Active Travelling

Why it is important to keep moving on holiday.

2023 has definitely been the year to get back into traveling. Many of us have embraced travel with a fresh vigour, often making trips that were delayed over the last few years. Just this past month three of the Simply Stronger crew have enjoyed time away in Perth, Hawaii and Palau. And now with the holiday period coming up, more is in store for us all. 
Some of us may have some big trips overseas coming up, or maybe it's a long drive to see family and friends over summer. No matter how far or how long we may have to travel, keeping moving through this time is just as important as always. 

I am sure you have all seen the reminders to move your ankles up and down when sitting on an aeroplane and you may be wondering what this little ankle movement is actually doing? And why is it important?

The first thing you need to understand is that, thanks to gravity, when we sit or stand, blood will pool in our feet and ankles. It is the job of your veins to help return this blood from our feet to our heart to be recirculated.
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Unfortunately, our veins need some help from the surrounding muscles to stop the blood from pooling.  By moving your ankle up and down, you are stimulating what is known as our skeletal muscle pump. The muscles within your calf and shin are contracting and relaxing over the top of the veins pumping the blood back towards your heart. When we are sitting still this doesn't happen and the blood then pools in our ankles and feet, causing them to swell and potentially allowing clots to form.

Now this doesn't just apply for when you are flying, but anytime that we are sitting still for long periods of time. This is just the tip of the iceberg on what kinds of movement and exercise we can do to achieve this. When flying for more than a couple of hours, you are bound to find me walking around the cabin, doing laps of the aisles and stretching regularly wherever I can find some space -  usually towards the back of the plane. It can be whatever movement feels good to you. ​

But what about if you are stuck in a car, with little to no room to move (due to a full car of family, friends, presents, clothes, and even pets). The best course of action, and something I try to regularly do is split up  driving time. Having short break periods to get out and stretch my legs, walk around, grab a coffee, or just find a small country town to explore for a few minutes. This is such a great way to get our body moving again, and activate that muscle pump. 

The key thing to remember is to keep moving, in any way that we can. Our body wants to move, and loves to move. Being stuck in a small seat in a plane, airport or in the back of the car is not what we are designed for, so lets do something we know our body is meant to do.... Move. ​