Seeing synaesthetic stars during sex

A study in Frontiers in Psychology asked people who have emotional synaesthesia – they see colours when they have certain emotions – about what they experience during sex.

There is a particularly lovely table that illustrates these experiences through the different stages of the sexual response cycle:

Appentance phase
“This phase has an orange character”

Excitement phase
“it’s getting more intensive, starting with a few colours at the beginning and getting more and more intense”

Plateau phase
“The greater the excitement becomes the more thoughts are canalized” “The initial fog transforms into a wall”

Orgasmic phase
“In the moment of orgasm the wall bursts… ringlike structures… in bluish-violet tones”

Resolution phase
“The resolution phase varies between pink and yellow”

It’s worth bearing in mind that emotional synaesthesia isn’t the only thing that can turn sex into a slightly unreal experience.

Some people with epilepsy have seizures triggered by orgasm which can affect both males and females.

All cases reported in the medical literature are people who lose consciousness or have observable movements during the seizure, but this is probably because they are the ones most likely to go to the doctor.

People who have simple partial seizures during orgasm – where they just have unusual experiences but don’t lose consciousness – are probably more common than we think but are less likely to be aware they’re having seizures and so just assume it’s normal for them.

Link to study on synaesthesia and sexual experience (via @Neuro_Skeptic)

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13 Things To Do During Weekends To Improve Your Life

Weekend at last! Something you’re so looking forward to after a brutal week at work. Because there are so many things to do during weekends to help you either decompress or get energized for the week ahead. Whatever your plans are, it’s important to make the effects last as long as possible to improve your life in the long run.

Here are 13 tips of how you can make the most of your weekends.

As tempted as you may be, oversleeping affects your biological rhythm. We all need that beauty sleep, but don’t overdo it. Otherwise you’ll feel exhausted and cranky Monday morning. Make a habit to always wake up at the same time every day. Include naps in your weekend routine as well, whether it’s for 10 minutes or 45. Why? Because naps help purging negative emotions, increase alertness, and enhance your abilities to learn.

Reconnect with family members or friends you neglected lately. Don’t do it out of guilt or because you have to. Do it because you want to. Reach out to them to see how they are doing. Don’t call them only when you need them. Return their calls if you were busy when they last tried to reach you. Talk to them. Listen to them. Be there for them. The importance of human connection (hugging, touching) is vital for your well-being.

And if — for whatever work or life circumstances — you don’t have the family around you and not too many friends either, reach out to people who share your interests. Get to know them. Hang out with them even if it’s just over a coffee or dinner, or plan a group city break. You’ll feel so much better and rejuvenated than spending time by yourself or worse, wallowing in loneliness.

Stay away from TV, iPad, iPhone and any other electronic devices. Unplug! Your brain needs to clear up from all the stress you’ve put on yourself during the week. Why not read a book instead? A paper one. Seriously, when was the last time you did that?

Make friends with nature again. Pay attention to its beauty. Breathe in the fresh air. Anything goes, from a simple walk on the beach to a hiking trip. Just look for the best outdoor pursuits in your area for the weekend.

There’s no rush to go to the next meeting or finish that presentation by the end of day. You’re not on schedule. Feel the taste and smell of what you’re eating. Enjoy it. Simply be in that moment without putting your mind in overdrive again and thinking already of what you’ll be doing next.

Did you miss preparing yourself that green juice because you were always on the run to get to work? Now you have no excuse. It only takes a few minutes.

All you need is: organic celery, a peeled cucumber, some romaine, kale and a pear. A push on the juicer’s button and off it goes. When you’ll see how tasty it is, you’ll turn green juicing into a habit that will last longer than a weekend. Other than that, eat more fruits and veggies. If you don’t feel inspired, NYT Best-Selling author and wellness activist Kris Carr has some of the best and healthiest recipes for you on her blog.

If you still have some energy left from the past week, try simplifying your environment a bit. That closet door won’t shut? Is your paperwork all over the place? Is the bathroom piled with tons of products? A few suggestions should help, even though you may not be able to sort everything out in one weekend. What matters is that you’ll make great progress.

Look at what your favorite clothes are. This should make it easier to consider what to toss and donate to a charity. Organize your paperwork in filing cabinets and try to build some additional storage space if needed. Next, get rid of old bath and makeup products in the bathroom. Get more organized by using a simple glass containers set, or a woven basket strategically placed under the sink.

Put that “what if” mindset aside. Refrain from worrying over things you can’t control like the government shutdown, the economy, the weather or anything like that. Instead you can control yourself. List the things that worry you and set an action next to each of those you can control. Have you gained too much weight lately? Make a plan to do something about it. Struggling with a deadline? Write down the steps you must follow to get that project done.

You don’t have to be a practicing Buddhist to meditate. It’s all about paying attention to the present moment. Meditation improves your creative thinking, helps you focus and find happiness in your life. The regular practice of meditation is the best way to handle your stress and energy level. Yoga is also a form of meditation that helps tremendously fighting stress and achieving peacefulness of body and mind.

What are they telling you? What is the vibe that you’re feeling? It can either be a positive or a negative one, never both of them in the same time. If your thinking falls towards the negative side, try change the words you use in your thoughts. Michael Losier, the author of Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don’t, recommends we should stop using the words no, not and don’t to attract more of the things we want. Our response to the words we use instead will change completely. “Stay calm” sounds way better than “don’t panic,” right?

Best. Medicine. Ever. You can never have enough of it. Humor improves mood in so many ways. It helps you cope with stress, strengthens your immune system and you are 40 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, says Richard Wiseman in his brilliant book 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute.

This is something you should be doing every day, not only on weekends. Be grateful for your family, friends, health, for the food you put on the table, the clothes you wear and the roof over your head. You can be grateful for so many little things: a new beginning, the sunshine, the air that you breathe, a baby that smiled at you. Just try to avoid comparing what you have with other people. It neither helps you nor them. Gratitude is the main source of happiness. When you’re happy, you radiate it on all those around you.

Whether you like snapping photos, baking bread, painting, writing poetry, playing piano or gardening, give yourself the benefit of spending time doing something you find enjoyable. You get the much needed mental relaxation and the satisfaction of pursuing your interests, which leads to a sense of fulfillment.

There you are. 13 things to do during weekends that will have a positive long term effect on your life. Put them into practice and you’ll beat the Monday Blues!

What are other ways to spend the weekends that work for you?

Below you’ll find 60 small ways to improve all areas of your life in the next 100 days. 60 Small Ways to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 Days

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TED News in Brief: TED app featured during iPhone reveal, Pico Iyer breaks our hearts

News

Today, Apple thrilled the tech world by revealing its two new iPhones, one a candy-colored, lower-priced model. And we were very excited to see our new TED iOS7 app featured in the presentation, toward the middle of the grid above. More on that soon.

In Sunday’s New York Times, Pico Iyer (watch his TED Talk) searches for the value of suffering in a quietly shattering essay that ties together the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami in 2011 and our reaction to seeing the desperate suffering in Syria now.

Time magazine’s list of the hottest university classes, as expected, contains a few TED stars — Nina Jablonski, Laurie Santos, Sebastian Thrun, Peter Norvig, Dan Ariely. It’s also an insanely fun read, full of quirky profs and niche topics you suddenly need to know everything about. Anyone else feel like going back to school?

The Stir takes a look at what Brene Brown’s “Listening to Shame” means for moms.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, artist JR (read about his TED Prize wish) headed to the Atlanta neighborhood where King grew up and pasted enormous images from the march on local buildings. Photo, above.

Sylvia Earle (watch her talk) has written the intro for a buzzed-about new book on the rise of jellyfish in our degraded oceans. As Jeremy Jackson said in his TED Talk: As we crash fishery after fishery, our ocean will come to be dominated by bacteria and jellyfish.

The Lasker Awards (which MetaFilter calls “America’s Nobels”) were announced this week, and Bill Gates (check out his talks) and Melinda Gates (watch her talk) share the Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award. (Another award went to three inventors of the cochlear implant.)

We love celebrities, Robert Sapolsky admits in the new Nautilus. Why? “Because we’re primates with vested interests in tracking social hierarchies and patterns of social affiliation. And celebrities provide our primate minds with stimulating gyrations of hierarchy.”

This week, the comic “Betty” (above) references Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk “Your body languages shapes who you are” and her praise of power posing. While Cuddy does not recommend power posing as a way to get the upper hand in a relationship, she does say it’s a great way to boost confidence before a job interview.

Cass Sunstein (an economist and coincidentally the husband of TED speaker Samantha Power) reviews TED speaker Sendhil Mullainathan’s new book, Scarcity, cowritten with Eldar Shafir. The book offers an astonishing look at the pervasive effects of scarcity — of food, of time, of attention — and how it affects your power to make good decisions. Bonus: Within the review, Sunstein surfaces a knockout quote from another TED speaker, economist Esther Duflo (watch the talk):

“We tend to be patronizing about the poor in a very specific sense, which is that we tend to think, ‘Why don’t they take more responsibility for their lives?’ And what we are forgetting is that the richer you are the less responsibility you need to take for your own life because everything is taken care [of] for you. And the poorer you are, the more you have to be responsible for everything about your life…. Stop berating people for not being responsible and start to think of ways instead of providing the poor with the luxury that we all have, which is that a lot of decisions are taken for us. If we do nothing, we are on the right track. For most of the poor, if they do nothing, they are on the wrong track.”

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How to Keep Habits Going During Travel

Keeping up with habits can be difficult when you’re traveling, because all of your normal triggers are gone.

I’m in the middle of a long stretch of travel (2 trips, traveling 19 out of 23 days) and I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with habits while traveling.

Let’s take two quick examples:

Exercise. Let’s say you normally go for a run or do a workout after you drink coffee, process email, brush your teeth, and eat breakfast … if you’re traveling and in a hotel room, you might wake up later than normal (after an exhausting flight or day of sightseeing) and go out for coffee and check your email in the coffee shop (for example). Now when will you run or work out? You usually do it after a certain sequence of events, with your breakfast being your main trigger for the habit. Without the trigger, the habit doesn’t happen automatically.Healthy eating. Let’s say you tend to eat a healthy breakfast of steel-cut oats, nuts & fruit at home, right after taking a shower … but when you travel, you don’t have the same meal in your hotel room after you shower, and maybe you’re in a hurry, so you grab something quick & easy (and less healthy). You’re walking around all day and grab a pizza for lunch (rather than the healthy lunch you normally pack for yourself). The change in your routine has changed your healthy eating habits.

Yikes. And this happens with every habit you have, if it’s tied to something in your routine at home or your office (and pretty much every habit is).

So what can you do?

Here are some things I’ve learned as I travel, from numerous mistakes:

Think ahead. It’s no good to say, “I’m going to stick to my exercise habit on this trip” and then hope you do. That’s like a New Year’s resolution — those guys never come true. Instead, figure out an actual trigger for your habit. Set up a reminder. Prepare your stuff the night before. Have an accountability buddy.Hold loosely to your expectations. Habits like exercise depend more than you might think on how much energy you have. If you are exhausted from walking and sightseeing, you might not be able to exercise like you do at home. This takes a flexible mind.Try to do the minimum. Keeping with your flexible mind: if you normally exercise for 30 minutes, try 5-10 if you’re pressed for time or low on energy. If you normally meditate for 20 minutes, try 2 or 5 minutes. It’s better to keep it going with the minimum, than to only do it if you have the time/energy for the full session.Know your keystone habits. If you have 5-7 habits you try to do every day, what are your most important ones you should try to do when traveling, and which ones can you put on hold? For me, I kept meditation, flossing and running, but let go of the rest.Pick it up when you finish traveling. If you don’t have the time or energy, just put the habits on hold, and take extra care to start as soon as you get back. You might even get some accountability buddies to help make sure you get started asap. The longer you put it on hold, the harder it will be to get started again. Also: when you start after your trip, start small.

I hope this helps! Happy travels, my friends.

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Financial Management Tips: Properly Managing Your Finances During A Divorce

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Ask the Entrepreneurs: 8 Ways to Save Money During Business Travel

Ask The Entrepreneurs is a regular series where members of the Young Entrepreneur Council are asked a single question that aims to help Lifehack readers level up their own lives, whether in a area of management, communication, business or life in general.

Here’s the question posed in this edition of Ask The Entrepreneurs:

Use a platform like Startup Stay to connect to the local startup ecosystem and save some cash — it’s like couchsurfing for entrepreneurs. Who knows? The connections you make might result in some unexpected opportunities.

- Christopher Pruijsen, FounderBus

Instead of rushing in and out of an event, consider staying for an extra night or two. This lets you take advantage of peak flight rates and better hotel rates when you’re staying for several nights. It also enables you to have time to catch up with new contacts, local leads or colleagues.

- Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems

There are other ways to connect with people, like Skype and Google+ Hangouts. Travel is expensive and can be tiring. Also, meetings and events don’t always turn out to be as productive as you think they will be.

- Jim Belosic, ShortStack/Pancake Labs

In our early days, I used to wait until the last possible minute to book a trip — I was never sure if the business would “need” me to be onsite, so I deferred the decision. Plan your trips for the year and decide early on which events you can extract the most value from. Then, commit by booking your airfare and hotel at lower rates.

- Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

If you know that you’re going to need to take multiple trips in the next couple months, see how many of them you can block together. Last month, I was away from home for two weeks straight — but I don’t need to take another trip until May. It’s exhausting, but it saves money in the long run.

- Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

Leverage the purchasing power of your business by charging all your company’s expenses on credit cards with aggressive reward points programs. Purchase everything from materials to office supplies to vendor payments and marketing services on your credit card to rack up points. When it’s time to travel, simply trade points for airfare and hotel rooms.

- Anthony Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings

Find a flat-rate airport car service that will get you where you need. Almost every city has one. Not only will you save money, but you will most likely be in a more luxurious car with a more professional experience.

- Benji Rabhan, MorrisCore

If you travel a lot, cards like American Express Platinum are well worth the $500/year fee. If your foreign transaction fees add up to more than 3 percent, this type of card is well worth it. Add in all the mileage rewards, bonuses for signing up and other assorted travel insurances and perks, and you end up saving big in the long run.

- Matt Wilson, Under30Media

Here are Lifehack's four top tips for effective business travel:: 4 Simple Ways to Maximize Productivity on the Road

Featured photo credit: Airplane flying above tropical sea at sunset via Shutterstock The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program.

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Find Work-Life Balance During the Holidays and Every Day

The most wonderful time of the year is also the most stressful for lots of people struggling to fit in increased end-of-the-year workloads, holiday parties, shopping, guest hosting, travel, and seeing friends and relatives who you’d otherwise avoid. Luckily, the same coping mechanisms that can help relieve stress and find better balance during the year also work for the holidays.

Here are four tips to finding work-life balance during the holidays and every day.

If cooking for a large group, baking cookies, or Christmas shopping are your key stressors, don’t do them. Lots of grocery stores will help cater your next holiday meal, bakeries exist for a reason, and gift cards are much appreciated by all. Stop trying to live up to someone else’s expectation of the holidays and stay merry by outsourcing the pain points.

If you normally commute an hour each way at work, see if your boss will let you work from home to save time, get more done, and reduce your stress. Or ask if you can start work from home in the mornings and come to the office later in the day to avoid peak commute times. Leave early and finish your day from the comfort of home, too.

Make a giant, end-all, be-all to-do list for yourself, for both work and life, then divide it up into categories like “must do,” “want to do,” and “feel obligated to do.” If you can eliminate any (or all!) of your obligatory list, the rest of your to-dos will start to look a lot easier.

Once you have your lists in order, it’s time to start crossing things off. In between your must-dos tasks, include a want-to-do task to break things up and re-energize yourself. Yes, the holidays are a time to give back to others and be selfless, but there’s still a bit of “self” in selflessness, isn’t there?

The best way to stop a cold from exploding into a weeks-long saga of sickness is to stop it at the start. Unless a task or activity is an absolute necessity, cancel your plans, put away your to-do lists, and settle in for a long winter’s nap. A day of rest (or several) is the only thing you NEED to do right now. Feel badly about canceling on friends and family? You’re doing them a favor. Once people hear that you’re sick, they’ll be glad you stayed away — they don’t want to come down with a cold during the holidays any more than you do!

People report feeling less stressed about the holidays when they stop expecting so much from themselves, because nobody puts so much expectation on us as we do to ourselves. If we stop focusing on what we feel like we’re obligated to do, and start focusing on what we want and need to do, the load gets lighter and the holidays get a lot more merry.

Featured photo credit:  balance via Shutterstock

Brie Weiler Reynolds is the Director of Content and Social Media at FlexJobs, the award-winning site for telecommuting and flexible job listings, and a former career advisor. At FlexJobs, Brie offers job search and career advice, and work-life balance tips through the FlexJobs Blog and social media. Learn more at http://www.flexjobs.com/.

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Video: Discover the power of x during TEDxSummit Opening Night

On Monday, April 16, watch a session of TED streaming live to the world — at TEDxSummit Opening Night. Curated by TEDGlobal’s own Bruno Giussani, it’s a two-hour session with TEDTalks favorites (Hans Rosling, Raghava KK) and vital voices from the Middle East.

Watch this irreverent promo for TEDxSummit Opening Night >>

Get the full lineup, times and streaming details for TEDxSummit >>

Below: One of the billboards that are dotted around Doha, Qatar, to advertise the event.

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How to Deal With Loneliness During Holiday Season

You CAN avoid a Blue Christmas.

We’re well into the Christmas holiday season once again.

This is a time of the year when most people are busy rushing to the malls buying gifts, attending parties, gathering with friends and family, and being merry. Indeed for many, this season is the most wonderful and happiest time of the year.

However, not everyone will be celebrating this holiday season merrily.

There are some who feel lonely and unhappy during this time of the year. Their loneliness may come from loss of loved ones through death, separation by physical distance, or through breakups. Other reasons may be that person is anti-social or too busy to participate in this festive season.

If you feel lonely and unhappy during the holiday season, here are some tips on how to deal with loneliness — and how to make your Christmas holiday merrier.

If you are feeling lonely and down this Christmas holiday, instead of clinging to self-pity and seclusion (which will only worsen your loneliness), push yourself to go out and attend holiday parties and gatherings. I’m sure there are lots you can choose from, such as those held by your close friends and family, the community you live in, in school, or at work.

Attending Christmas holiday parties is a chance for you to meet different kinds of people. By being surrounded with lots of people — especially happy and positive people — you won’t feel as lonely as you do now.

You are given 365 days in a year, and you spend much of it minding your own life. As a result, you are so busy working that you neglect to find time to connect with family or friends. Now is the time to reach out to old friends or family you’ve neglected to give time and priority this year. Don’t be afraid to initiate.

As they say: if you want something, you just have to ask.

During Christmas, there are many charitable events and causes formed by different organizations that serve to help and make this season merrier to less fortunate people such as the poor and sick. You can find one organization around you and take the initiative to join the cause.

The benefit of joining these kinds of events will give you a different sense of happiness when you are able to help and make someone else happy. Also, it’s an opportunity for you to realize that your situation isn’t as bad as you think it is. There are more people who are less fortunate and lonelier than you are. Get inspiration and strength from them.

Gift-giving is one of the famous activities during Christmas holiday season. The act of giving is a symbol of remembering the people in your lives, as well as a way to share one’s blessings.

There’s a saying that goes:

“A sure way to be happy is to make someone else’s happy.”

Cure your loneliness by making another person happy. One way to do that is by giving gifts to those other than your friends and family.  Give gifts to people like your office maintenance personnel, guards, co-workers, bus or taxi drivers — all the people that may not affect your life significantly and yet somehow they all are part of your life.

You don’t need to give an expensive gift, something even as simple as a Christmas greeting card will be fine. I’m sure you will feel happy once you see the surprised (and happy) expression on their faces once you hand them their gifts.

Often the reason for our loneliness and unhappiness roots from our thoughts or mindset. We focus our thoughts on what we don’t have instead of what we have  – that’s why we always feel incomplete and unfulfilled.

During this joyous season, cure your loneliness by doing the opposite. Focus your thoughts on what you have instead of what you don’t have.  Be grateful for all the blessings and opportunities you’ve had this year. Once you start pinpointing the things you were grateful for and blessed with this year, I’m sure you will realize that your life isn’t as bad as you think it is.

I hope you were able to pick up valuable tools on how to deal with loneliness during holiday season. Use these to make this time of the year a merry and joyous event. If you have any others to add, please do so in the comments.

(Photo credit: Lonely Santa Girl with Presents via Shutterstock)

Lou Macabasco - Yanuaria is a CPA, Investor, Businesswoman and Coach. She's passionate writing and coaching about personal development, personal finance and accounting. You will receive a book entitled "Change Your Life, Change Your Attitude" at her website Live Life to Fullest.

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7 Great Ways to Be Social During the Holidays

Photo credit: confidence, comely. (CC BY-NC 2.0)

The holidays are an excellent opportunity to socialize, make friends, have fun with others and be grateful for the people in your life.

But if you’re somewhat on the shy side and you have trouble opening up during social interactions, holidays can be a pain in the neck, because you know others socialize and enjoy themselves while you’re missing out on all the fun.

Well, this year is going to be different.

As a social confidence coach, helping others overcome their shyness and be more outgoing is the core of my job description. I want to share with you 7 great ways to be more social during the upcoming holiday season.

Forget about spending Christmas Eve watching a movie alone or the holiday vacation reading a 1200-page book. The first key step to enjoying meaningful interactions during the holidays is to get involved in social activities instead of avoiding them. Any social activity you can find, try to attend. Family dinner, corporate party, friends gathering, drinking night, holiday trip — anything goes.

Even if it may not sound appealing at first — or just the thought of attending it makes you feel nervous — you will typically discover it’s a lot more fun once you actually go to it.

There is no need to wait for others to organize some social activity and invite you, too. Take the initiative, arrange your own social events, and invite others to attend.

Throw a pre-Christmas party or a post-New Year’s Eve party to finish all the leftovers. Organize a poker night or a simple get together with old friends. There are plenty of things you can do. And when you’re the host or the initiator of a certain social activity, since you’re on your ‘turf’, it’s easier to feel confident and be more social.

All people love to receive gifts; it’s not just children that do at this time of year. Getting gifts makes them feel appreciated. This is why gifts are a good way to elicit people’s goodwill, and the holidays are the perfect occasion to bear gifts.

So when you visit or meet someone, take a little time to buy them a nice little holiday present. It doesn’t have to be something expensive — just something interesting. Remember: it’s the gesture that matters the most.

People who are shy or reserved are archetypal “risk avoiders” in social settings. They don’t want to say anything improper, be rude or embarrass themselves. Consequently, they avoid speaking their mind and being authentic in social interactions.

If this is your case, this is a terrific moment to start taking more risks when interacting with others. Speak your mind, open up and be as spontaneous as you can. If others like you, fine. If they don’t, don’t worry — nobody has ever died because of it.

If you have a hard time starting conversations with people at parties or other social events, the best advice I can offer you is to look for the people who seem the friendliest in the room and start by talking with them.

The fact they are gregarious and positive heartens you to be the same. It boosts your self-assurance and, eventually, you will also feel confident enough to talk with other persons as well.

During the holidays, one of the best topics to talk about is the holidays. People are generally in the moment, enjoying the festivities, and they like to share them with others.

During conversation, ask people how they’ve spent the holidays so far, what their plans for the next few days are, what they’re doing for New Year’s Eve, what presents they got for Christmas and so on. There is an abundance of things to talk about regarding the holidays — so go for it.

A good conversation is a two-way street. It’s important to be a good listener and encourage the other person to talk and open up, but you also want to talk and open up yourself.

For many people, this can be an issue. They tend to feel uncomfortable with disclosing themselves. There is only one method to overcome this, and that is to deliberately disclose yourself more, despite the aversion you have. As you get used to it, it gets a lot easier.

As you open up and become more social, and start letting go of the need to have the approval of others, you’ll find yourself having a lot of fun during social interactions and fully enjoying the holidays.

On that note, I wish you the best — and most social — holidays you’ve ever had.

Eduard Ezeanu is a social confidence coach. He teaches others how to overcome shyness, as well as how to be more social, and helps them build fulfilling relationships with others. He also writes on his blog, People Skills Decoded.

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How To Stay Healthy During Your Travels

"Travelling" from Mr iMaax on flickr

When I was working in my corporate career, I was traveling 25% to 50% of my time on overnight trips, sometimes for an entire work week. I still travel for some out of town speaking engagements and conferences but not nearly as much as I use to. However, it is still a challenge to stay healthy during any business or vacation travel.

Many people end up gaining weight after their trips because of not eating healthy, sitting on airplanes or in meeting rooms for hours at a time as well as being stressed. Sometimes the rush of making flight connections results in stuffing yourself with airport fast food just to fill your stomach and when you finally get back to your hotel room, you are just too tired to do anything else.

So here are some tips that I have come up with during my travels to help you stay healthy while away from home.

It is much easier to follow a healthy balanced diet with home cooking, but when it comes to being on the road, proper nutrition is often very challenging if you have to eat out for all of your meals during travel. Here are some eating guidelines I adhere to.

Avoid hotel breakfast items loaded with fat and salt such as sausages, bacon, and fried potatoesPass on the fast food breakfasts tooStart your day with fresh fruit, yogurt and cerealsStick with lighter fare lunches especially if attending conferences and meetingsFind good salads and lower fat, whole-wheat sandwiches for lunchDon’t overeat, especially at buffets or you will feel it back in your hotel roomMinimize the amount of fried, fatty foodsDrink lots of water (bottled where tap water is not safe)Limit your alcohol intake as hangovers during travel are no funDon’t overdo the coffee shop trips during the dayAvoid junk food snacks – pick up some fresh fruit at local grocers insteadPack enough multivitamins to last your entire trip

When I observe people at big meetings and conferences, it is incredible just how few travelers exercise or stay active on the road. With overeating and inactivity, it is no wonder why many travelers end up gaining weight. So here are some tips to stay physically active on the road.

Use the hotel/cruise ship gym – even 20 minutes will help prevent weight gainDo laps in the hotel pool if there is one (always pack your swimwear)Use the hotel gym weights even if you have to modify some exercisesIf the neighborhood around the hotel is safe (ask the concierge), take a brisk walk outsideIf no hotel gym, do basic calisthenics plus low impact cardio inside your hotel roomAlthough tempting to party into the wee hours, get adequate sleep

Sometimes much of the challenge during travel comes from the fact that you have to do what most other travelers will not be doing. If you choose to eat healthy and exercise on the road, you will be among a minority of travelers. However, since it is your own health that matters, do not worry about what others are doing (or not doing) during trips.

It is possible to stay healthy during your travels. Although you may have to take some extra efforts to get the proper nutrition and exercise during your time away from home, you will be rewarded at the end of your trip. You will be able to pat yourself on the back since you maintained your fitness level and did not gain extra weight.

If you have additional tips on how to stay healthy or are willing to share some of your challenges while away from home, please leave your comments below.

Happy travels to you!

Clint Cora is a motivational speaker, author & Karate World Champion based near Toronto, Canada. Get his FREE 3-part Personal Development Video Series on how to expand your comfort zone and finally conquer even your most daunting goals in life.

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Six Ways to Stay Motivated during Hideously Boring Tasks

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