Welcome to The Long Haul! Every week, I’ll explore a longevity topic and then give a roundup of the big news in Longevity.

We’re talking travel this week, and how you can optimize your travel plans for your health.

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Today's Topic: Travel

I love traveling. Last year, I flew more miles than I’m comfortable sharing because environmentalists would cancel me. 

But traveling WRECKS me. I hate jetlag, dirty airports, and messing up my exercise routine. 

So, I researched what we can do about it.

We’re creatures of habit. Routine is what keeps us healthy. Travel disrupts our:

-       Sleep patterns

-       Exercise

-       Immunity & overall health

All of which are incredibly important to our longevity.

Here’s how to fix them.

Sleep

Jetlag sucks. Even traveling one time zone over can impact our circadian rhythm, the body’s natural timekeeper.  Your body keeps time by sleeping patterns, light exposure, and more. [1]

Entrainment is the process of our circadian rhythm responding to a different time zone. Our bodies can only adjust by about 1 hour per day – it’s incredibly slow.

Entrainment also makes you feel like garbage. In the time it takes to adapt to a new time zone we:

-       Experience gastrointestinal changes

-       Have poor quality, disrupted sleep

-       Have lower immune function [2]

Here’s how to beat jetlag faster:

1.     Pre-adaption: slowly shift to the new time zone before you go

- When traveling east, try to sleep 30-60 minutes earlier each day for 2-3 days before travel
- When traveling west, try to sleep 30-60 minutes later each day for 2-3 days before

2.     Caffeine: Supplementing caffeine during early hours in your new time zone will help you adjust to your new time zone – but doesn’t replace the immune functions of sleep!

3.     Napping: An early afternoon nap for 20-90 minutes can help you beat tiredness without disturbing entrainment

4.     Travel apps: My personal favorite is using apps like Timeshifter and FlyKitt. These apps create personalized schedules for you before travel that tell you when to eat, sleep, and supplement caffeine and melatonin to shift your circadian rhythm faster.

The first trip is free using the Timeshifter app, and it’s a game-changer IMO!

Exercise

If we take time away from our exercise routines, we detrain.

Cardio detraining can happen with a 1-week break. [3]

Strength (muscle) detraining can happen with a 2-week break. [4]

And the process happens faster as we age or if we’re more highly trained athletes. [4, 5]

The fix is simple here: keep moving when you travel. Something is better than nothing. 

I use ClassPass, which gives me discounts on gym and studio classes internationally, to make sure I can get a proper workout no matter where in the world I am.

Interested in joining? Use my referral link for 2 weeks free!

Immunity & overall health

I have a magic ability to get sick every time I travel. 

Apparently, everyone else does too. Business travelers submit way more medical claims than non-travelers. [6]

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’re exposed to a ton of new germs and bacteria when we travel — even more so when we visit developing countries. A 2-year study found 64% of American travelers fall ill when traveling to developing nations. [7]

And what do we get? Diarrhea and colds.

Three easy fixes:

1.   Wash your hands with soap: Hand sanitizer doesn’t kill the virus that causes the stomach flu.

2.    Come prepared: Pack some Imodium if you’re going to a developing country. I bring a few Tylenol cold tablets whenever I travel to make sure a cold doesn’t interrupt the fun as well. (And if you’re going somewhere that needs shots… get your damn shots.)

3.     Sleep: Proper sleep = proper immunity 

Recap

Your takeaways for being immortal* when you travel (*not guaranteed):

1.     Beat jetlag quickly with:

• Adapting to your new timezone before you go

• Supplementing with caffeine

• Afternoon naps

• Jetlag travel apps

2.     Incorporate some movement into your travels – try Classpass!

3.     Support your immunity with:

• Good hygiene

• A few pharmaceuticals on hand

• Sleep

  
  

The Haul: What you can’t miss in longevity this week

Research

• Debunking 15 caffeine myths in 1 article: We don’t need to wait 2 hours in the morning for coffee

  
  

Twitter

• You don’t need 10,000 steps

  
  

Podcasts

• Huberman Lab talks about Sleep Biology

  • 00:42:00: 

    • Less REM sleep is correlated with higher all-cause mortality

  • 1:09:51:

    • Lack of sleep ages us and decreases hormone function

    • Deep sleep restores & regulates heart rate & blood pressure

    • 4 nights of <5 hours of sleep disrupts glucose regulation to the point of pre-diabetes

    • Averaging <6 hours of sleep increases your chances of catching a cold

  • 1:27:13: 

    • Hunger cues (the brain saying we’re full or hungry) are optimized by good sleep 

    • Sleep deprivation makes us crave junk food (starch, carbs, sugar)

  • 1:47:55:

    • Sleep regularity (sleep and wake at the same times daily) is associated with reduced all-cause mortality and cancer risk

I’m heading to Ireland this week, reply with your travel hacks & Ireland recommendations.

We also launched a website - check it out!

Thanks for reading.

– Robyn

Interested in advertising? Reach out to robyn@girdley.com.

[1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/07487304231207330

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281539515_A_darker_side_of_hypermobility

[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877065721000993

[4] https://paulogentil.com/pdf/Muscular%20characteristics%20of%20detraining%20in%20humans.pdf

[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10949019/

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1128820/pdf/oenvmed00091-0043.pdf

[7] https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0033757224&origin=inward&txGid=96f2d165cbb2d4f0bb1df58b98a1cb7a

DISCLAIMER: None of this is medical advice. This content is strictly educational.