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'How to Stay Healthy While Traveling'

© 2005  Bob Young MD

Travel is good for your health!

   The basic premise of this publication is to encourage, not discourage, individuals from traveling to remote and interesting regions of the world.

   I have always been of the belief that travel extends a person’s life span. If not in actual years, at least in terms of the subjective sensations of having 'lived'. The passage of time does not always have to be recorded in linear units, such as minutes, hours, days, and years, but can also be measured in terms of experiences and subjective sensations. Think back; do you remember how, during your youth, the summer seemed to be 'endless' and each year seemed to encompass a lifetime? Have you noticed how the years seems to go by faster and faster? Do you wonder why this is?  I have often thought that the sensation of time is not dependant upon the clock or calendar, but rather upon the number of unique and remarkable events that occur during a given time interval. When we were children, from the moment we awoke until we went to sleep, each day was full of new and remarkable events. As we grow older, more and more things become 'routine' and each day holds less and less that we haven't seen or experienced. ‘Been there, done that’ equals boredom and time drags. Months and years can race by seemingly more quickly than a single summer day of our childhood.

   Travel gives us the opportunity to once again have the experience of new and unique sensations. The sights, smells, tastes, sounds of a different environment will alter our sensation of time passage. Who hasn’t noticed, after returning from a trip of a few weeks, that they ‘felt’ as if they had been gone for months. The converse is also true. The friend who drove you to the airport might see you on your return, feeling as if you had only left a few days ago. Who lived longer during that two weeks? So, if you want to live longer, don’t smoke, watch your cholesterol, and travel!

    Given that travel is good for a person’s health, the basic purpose of travel medicine, and this publication, is to prevent or minimize health problems to the traveler and assure that the person will return home in as good (or better) a health status as when he/she left.

   This publication is based on information and advice that I have been giving to international travelers for over thirty five years. My personal involvement with travel medicine began, quite by accident, in 1970. I had just finished a year of rotating internship at Los Angeles County General Hospital. It was certainly one of the most demanding years of my life and, when it was over, all I wanted was a low stress job along with the chance to sleep at night. I was fortunate enough to find a position as a staff physician at San Fernando Valley State College (now called California State University, Northridge). One of my assignments at that facility was to consult with students who were planning to travel overseas during their summer vacations. This was before the advent of widespread world travel, and the number of students requiring pre-travel health counseling was not great. Although travel medicine had historically been of major importance to the military, the subject had minimal application to the ordinary travelers or tourists. In the intervening years, the nature of international travel has undergone a tremendous expansion and this importance of travel medicine has increased dramatically.

 

 

 

   The advent of the ‘Jumbo Jet’ in the early 1970’s marked the real beginning of this growth. Capable of carrying hundreds of passengers, these aircraft have extended the range of tourism to the remotest corners of the world. Presently, more than 40 million Americans a year engage in international travel, and over half of these individuals venture into rural and tropical environments. These more exotic regions, previously only visited by the military or the most adventurous travelers, have become the general fare of the new world travel industry. Today, literally anyone can be a Magellan or Indiana Jones. Along with travel to these exotic regions, however, comes exposure to illness and disease which is not ordinary. Although the ease and nature of transportation have changed dramatically, the organisms of tropical infections have not, and can present significant peril to an unprepared traveler.

   Whether for adventure, business, religious, or educational purposes, world tourism will continue to increase. Corresponding with this, travel medicine has assumed a new level of importance for the general tourist population.

Traveling to an underdeveloped region of the world, CLICK HERE:

 

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