6 Tips for Travel Nurses - Focusing on Health and Wellness while on Assignment

Blog Author: Dan Dugan, Recruiting Specialist at Spire

Life on the road is exciting, full of new experiences, and always filled with memories. However, normal life (or at least the life you know at “Home” is sometimes difficult to replicate when you’re spending an inordinate amount of time on an airplane, in a hotel, and so on.

One of the biggest struggles, for us as travel nurses, is our focus on health, exercise, and consistent focus on our wellbeing.

There’s good news, though — Focusing on the right things and taking small steps will point you in the right direction for managing your health when you’re onto your next travel nursing assignment. Here are 6 tips for being your healthiest self when you travel:

1. Healthy Relationship with exercise

• Think of how strengthening your body can aid in your performance during your next shift. Exercise can be used to strengthen your joints to help prevent injury, aide in the healing of injuries or chronic aches and pains and help restore proper movements patterns if done correctly through resistance training.

  • Time is a typical culprit. Commit to finding 10 minutes of movement each day — Example: 10x10 Squats: 10 squats per minute for 10 minutes.

  • Start slow. You don’t have to punish yourself with the most difficult exercise to get the benefits. Think of the simplified version of exercises to get started and work your way to the more difficult versions.

  • Set a goal. Aim for goal and make your steps actionable. Remember: small steps will get you to the finish line.

Exercise and physical activity is a tremendous form of stress relief due to endorphins being released during exercise and can done as a form of meditation.

2. Resistance over Cardio

• Travel Nurses are on their feet typically 12 hours per shift. Therefore you are getting a good amount of low cardiovascular activity in each week. Often walking 4 plus miles in a single shift. Through proper resistance training you can strengthen the joints of your body to help prevent future injuries and build a pain free body. You can also focus on specific weak points you may have.

• Do some research on the area you will be traveling to and see what local gyms are available. If you are staying in a hotel you can utilize the gym provided there. It may not be much but it is more than enough for now.

  1. Get creative - you can always bring resistance bands or gymnastics rings with you when you travel. They are small, lightweight and do not take up a lot of room. There are countless exercises you can do with them. Only small issue is locating a place to hang the rings from. I found my local park has a great little section, and any elevated deck works well.

  2. If you are unsure of what you are doing, ask! Start simple and slowly progress over time.

3. Good relationship with your diet

• Have a simple and sustainable diet you can abide by. Everybody is different so you need to find what works best for you. Do not worry about straying off the path for a meal or two each week. You should absolutely enjoy yourself in your new location but do so in moderation.

• Eat whole foods - meat, vegetables, fruit, potatoes, rice.

• If you are staying in a location that has a kitchen, try your best to cook all your meals. If you are typically buying your meals in the hospital cafeteria, do your best to choose the foods that are nutrient dense.

  1. If you are unable to cook your own food and planned on buying every meal - try finding places that offer whole foods (such as Whole Foods)

• Grilled and baked over fried

• Avoid Liquid Calories.

4. Hydrate!

• It is suggested you drink .5 to 1 ounce of water per pound of bodyweight. If you are more active you should strive for the higher end.

1. Take advantage of electrolytes - they are low calorie, typically do not add sugar and are great for aiding in hydration. As nurses you may not have access to your water bottle during the day. Use electrolytes to balance it out.

5. Take care of your feet!

• Think of your body as a house. Your feet will be the foundation holding the house up. What happens if there is a weak foundation? Nothing good that is for sure!

• Nurses are always on their feet.

• The human foot contains one quarter of the total bones in our body, 30 joints and over 100 muscles, ligaments and tendons. The muscles bones are ligaments are deeply embedded in our feet to create and natural arch for support.

• 4 Criteria to look for in any functional shoe:

  1. A flat sole to keep the heel and toes on same level. Zero drop

  2. Flexible Midsole allow the foot to bend and respond to each step.

  3. Wide toe box that allows the toes to move and does not smash them together

  4. Thin(ish) Sole that allows you to feel the ground.

Good news is you can regain the intrinsic abilities of your feet with proper movement. You just need to give them some love.

6. Have your down time and take advantage of it

• Meal prep for the week

• Stretch on the floor or in bed while watching television at night

• Work on the tiny muscles of your feet, lower legs, wrists and forearms that require minimal to no equipment.