodies. So what are some tips and things that we can do, especially on an airplane where movement is often limited and sometimes frowned upon? There is also risk of blood clots and things like that, that are very real.
John: It is very real. Deep vein thrombosis is the thing. I was on a long flight and I felt my calves and they were really tight and that was freaking me out. So you want to do the little exercises that they show you in the magazines on the plane. Do those when you’re sitting there. Back to water, drink a ton of water and that means you have to go to the bathroom at least once an hour.
Jen: So you get up…
John: I’m that guy. I usually have an aisle seat and luckily if you could get one, that’s great. If I’m sitting at the front of the plane, I could sneak into the first-class bathroom, but I don’t. I intentionally go to the back of the plane because I walk. You want to walk and get that movement going. And if you could just get your arms over your head, besides just putting your things in the overhead bin, just in your chair and getting that movement going is so key. So, there are herbal supplements that can help with circulation. If you get a good quality one of those, whenever I do long flights, I take that before, during, and after the
flight just to help the circulation. The water is key and the movement to move the water. Back to the chia seeds, but you have to intentionally think about that.
Jen: Yes, it requires planning.
John: I get on 15-hour flights and like 90% of the people never move.
Jen: What about compression socks?
John: Yes, compression socks are a good thing. It is something if you have that issue. You want to really take this into account. It really is a problem and do not take the deep-vein thrombosis lightly.
Jen: Well, you said you’re that guy. But actually, when I am on the aisle and there’s that guy in my row, I use to get frustrated but now, I quite appreciate it. Because it makes me get up as well. Even when I’m in the middle of any email or doing something else, reading, or just zoned out, and I’m like, “Really, I gotta get up?” Now, I’m like, “Oh yeah! I gotta get up!” So, I take it as an opportunity, until that person comes back, to walk up and down the isles as well.
John: Well it’s the same thing at home as well. We sit at our desk at our computers and we sit there a long time. I sit on a ball. I moved to an exercise ball maybe 16 or 17 years ago. You sit there, but you look up and it’s been three hours and you haven’t moved. So you might set a timer just to remind you to get up move. Standing desk, of course, are the
“now” thing. And as you mentioned, sitting is …
Jen: And hydration is key, right?
John: Hydration is key.
Jen: Whether you want to get up or not, unless you’re wearing a diaper. Well…
John: But I will mention Jen, because I am a recovering over achiever, that you can drink too much. And I’ve done it. When I first darted down this path 2 years ago, I drank too much water. How do you know? You start to demineralize your body and you don’t feel as good. You have to take that into account. There is a happy balance in all of this. Movement is a big deal.
Jen: So, you alluded to this earlier. If you’re already sick, obviously, I would advise you not
to travel, and to cancel that. Because there is really no reason to travel while you’re sick.
But if you’re already in the process of traveling and you’re starting to feel sick or you get sick while on the road. Are there things that you can do ahead of travel to help not get sick? But it’s life and we can’t help if we get sick.
John: It is life. Whenever I’m going to go on a long trip… A couple of years ago I did a double-class in Lima and Buenos Aires. I was to be gone 17 days. So, a week before I started taking immune building supplements and I take a whole lot of supplements, whole foods, and herbal things anyway. But you should do the immune boosting once before you go and then when you’re on the trip or just sitting there waiting for your plane and there is that person coughing… You know where they’re going to sit, right?
Jen: Right next to you.
John: And there is nothing you can do about it.
Jen: And you’re giving them the evil eye like, “Would you stop coughing?” And the poor thing can’t.
John: Exactly. So I cannot make the germs go away. For the germaphobes that are out there, there’s a lot of germs when you travel. There are things you can do to minimize it (wash your hands a lot, and all that), but it’s just going to happen. So the best thing to do
is to boost your immune system. And then when you’re traveling on this trip and day three I start feeling the scratchy throat. I like, “Oh no.” But I’ve got my stuff. I have my just in case kit packed in my bag. I go pull out the supplements. Avoiding sugar, dairy, and wheat, and all the products that have it. Drink a ton of water and then rest where possible. So normally, I’m the big social bee that’s gonna be like, “Come on Jim. Let’s go. We’re going to have dinner.” Jim says, “I don’t want to go.” Then I go, “Come on, let’s go.”
Jen: I’m the introvert that’s going to say, “No. I’m going back to my room for the night.”
John: When I’m feeling this way, I want to conserve the energy in my battery. So I’ll decide I’m not going to go tonight and go to bed early. Get in bed, relax, and rest. And if you cannot eat, it would really be better. Because, again, it’s going to take that energy that it takes for digestion and allow your body to heal itself. But the water, sugar, dairy, and wheat and the supplements are the really…
Jen: What do you recommend eating when you are feeling under the weather?
John: Hot things are good. Chamomile tea is awesome. Herbal teas are great. In general, we really should drink warm and room temperature only liquids. It’s just better, but especially when you’re feeling sick. Fruits and vegetables, but more veggies than fruit. You can go to any hotel restaurant in the world and get clove of garlic. Suck or chew a clove of garlic.
Jen: Nobody’s going to want to be near you.
John: Nobody is going to want to be near you, but you will feel better. So do it before you go to bed and it will help.
Jen: There will be no vampires for sure.
John: There will be no vampires. Exactly. Folks will be like, “What is going on now? First, she had all the towels; now she wants garlic.” (laughter)
Jen: (laughter) Hey, whatever works. So I am one of those people that when I get on a plane, I take out a wet wipe and wipe down my seat, my area, and the table that comes down. Is that worthwhile? Maybe it just makes me feel better; but does it help at all.
John: If it makes you feel better. I just don’t touch those things. I try my best to avoid them. But again, the germs are going to happen. Some of the germiest things you will encounter on your trip are: 1) the security tray and 2) a thing that a lot of people don’t
think about is when you check in at the hotel and they are handed a pen to sign in (that’s been touched by everybody). 3) of course the remote in the room. People bring zip lock bags and put the remote in the zip lock and use it through that.
Jen: I forget what airport I was in (Denver), but it was recently where they had anti- microbial bins now. The bins have been getting a lot of attention as being very dirty.
John: Well, there are so many things, that you just can’t get rid of all your environment; so you have to focus on you and how you can boost your immune system. And go wash your hands as much as you can. Cleaning around you is good and it’s not going to hurt anything. People will look at you and say, “Oh boy.”
Jen: Makes me feel better. Yes, they do look at me.
John: Of course they do. Then when you start doing the tapping thing I talked about. Oh boy!
Jen: Then I take out my snack bag and they’re like, “What is going on with this woman?”
Either that or they are very curious and they ask lots of questions, which is great.
John: It is because you’re making a difference. We are showing other folks how to do this. Because a lot of people just don’t know and that’s where it comes from. I didn’t know this stuff when I started out.
Jen: I didn’t either. And until I came across your work, there is really nobody… you just kind of share war stories with other people that travel a lot. Saying, “Oh? That’s a good idea.”
John: Exactly right. So when I’m speaking, I always tell people all this stuff I’m talking about, none of it matters unless it happens to you. So, for somebody who may not be in this place… we all start here, and I didn’t just wake up one day and say, “You know, I think I’ll be a Naturopath today.” As if I wasn’t busy enough. It’s because pain puts you in this place. So when you’re starting out, just start with a few tips. Again, if I had to pick one it’s going to be hydration. So if you don’t like the chia seed idea, coconut water is awesome and its coming from a food, so it’s going to be in that structured form. We’re not jinxing you to
say oh it’s a matter of time. Some people don’t get it. Sometimes we see people in their 90’s smoking and drinking and they are living great. Who am I to say if they are right or
wrong? Each of us has to deal with our bodies and genetics and the environment that we’re in. And stress is just an enormous part of that. Kudos to what you do because its not just in the traveling, this is just a small part of it. And when I speak on wellness in general, it’s the same stuff, it’s just harder when you travel.
Jen: That’s exactly what I was going to say. A lot of the tips that we talked about today applied to life in general, not just life on the road. I think it’s just amplified when you’re traveling. And I think these are general good well-being tips for anyone listening whether they travel or not.
John: But prevention is so much easier than fixing things. You’re going down this downhill of bad health. You’ve got to stop the truck, reverse it, back it up the hill. It takes time and energy to do that. It’s so much easier to prevent. But the hard part is there’s no pain to get
you there. We have boy/girl twins and it’s hard when you were that age and now, they are living with their dad, this natural health guy and all.
Jen: Like, “Why am I doing all of this?”
John: But they get it and are listening Jen. I hear them tell their friends who are getting
sick, “You know you shouldn’t be eating sugar, diary, and wheat.” So they are listening.
Jen: Proud dad! Proud moment! So I do have one final question. What is your absolute favorite travel tip to give to people? So if people listening to this podcast, and you might have already said it, but they are listening and you want them to only remember one travel tip or one thing to do differently, what would that be?
John: Well, I wouldn’t hold out on you Jen. And yes we talked about it and it’s a tie really. But I’m going to go with breathing.
Jen: Ok.
John: Breathing is so key because stress is the enemy and it just increases dramatically when you travel. The biggest thing that we’ve got to do is calm ourselves down. Because much like the germ thing, you’re not going to change the outside circumstances; you can
only impact how you respond to it. The other thing is to add the essential oils. Bring the oils that calm you down. Listen to music. We didn’t talk about this, but one of the biggest things I am a fan of is noise cancelling headphones. That engine noise is very stressful on the body. So, if you can just put on your headphones and drown that noise out and not even listen to anything, you’re going to be a step ahead. But listening to peaceful music and
when the delays happen you’re chilled out in your music and smelling your oils and breathing. Whatever it is that helps calm you down and gets you into a good state; you need that state. It’s going to be a challenge.
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Jen: I’m so grateful that John could be here with us today. Thank you to our producers and our listeners. You can find the WorkWell Podcast Series on Deloitte.com or you can visit various podcatchers using the keyword, WorkWell, that’s all one word. And if you like the show don’t forget to subscribe so that you’ll get all of our future episodes. If you have a topic you’d like to hear on the WorkWell Podcast series, please reach out to me on LinkedIn. My profile is under the name Jen Fisher or on Twitter @JenFish23. We’re always open to your recommendations and feedback. Of course if you like what you hear, please share, post, and like this podcast. Thank you and be well.