Whether you travel by plane, train, or automobile, sitting in confined spaces for long periods can cause a number of problems – considerable pressure on joints, crimped circulation, increased risk of blood clots, stiff, cramped muscles, increased fatigue, back and neck pain and knee discomfort.

Travel tips for planes and trains:

Good posture and proper body mechanics are the key to prevention of back, neck, and joint discomfort when traveling. Try these:

• Make frequent posture changes: get up every forty-five minutes or so to walk or stand.

• Adjust the seat as best you can to an upright position.

• Slide your bottom back, until it touches the back of the seat.

• If there’s a big space between your lower back and the chair seat, use a lumbar pillow or rolled sweater and place it behind your back.

• Use a traveler’s pillow to decrease neck strain when snoozing.

• If your feet don’t touch the floor, place a backpack or carry-on on the floor to rest your feet on.

• Shift weight frequently to reduce prolonged pressure on any given point.

• Hips and knees should be at ninety-degree angles.

• Keep shoulders relaxed.

• Let forearms and elbows rest on armrests.

• If armrests are too low or hard, use a small pillow under each forearm.

Travel Exercises:

1. Circle feet in one direction then the other.

2. Pump feet by lifting heels, keeping toes on floor.

3. Pump feet like pushing on a car accelerator.

4. Tap toes like windshield wiper blades on a car. Keep your heels on the floor and tap toes from left to right.

5. Inhale, pull oxygen all the way down to the bottom of the rib cage. Feel your chest expand. Exhale and pull your abdominals in. Hold them in to a slow count of ten. Do not hold your breath. Relax and repeat often.

6. Shrug and circle shoulders.

7. Press shoulder blades back towards spine and then down towards waist.

Travel tips for automobiles:

We all spend a lot of time coming and going in our cars. Most of the time, we’re slumped over the wheel. Good driving posture can help a driver stay comfortable and alert.

Adjust your car seat so it will help keep your body properly aligned while you drive. All these little adjustments will make a big difference in your posture and comfort.

1. Bring the back of your car seat to its straightest position. Ideally, it should incline no more than 110 degrees.

2. Sit with your bottom all the way back, so it touches the back of the backrest. Make sure rib cage is not drooping. Lift it up slightly.

3. Adjust the headrest so you can sit with the back of your head resting against it. This position puts your head directly over your spine and allows your neck muscles to relax while your drive.

4. Most of us were taught to hold the steering wheel at the ten and two o’clock position. They don’t teach that anymore in driving schools. Now they ask you to hold on at an eight o’clock and four o’clock position.

This position is safer in the event that your airbag deploys. This position is also better for your posture as it allows your arms to hang more vertically by your sides, which allows your neck muscles to relax, greatly reducing discomfort and fatigue.

5. Don’t forget to buckle up your seat belt.

Car exercises:

The following exercises can be done when you are stopped at a red light. They will help strengthen your mid and upper back as well as your abdominals.

1. Lift up your rib cage and press the back of your head against the headrest. Stay lifted that way while you drive.

2. Press the back of your shoulders into the seat as if you were trying to bring your shoulder blades closer together. Hold for ten seconds without holding your breath then relax. Repeat several times.

3. Tighten your abdominals. Take a deep breath. As you exhale, pull your belly button toward your spine and hold for ten seconds. See if you can feel the bottom of your rib cage pull in. Don’t hold your breath. Gradually build up to holding the abdominals for thirty seconds.

Staying with your fitness program can sometimes be a challenge when you are traveling for business or even while on vacation. Faced with a number of obstacles ranging from being in an unfamiliar place, limited workout facilities, and limitations on space and equipment you might be tempted to wait until you get back home. Aside from safety concerns, waiting until you return home does not have to be an option.

Stay fit, unstressed and on target by packing your jump rope. Remember, it’s compact, it’s portable, and jump roping can be done just about anywhere and anytime. Traveling from coast to coast several times a year, I have learned to adapt to my “new” surroundings whether in a big city or in Small Town, USA. Make your trip more enjoyable by planning ahead. The following tips can be useful in maintaining your fitness while you are away.

- Begin planning your workout before leaving home; call the hotel where you will be staying and ask if it has a fitness center or has visiting privileges for its guests at a nearby health club.

- Pack your jump rope along with the appropriate workout clothing and shoes. Don’t forget about your SAFETY!!! Pack reflective or highly visible clothing if you plan to workout in the early morning hours or after the sun sets. It’s never a bad idea to even pack a small light that can clip onto your clothing or an arm band.

- Check the weather conditions for the time you’re going to be away

- Use the internet to identify running or walking clubs in the area where you will be staying. Most running
clubs have web sites that contain a wealth of information about the best and safest places to workout, as well as valuable tips on the area itself.

- Check with your local running or walking clubs for suggestions of other clubs that they may be associated with in the town or city that you are going to visit;

- Identify nearby parks, jogging trails or high school or college tracks as well as their hours of operation or use;

- If you have special dietary needs, research area restaurants and grocers that may cater to healthier food selections. Making unhealthy food choices should never be an excuse just because you’re not home.

Once you’ve arrived at your new destination, what’s next? Usually after I’ve checked in at the hotel, if I’m not too tired or it’s not too late, I like to drive around just to get a lay of the land. I use this opportunity to get a feel for the community, identify a running or walking course and measure the round-trip distance to and from the hotel. Here are a few additional tips you can use when you arrive:

- Identify the staircases in the hotel. I’ve never been a big fan of elevators, so I often use the stairs anyway. Using the stairs can sometimes become an integral part of your workout especially if the weather is bad or it’s too late when you return to your room at the end of the day. Make sure the stairwells are well lit and safe. Exercise caution and WALK up and down – don’t run;

- Ask the concierge about workout suggestions, he or she may be able to suggest nearby clubs, fitness trails, or even special running or walking events that may take place during your stay at the hotel; You can also check the tourist information kiosk or pick up the local news papers for fitness events and activities. I once visited a city in the Northwest and found a 5K race at a nearby university. It happened to be the inaugural race for an annual event that was used to bring community awareness to a scholarship program. What I did not expect was that the event was FREE!

- Contact the local running or walking clubs that may be near your hotel. Sometimes, club members get together for early morning or evening walks or runs. Running or walking with club members allows you to workout with a group that is familiar with the area and can be a useful resource for other fitness activities that may be taking place during your stay;

- Once you arrive at your place of business your colleagues may also be able to provide you with the best places for a good workout and may also give you a couple of names of workers who may also workout;

- If you drive around to mark off a workout course, make sure the area is safe for pedestrian traffic especially during the time of the day when you plan to exercise. Usually the most pedestrian trafficked areas are the safest (parks, fitness trails, etc.) Try to avoid any secluded or remote trails or areas.

Now that you have a pretty good idea as to where and when your workouts will take place, you can unpack your jump rope and begin your jump rope travel program. Whether I plan on exercising in the hotel or going outside I always start with a 5-10 minute warm-up routine. Usually I begin with some very light stretching exercises for my shoulders, neck, arms, legs and back. I also incorporate exercises to strengthen my core muscles as well as my feet. We sometimes forget about working the foot muscles as part of our routine. Although using the IROPE Fitness Program jump rope techniques are extremely low impact, if you’re not jumping properly it won’t be hard to disturb the hotel guests in the room below yours. So to make sure everyone remains happy and undisturbed, for a starter, warm-up with doing about 15 heel lifts and then, standing on one leg rotate the elevated foot in alternating directions and switch legs. Do about 10-15 repetitions for each leg. If I plan to jump rope outdoors, I like to do 2 or 3 sets of stairs and then a very short walk. Everyone has their own way of warming up. What you do is not as important as how you do it. Your warm-up should complement what you’re going to do as your core workout. Always make sure you are using proper form and breathing techniques for all of your exercises.

Here are a few jump rope tips to try when jumping rope outside your hotel:

- Identify a safe workout spot on the hotel parking lot or grounds. Scope the parking lot for vehicle traffic;

- Locate an area of the parking lot that is safe and away from parked cars. Using one parking space usually provides adequate space to practice both stationary and multi-directional jump rope drills. If you have an Optimum Performance Achievement Kit by IROPE Fitness you can use the markers to practice various stationary and mobile agility drills. If not, there is never anything wrong with a little imagination and creativity. The painted line space dividers provide an excellent reference point for drills like jumping jacks, lunges, and lateral movement.

- Rope Walking a few laps around the hotel parking lot is always a plus if you’re not comfortable leaving the immediate area. Again, use the sidewalks if available and always watch for vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

- After you’ve worked out for at least 30 or 40 minutes, don’t forget to do your cool-down stretches and re-hydrate.

Don’t put your fitness on hold because of travel. Use these easy tips to make your next business trip or vacation your healthiest. For more information on the IROPE Fitness Program please visit www.irope.com.

Carlos Coffman is the creator of the IROPE Fitness Program and author of Jumping Rope the Second Time Around. He is a pioneer in the development of the low impact, total body conditioning backward twirling and multi-directional movement style of jump roping. Carlos has completed several hundred foot races including 65 marathons using his signature rope walking technique. He has also taught his unique program to youth, adults and seniors throughout the US and some parts of West Africa.

For more information on low impact total body conditioning jump roping please visit: http://irope.com

Going on a trip is usually thought of as a wonderful experience, one that you and your family may have planned and looked forward to for some time. To have the most fun – to get the most out of the experience – it’s important that you and your loved ones have the means to overcome those little ailments and discomforts that can make the experience range from mildly unpleasant to downright unbearable. How can we include a little “Trip Insurance” to our already overstuffed carry-ons or mini-vans? Aromatherapy has an answer with some readily-available essential oils.
Motion sickness, bug bites, digestive difficulties, and general travel weariness – to name a few – are common discomforts experienced when venturing away from home. A small collection of inexpensive essential oils can provide great relief from these amusement-threatening ailments. “Treatment” with these oils is simple – ranging from inhaling a little oil from a tissue, to adding to a bath, to drinking a drop with a warm cup of water. And, thankfully, relief often comes quickly because of the oils’ powerful properties and compatibility with our own bodies.
Peppermint and Ginger Essential Oils – Motion Sickness, Stomach Troubles, and Waking Up
Well begin with “getting there” – the beginning of any trip starts with traveling. By car, boat, plane, or otherwise, motion sickness commonly effects many people, particularly children. This can easily make the traveling portion of your experience absolutely no fun. Enter Peppermint essential oil.
Peppermint has long been used to calm uneasy stomachs, and is easily used. One drop (it is strong!) in a cup of warm water, sweetened if you like, can be sipped before and during the voyage. For the fussy ones, a drop can be added to a small amount of honey and taken from a spoon for the same effect.
Ginger essential oil is also known for it’s calming of upset stomachs – a little inhaled from a tissue or diluted in a carrier oil and rubbed on the abdomen may bring relief. A drop of Ginger can also be taken in warm water as a strong ginger tea – this may be effective for some food-related stomach issues, particularly when combined with the abdomen massage method.
Peppermint can also be uplifting to the weary driver or passenger – a drop or two placed on tissues in the car or near your seat will release the aroma into your surroundings. Be careful with this oil however, as getting it on sensitive areas of the skin (directly under the nose, and certainly near the eyes) can burn a little. Tissues with the oil on it should not touch these areas directly.
Lavender Oil – The Great Soother
Lavender has been called “a medicine chest in a bottle” due to its wide range of effects. The aroma of Lavender is uplifting and relaxing, useful for stress in congested airports or crowded highways. Breathing this very safe essential oil is effective for adults and children alike – inhaling drops from a tissue directly, or from one”s placed in your surroundings can help you and your companions be at ease.
Thyme, Tea Tree and Eucalyptus – Cleansing and Keeping Bugs and Bits at Bay
Lavender essential oil is also an effective wound-healer, due to it’s anti-inflammatory, mild antibacterial, and skin-regenerative effects. It can be used directly in case of burns, mixed 50:50 with Tea Tree and put on band aids to prevent infection, or blended with Thyme Linalol and Eucalyptus (2:4:2) and added to a bowl of water for an effective disinfectant wash.
Lavender is very useful for treating bites and stings – just place a little “neat” (undiluted) on the affected area. This versatile oil is also a component of an insect repellent blend comprised of equal parts of Lavender, Thyme Linalol, and Peppermint, and a double-dose of Lemongrass essential oil. A drop or more placed on tissue or cloth about your room can keep the insects out of your space; 3 drops of this blend per teaspoon of carrier oil can be regularly applied to the skin – or you may mix a similar amount into any lotion you may have.
Lavender can be used in combination with Geranium, Chamomile, Peppermint and Eucalyptus oils in relieving the effects of jet-lag. Getting out of this weary state as quickly as possible makes any trip more enjoyable. This requires getting yourself and companions in-synch with local time, having good rest at night and perhaps a gentle lift in the mornings and throughout the day.
Add Chamomile to Calm the Kids
To get yourself into the swing of local time, relax and be ready for bed with equal parts of Lavender and Geranium essential oils – Chamomile may also be used in place of the Geranium, and works especially well for soothing children (if they are irritable for ANY reason). Add a few drops to a bath or use in a massage oil. For a morning eye-opener, do the same using equal amounts of Peppermint and Eucalyptus. You will find these useful at other times when you need a little clarity and lightening-up.
Lemon Oil – Purifying
Lemon Oil also has some wonderfully diverse uses. It is effective as an antibacterial, but not so strong as to be an irritant. Adding several drops per quart to your drinking water will help purify it, and the water can act as a disinfectant to be used in washing your fruits and vegetables – the need for this certainly depends on your location, but it not a bad idea whenever bacterial contamination may be a possibility. Further, regularly drinking water with added lemon oil can gently stimulate the lymphatic and digestive systems, helping alleviate that sluggish feeling that often accompanies extended plane and car travel.
Eucalyptus Oil for Cooling and Colds
Eucalyptus – the Narrow Leaf variety is a favorite – has a great range of uses as well. It can cool the body when too hot, and protect it when too cold. It is found in almost all formulas used to relieve congestion, can support circulation, and bring lightness to a travel-weary head.
Eucalyptus oil can be used like peppermint to uplift and invigorate during long intervals in an automobile. It can be added to a cool bath or used on a cold compress in cases of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (accompanied by, of course, copious amounts of water and electrolytes!), and used in a similar manner to reduce fever. Eucalyptus oil may be blended with Geranium as a massage oil (3 drops Eucalyptus and 2 drops Geranium per teaspoon of carrier oil) to relieve heat cramps. For congestion relief, to a drawn bath, add 1 drop Eucalyptus, 3 drops Lemon, 2 drops Thyme, and 2 drops Tea Tree – soak and breathe deeply – or simply add a few drops to a steaming bowl of water and inhale.
These are just a few examples of ways to make your travel experiences more enjoyable with aromatherapy. With a little effort, you can expand your knowledge of these oils, discovering further uses, and find other oils that work well for your particular needs. These essential oils are readily available, and fairly inexpensive – though caution should be used when buying oils, as some can be adulterated, and others are mass-produced with techniques that may limit their therapeutic benefits. The more pleasant and “well rounded” an oil”s aroma, generally the higher the quality. Your nose will know! And as with any aromatherapy application, start slowly – essential oils deserve a healthy respect.
Misty Rae Cech, ND, is a naturopath practicing in Boulder, Colorado. She is the owner of http://www.anandaapothecary.com and http://www.ananda-aromatherapy.com.

Motion affection is a actual accepted a part of travelers and if you or anyone you adulation suffers from motion affection if you travel, afresh you apperceive what a alarming acquaintance it can be. It can ruin what would contrarily be a absolute traveling experience, so the best affair to do it to yield measures to anticipate and action it.

Fortunately, there are abounding remedies and treatments that may be of help. There are several over the adverse drugs that abounding humans use to anticipate motion affection afore it starts or abate motion affection if it occurs. Two drugs which are calmly accessible are for motion affection are Dramamine and Bonine. These drugs can action motion affection calmly if you chase the instructions on the amalgamation if alleviative your motion affection symptoms.

For the best after-effects it is best to yield these motion affection drugs able-bodied in beforehand of your biking times. The acumen is simple. Once you alpha experiencing the affection of motion affection (e.g. nausea, dizziness, or vomiting) it may be difficult to ascendancy them with any drugs. So if you apperceive you will acquaintance motion affection if traveling, it is best to anticipate it even afore it occurs. For best results, you should yield two tablets at atomic a bisected hour afore your campaign begin. A lot of motion affection medications will endure for up to six hours.

Words of Caution If Considering Motion Affection Drugs

Even admitting the motion affection drugs mentioned aloft do not crave a prescription, you should argue your doctor afore using any motion affection medication if you accept added absolute medical altitude ,for archetype respiratory problems or any blazon of affection disease.

As with a lot of drugs, motion affection medication accept ancillary furnishings and should accordingly not be taken by abundant women or women who are still nursing. Aloft all, accouchement beneath 12 should never be accustomed any drugs and medications for motion affection unless assigned by their doctors.

With a little beforehand planning and some added admonition from your doctor, motion affection drugs can and will accomplish your biking adventures better. Just chase the instructions on the amalgamation or yield it with aplomb as directed by your doctor and you will be able to adore traveling again. Getting to your destination is bisected the fun of traveling, and these admiration drugs can admonition you get there after the abrogating affection of motion sickness.

He has been the bane of every woman who since the dawn of time – the condition known as cellulite. We all have to varying degrees, and appears to worsen as we get older, in many cases. Therefore, we must resign ourselves to the fact that only fair here to stay, not even a way to fight and eliminate cellulite? Graciously, the answer is yes, we can fight cellulite, or at least the appearance of cellulite through many therapeutic treatments available in the market today. There is, however, a contract for a while. When treatment is stopped, the cellulite will inevitably return. Thus, the bulk of the action of cellulite is an ongoing commitment and should be incorporated as part of your daily beauty routine for consistent and lasting reduction in appearance. Cellulite Creams operate on the surface of the skin. Creams act by lifting and smoothing the skin surface to reduce the appearance of skin wrinkles miserable. Cellulite is the accumulation of fat, fluids and toxins trapped in a web of collagen and elastin fibers in the deeper layers of skin. It forms because blood vessels are damaged under the skin, weakening of the outer layers of the skin. Fat travels directly to these points and settles in, creating a hill and valley effect. The heavy grease such as circulation and decreases the outermost layer of the dermis, which gives white, curly, cold fish skin. Ew! Women are more prone to cellulite, since the shoulder a greater percentage of body fat than men, however, even thin women have cellulite. In fact, doctors say 90 percent of women have undergone puberty, so no matter if you are overweight, average or super thin. Genes play more than one serving of orange peel thighs than anything else, although nutrition, poor diet and high stress levels also factor in addition to cellulite creams, lotions and gels, there is a procedure called endermologie that has many women reporting extraordinary results. It's really a great mechanical pressure device that uses a system similar to a roller deployment process of mass producing cookies. This action kneads the problem areas with substantial pressure to eliminate the aforementioned collagen bands, and to facilitate the fluffiness and wrinkles out a uniform, toned appearance. Process disadvantages are that it is expensive and demand for new maintenance visits may be not a very comfortable and even a little painful, and could therefore a select few temporary bruising. An additional option is oral herbal or medicinal remedies for cellulite. Be careful. There have been significant studies or proof verifying whether these products actually do the results. Personally I can not recommend investing in, or even experimenting with these new products until the results or even proof are published regarding their effectiveness. Whatever the cause, if you want to minimize these unsightly dimples, there are options out there to be effective and affordable. New developments are being mass produced each day in the field of cosmetic product improvement, so that he could soon see an additional product that blows them all. Like tomorrow, for all we know! For more information on how to get rid of cellulite, please visit http://www.celluliteremovalcream.com