Airport food. Hotel beds. Long car rides. Uncomfortable flights. New restaurants. Despite your love of travel, if you’re honest, sometimes it feels like every trip is loaded with obstacles that can derail your good times. And nothing derails a trip faster than not feeling your best. To that end, here are four must-pack supplements to bring on your next trip:
1. Protect Your Stomach with Probiotics
Death. Taxes. Overeating on vacation. These are all certainties. To give your stomach an assist before you indulge in some of your favorite foods (go ahead, you deserve it), try taking a probiotic supplement to support gut health. The key is to begin taking the probiotics up to a week before you leave to help steel your stomach for the eating that’s sure to come.
Benefits: Increases healthy gut bacteria. May help aid with stomach issues like indigestion and constipation.
2. Maximize Your Night’s Sleep with Melatonin
Traveling is the best. But nothing beats your own bed. If you’re the kind of person who loves being away, but has trouble falling asleep in any bed that’s not yours, then perhaps melatonin will be right for you. If you don’t take it regularly, then it’ll likely have more effect when on vacation because you have no tolerance for it.
Benefits: Melatonin may help you fall asleep and stay asleep.
3. Grab a Boost with B-12
Few endeavors can drain your energy like traveling. Long rides to the airport, security lines, flight delays, packed planes, hotel check-ins, time zone changes… The list goes on and on. And the last thing you want is to be…you know… too tired to actually enjoy your vacation. Introducing: vitamin B-12. B-12’s main role is to convert any of the food you eat into energy via glucose. B-12 and the whole B complex is also a favorite ingredient in many energy drinks and sports drinks.
Benefits: Increased energy and fatigue-fighter.
4. Increase Immunity with Vitamin C
If you’ve traveled then you’ve definitely seen the cottage industry of travel supplements that rely on vitamin C as one of their main ingredients. Airborne and Emergen-C are among the most popular. Maybe you already take one of those, but if not, consider taking a high dose vitamin C supplement on your trip. Vitamin C has long been studied as a way to boost your immune system, which can be invaluable when traveling.
Benefits: Increased immunity. Increased energy.
