Holiday Essentials

Today, many Irish will holiday up to three times a year, with many traveling abroad to the sun. With the growing number of budget airlines offering and ever increasing choice of cheap flights it’s becoming even easier to take a holiday abroad.

    Along with kitting ourselves out with new summer clothes, we maybe need to kit ourselves out with essential travel first aid items to avoid the problems associated with travel. Visiting another country means a variation in the kind of foods we eat, not to mention the differing hygiene standards and health of the water we drink.

All this means that tummy troubles are the most common causes of complaint for holiday makers abroad. One of the best preventive measures to take if traveling abroad is to take probiotics before you travel and during our trip aboard. Certain types of probiotics are stable without refrigeration. Probiotics will help the digestive system to withstand the change in the bacteria found while on holidays, thus preventing diarrhea and constipation.

Other supplements to be considered include garlic capsules. Garlic has a strong antibacterial effect on the digestive system while protecting the good bacteria. The combination of a good probiotics and garlic is excellent to prevent ‘Delhi tummy’.

Traveling itself can also lead to problems. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) poses a very real risk to travelers on long haul journeys. As many as 100,000 airline passengers are estimated to suffer fatal complications associated with DVT each year, but apart from exercising regularly on board and wearing flight socks, there are other measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of a blood clot.

Certain herbs have been shown to be particularly effective for combating circulatory problems and varicose veins, Horse Chestnut, which has the ability to reduce swelling of ankles due to leakage of fluid into them. Garlic again has the ability to be an effective blood thinner which may reduce the incidence of blood clotting – another reason to include garlic in your travel iterny. Ginger also has the ability to thin blood and is also very useful for nausea or travel sickness. Take 500mg to 1 gram every couple of hours to prevent travel sickness and it will also reduce the incidence of DVTs by thinning the blood.

Despite the well reported fact that sun bathing is the primary cause of premature skin ageing, and a leading cause of skin cancer, the vast majority of holiday makers still regard getting a sun kissed tan as their number on goal. But expose to UV rays is not a complete no-no; it just needs to be in moderation. While exposure to UV rays for a long period of time can be damaging, low dose UV exposure has beneficial effects, mainly the synthesis of vitamin D.

But, we Irish will typically spend too much time in the sun within the first few days of their holiday and then spend the rest of the holiday applying after sun.

To soothe sunburn the best choice is Aloe Vera, it not only helps with inflammation and pain, as well as being cooling but can encourage the production of new skin cells as well as being antibacterial, anti fungal and antiseptic. As sunburn causes free radicals to occur, which can damage the skin, Aloe Vera is excellent since it acts as an anti-oxidant to reduce skin damage, and helps protect skin elasticity and strength.

Use sun protection creams from the start of your holiday, there are many natural sun care ranges available today. So be prepared!! And have a great holiday.

David Foley

MRCHM, MNIMH

Medical Herbalist