Staying Healthy in Your RV

Traveling in your recreational vehicle, whether on frequent camping trips or as a full-timer, can be a rewarding and exhilarating experience. However, it can be difficult to stay in good health while you’re constantly on the road. Being far from home and your doctor’s office when a sudden illness hits isn’t a fun experience for anyone. The stress of road travel and the somewhat sedentary lifestyle combined with a poor diet can weaken your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to viruses and bacterial infections.

Keep yourself fighting fit by practicing good habits and making some small changes to your lifestyle so that you can enjoy every vista, every hike and every new city you see! This guide to staying healthy in your RV comes to you courtesy of the staff here at Golden Gait Trailers & RVs, serving Concord, North Carolina. We’re happy to help improve your RV travel in any way we can.

Establish an Exercise Routine

When you don’t have access to a weight room or a yoga studio, it can be challenging to fit exercise into an itinerant lifestyle. But it’s not impossible! Because you spend so much time seated and driving, it becomes all the more important to get out and walk when you arrive at a destination. Even as you’re driving, you can take breaks every few hours and walk around a nice natural area or investigate a few blocks of a town on foot. If you like jogging or running, see if there are trails near the campsite that you can use in the mornings. Buy or borrow a bike to use for adventuring.

During the winter, you may want to see if the campsites you’re in have rec rooms with gyms or classes. Maybe there’s an indoor pool where you can do some laps or water aerobics. If all else fails, look up some dance or stretching videos online and practice in your RV. Exercise that gets your heart rate up a few times a week will keep you healthy and strong so you can enjoy all your travels.

## Determine a Diet

By this, we don’t mean restricting calories and counting carbs. Your diet is just what you eat, and it’s important that you eat a wide array of foods that are packed with nutrients. This may be harder in your tiny RV kitchen than it is at home, where you have access to the grocery store and a full stove and lots of counter space. But you can find a farmer’s market almost anywhere for affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. Stock up on whole grains and foods with healthy fats and plenty of protein.

Keep snacks on hand so you’re not tempted to go through every drive-thru you pass. Granola bars, trail mix, fruit, yogurt and cheese are all great road snacks that aren’t packed with sugar, salt and empty calories. Drink plenty of water and save sodas as an occasional treat. Adding some lemon or lime or mint or making tea are ways to jazz up your water intake. Meal planning can help you to always have nutritious food on-hand without a lot of prep work. Cook in batches so that you can use leftover chicken, quinoa, fish, pasta and rice for the next day’s meal.

Additional Tips

• If you’re a smoker, you undoubtedly know it’s not good for you and you also know what we’re going to say about it: it’s best if you quit the habit entirely. Any cutting down you can do is good, though, if you can’t quit just yet. Be patient with yourself and try to substitute better habits, like taking up a hobby to occupy your hands (knitting, drawing, string games, fidget spinners, et cetera) and using nicotine patches or gums instead of cigarettes.
• Moderate your alcohol consumption and try to avoid having more than a few drinks a week. If you don’t keep alcohol in your RV at all, then you won’t be tempted to over-indulge.
• Wear sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat to keep yourself shielded from UV damage.
• Clean your RV on a regular basis so that grime and bacteria don’t build up. 
• Make sure that you’re taking some time to relax every day, whether that means lighting a candle and reading a book with a cup of coffee, catching a short nap or watching a favorite TV show.
• Get a good night’s sleep. You can make use of aromatherapy, sleep masks, white noise machines, fans and blackout curtains to alter your bedroom so that you can get rest even in a noisy campground.
• Don’t drive while you’re tired, sick, distracted or upset. Make smart choices behind the wheel, be vigilant and don’t speed.

Drop by our dealership in Concord today to check out our current stock of new and used RVs and campers for sale. Golden Gait Trailers & RVs proudly serves all of our North Carolina customers in the cities of Raleigh and Charlotte.