The ancient Romans were known for their extravagant and decadent banquets. There were multiple courses and loads of wine to be consumed and the feasting lasted all night. The food that rich Romans ate were things like stuffed dormice, peacocks, peacocks’ tongues, little mice, peahens’ eggs, ostriches, snails, bread, and olives.
But how did these people manage to eat non-stop for so long?
Well, according to Seneca, the Romans had special rooms called vomitoriums where they could make themselves sick and vomit the contents so that they could eat more.
So if your idea of going on a vacation is to do what the Romans did, then don’t even bother to go. You will come back more tired and crappier than before.
Being on vacation and away from the stress of daily life is a great time to get some much-needed rest and recharge the batteries. However, it is also the perfect time to put into place a better health routine that you can continue when back at home.
Setting a great health routine will not only improve the length of your sleep but also the quality, which in turn will give your overall mental and physical health a boost all year long.
And here is how you can do it -:
Reset your Sleep Clock
You have been working 90-100 hours a week. You have been gorging on junk food all day long and irregular work routines have played havoc on the quantity and quality of your sleep. This has reduced your productivity and massively affected your creativity. Now is the time to set that clock right back.
Establish a set sleep routine say 10 pm every day. Use the comfort of your hotel room and its facilities to set the right ambiance before you sleep. Pull down the blinds and close the curtains to darken the room, use dimmer switches to soften the lighting, and adjust the air conditioning to help set a cooler temperature.
Avoid checking Facebook, emails, or a Netflix session for at least two hours before bedtime. Pick up a book instead if you need a quiet activity to help you fall asleep.
Get some Gentle exercise
The benefits of exercise cannot be overstated and a vacation is a perfect opportunity for you to get “settled” into an exercise routine. Abandon all excuses like “I have no time for exercise” and embrace your new found freedom from work to give something valuable back to your body.
Any kind of Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. You may also feel better about your appearance and yourself when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem.
If your hotel has a gym you could head there to complete your regular gym workout, or try swimming in the hotel pool or running on or by the beach. Even just walking around sightseeing will help get you active and help tire you out for an early night.
Write, Write and Write
No. I am not crazy here!! Writing is the biggest therapeutic available till date for the troubled soul and mind.
You have the majestic seas swirling before your eyes. You have the gigantic mountains staring down at you and you have the white glittering sands inviting you longingly into its folds. Why don’t you use this opportunity to get your creative juices flowing on paper?
Writing is just all important as exercise, eating healthy, and getting enough sleep. Our emotional well-being is just as important as our physical well-being and writing is a great way to keep ourselves emotionally fit. Thoughts and emotions are like little life forms in our body. They want to live as long as possible and run the show.
When we write, we are getting those thoughts and emotions out of our body and into the zoo. Our journals are the zoo of experiences that make us who we are. Release all your pent-up sorrows and disappointments onto a piece of paper and create a brand new version of yourself to take on the world once you go back.
Read More
When was the last time you actually held a book in your hands, turning its pages, with your nostrils absorbing the pleasant smell of vanilla flowers and almonds?
Reading for just six minutes can be enough to reduce stress levels by up to 68%, according to a 2009 study from the University of Sussex. Researchers found that reading silently to oneself works to slow down the heart rate and ease tension in the muscles. And it does this more effectively than other traditionally “relaxing” activities such as listening to music or having a cup of tea.
“By losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing book you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday world and spend a while exploring the domain of the author’s imagination,” says cognitive neuropsychologist Dr. David Lewis, leading the survey.
You have all the time in your hands during a vacation. Just utilize it to make yourself healthier, more creative and of course immensely wise.
Get More Connected with your loved ones
Why was the last time you met the family at the dinner table?
Why was the last time you saw your child’s grades at school?
When was the last time you complimented your wife on a great dress she was wearing?
If you have no answers to the above questions, it is time for you to go on a vacation to make amends. Relationships have a funny behavior to get jaded and faded over time and your inability to nurture them citing excuses like “I have no time” further deteriorates the situation. The well-being of every relationship is solely our responsibility and we cannot escape from it.
A vacation provides you the perfect “do nothing” time to mend your relationships and bring back the freshness to it. This can mean a long tête-à-tête with your child to discuss his future aspirations or it can also mean spending some intimate moments of solitude with your better half.
Every conversation like this brings back the closeness and reinforces the “fragile” threads which have borne the brunt of apathy for long. plug in the gaps, remove the misunderstandings and come back more connected than ever.
Bringing it all together
Every vacation is a unique experience which acts as an antidote to work. They are medicine, a remedy for counteracting the effects of relentless life struggles…. Vacations allow us to be away from the job, to change the patterns of our day, to alter our routine, to reconfigure our actions and habits, to rediscover ourselves.
As Alexander Babinets has rightly said:
I have never believed that vacations are luxuries. They are our necessities–just like shelter, clothes, and food, they make us feel like humans and not like animals that care only for survival. –
About the author-:
Ravi Rajan is a global IT program manager based out of Mumbai, India. He is also an avid blogger, Haiku poetry writer, archaeology enthusiast and history maniac. Connect with Ravi on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.
If you enjoyed this post, please share your comments and check out my other posts also-:
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