My Personal Daily Routine while Traveling

I have been on a journey to write articles related to fitness, nutrition, biohacking, and other wellness topics. This week, I thought I would get personal and talk about my daily routines when traveling. Some of you may think I am a bit of a freak, while others may resonate with my priorities. I am mostly sharing the start of my day and some other things I track to keep this a short read. Feel free to share your thoughts on what you do differently that I should try.

First, let's start with sleep

Sleep is important to me, and I aim to get at least seven hours of quality sleep each night. I wear the Oura ring when I sleep and strive for an 80% sleep score. Hitting this number helps me feel good. This means I need to get in bed a bit earlier than exactly seven hours before I need to wake up, as I might check emails (I know, it's bad to look at a screen in bed, but it's a reality) or make a last phone call to my wife before I go to sleep. So, I tend to crawl into bed around 9:45 PM but may not fall asleep until about 10:30 PM.

Do you know how much sleep you need? A good start is the Mayo Clinic website, which provides recommendations – Mayo Clinic. However, we all know our optimal amount of sleep. It’s not just about the hours of sleep, but also what we consume before bedtime, our stress levels, and other factors that determine a good night's rest.?

Here’s an example from a random day while traveling last month using the Oura ring app: I was in bed for 7 hours and 45 minutes but received slightly over 7 hours of sleep. It was a win for me.

I wake up most days around 6am

I wake up most days around 6AM. The first thing I do is drink at least 10 to 12 ounces of water. This helps me wake up and get moving. While I don't crave water in the morning, I feel better when I drink it. It’s said that you are dehydrated when you first wake up, so that first intake of water on an empty stomach has many health benefits. See this article for more details: Why Is Drinking Water In The Morning So Important?

Before breakfast, I aim to hit the gym for at least an hour. There's no magic number to one hour, so some days it might be 45 minutes and other days 85 minutes. On average, it’s about an hour each day when traveling. I usually start with a 20-minute treadmill run to get moving, followed by 30 to 40 minutes of weightlifting. Recently, I’ve added a core routine for about 8 to 10 minutes, including planks, sit-ups, and other core exercises.

After my workout, I do “sink laundry” as I am a micro packer—only one pair of gym clothes for most trips. I quickly wash my gym clothes, hang them in the closet, take a shower, and get ready for the day.

Then I head to breakfast. I usually enjoy a breakfast buffet in most hotels when I travel, so I need to be careful. I tend to order two or three eggs, fresh local fruit, and if they have good bacon, I’ll have a slice or two. To drink, I have an espresso or latte. Today, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the hotel has fresh coconut juice, so that was a must for me! I feel good and hydrated!

Wearables to track your day

I wear two wearables: my Garmin watch and the Oura ring. I’ve had the Garmin for years, so it’s on my wrist about 99% of the time. One might ask why two wearables, and I question this as well, but the Oura ring is a relatively new purchase as I wanted something more simplistic to wear while working that allows me to wear a nice watch. However, I still find myself wearing my Garmin most of the time.

I track a few things with the ring and the watch. Initially, one of the main purposes of my Garmin purchase was for my workouts, which I am not focusing on here. When running outside or swimming, having the Garmin provides great data to improve my workouts. I can even use it to track weightlifting, as my watch is smart enough to know what body part I’m focusing on based on my movements. I could write a full article on using wearables for workouts, so I’ll save that for another time.

I also use wearables to track steps when on the road. I tend not to eat as healthy, so my daily goal of 10,000 steps is more important. This is not too difficult with my job, as I’m on my feet a lot. Below is an example from when I visited a few malls and attended a trade show for a few hours. While I don't always hit 10,000 steps, it's something I strive to do. If I know it’s a low step day, you might find me in the gym walking on the treadmill or taking a short walk around the hotel. Steps are an easy task we can do every day: set a goal, track it, and achieve it!

The other thing I monitor is my heart rate, with focusing on the trend line. Here’s an example from a random week of travel. The spikes in the red line represent my cardio workouts, but more importantly, the blue line is steady, indicating my resting heart rate while sleeping. This usually lands around 54 or 55 unless I do something to enhance sleep, like a sauna, ice baths, mouth taping, or other biohacking techniques. As a side note, ice baths are known to mostly help with waking up. However, if I do an ice bath around 5PM, I tend to sleep better. If I do it right before bedtime, it takes a bit for me to fall asleep. However, it’s rare for me to have ice baths when traveling.

This wraps up my wellness routines throughout the day, excluding my vitamin intake and details on nutrition. I feel that vitamins are a tough subject to discuss as they are specific to individual needs. .On Nutrition, I wrote an article recently titled The Food you eat while on a business trip will affect your energy levels!, as the title suggest, this goes into ideas on foods you should eat that give you that energy bump, versus that energy slump!

In conclusion, these are just things I do on average when traveling. Of course, there are obstacles such as work priorities, flight schedules, busy gyms, and some days when I just don’t feel like getting up.

Daily routines (or habits) are important and should be more of the norm than the exception. Do you have a habit you should change or adapt that will help you? Determine your goals, what is important to you, and strive to be the best version of yourself!