The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka - 32. Travel Hacks | Avoiding Jet Lag, Adjusting to Time Zones, and Staying Energized with Gary Brecka

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today we're going to talk about travel hacks. Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host Gary Brekka, human biologist, where we go down the road, everything anti-aging, biohacking, longevity, and everything in between. And today is going to be a very impactful episode. It's probably the second most commonly asked question that I get because I travel so much. And as we travel, listen up road warriors and entrepreneurs and globetrotters, those of you that travel the world or find yourself frequently on planes or find yourself frequently in different time zones, you do not have to arrive to your destination tired with brain fog, lacking focus and attention, getting

Starting point is 00:00:56 to your hotel room and thinking that the first thing that you want to do is take a nap. Travel can be energizing for you. And today we're going to hack our way into a couple of travel secrets that are going to give you back the energy that you lost while you were flying or driving or traveling. And you're going to find out when you arrive at your destination, you're going to be clear, cognizant, awake, energetic, and ready to tackle your day, your meeting, or your vacation. So I think that there are four big sins in travel, especially air travel, and those are the following. Lack of movement, lack of hydration, alcohol, and inflammatory foods. Those are the four biggest sins you can make getting on an

Starting point is 00:01:38 airplane. And to combat these, I've got a couple of must-do travel hacks that I use every time I travel. If you've watched my Instagram, you know that sometimes I've done 11 couple of must-do travel hacks that I use every time I travel. If you've watched my Instagram, you know that sometimes I've done 11 cities in nine days. I never seem to be without energy. And people are like, Gary, how do you have so much energy? And you change time zones so much. And you went from Miami to Dallas to Vegas to LA and then all the way to Abu Dhabi. And you're switching food and you're switching airplanes and you're switching time zones.

Starting point is 00:02:04 How do you combat the stress of travel? Well, here's what I do. First of all, on domestic flights, if you're flying domestically, I have a hard and fast rule that I fast on airplanes, period. Domestic flights especially. There is nobody listening to this podcast that cannot fast for three to five hours of a flight, even if you're going from New York to LA and not eat on that flight. Remember, when you're eating, especially in the air and you're sitting, you're diverting all that valuable blood and oxygen to your gut and you're pulling it out of your brain where we need it for focus and concentration. Especially if you're taking a day flight and you actually want to get some work done on the flight. You definitely do not want to be eating. You want to be in a fasted state on flights.

Starting point is 00:02:50 Hydrate is an absolute must. We actually pervert our sensation for fluids into hunger, especially when we're traveling, when you get to altitude and you're battling EMFs and dry air and really crappy lighting, which we're going to talk about in a second, one of the things that happens is we actually mistake the sensation to drink fluids for being hungry. And we actually eat when we should be hydrating. So hydrating is one of the biggest travel hacks alongside fasting that I use every time I'm domestically on a flight. I use an Echo H2O water bottle. It's called the Echo Go Plus. You don't have to get one,

Starting point is 00:03:29 but it is a hydrogen water bottle. I travel and never leave home without it. It's a 10 ounce water bottle. I make sure that I drink eight to 10 ounces of water, one of those hydrogen water bottles, every hour on the hour. Another thing I do is every hour on the hour, I get up and move. I do 10 air squats and I take 25 deep breaths. I'll either go to the back of the plane or the

Starting point is 00:03:53 front of the plane, or sometimes, yes, I'll even go in the bathroom. I'll make sure that I have the air on in the bathroom. I'll squat down 25 times. Just don't touch the seat. Just air squat halfway down. Do 10 air squats. Take 25 nice deep breaths. Go back to your seat. Do that every hour on the hour, especially during day flights domestically. And you tell me what a difference that makes in traveling. This combats sitting and eating, fasting and moving. So I do actually bring snacks with me when I travel, but not for snacking on the plane. They're snacks for when I have layovers or I'm in the airport between flights

Starting point is 00:04:31 or I'm either arriving or departing from my destination. My go-to snacks are real raw nuts. Remember, peanuts are not nuts. They're legumes. They're actually seeds. Peanuts are full of mycotoxins. I actually suggest that you permanently get peanuts out of your diet. My go-to preference for raw nuts are raw pistachios

Starting point is 00:04:51 and raw macadamia. They happen to be the lowest in linoleic acid. You can eat other nuts, but make sure that they are raw or just salted, not the flavored nuts. Those are full of seed oils, but try bringing raw nuts. They're satiating. They do have protein. They also have healthy fats in them. And I also bring grass-fed organic beef jerky. I like the grass-fed organic beef jerky because it's softer. It's easy to travel with. It doesn't spill in your bag. You can seal it. You can eat it in between flights or on your layovers. And this is enough to get you through to your destination. Between that and hydrating, you'll have enough to make it from New York to Los Angeles, from Los Angeles to Dallas, Dallas to Miami, any domestic flight that is plenty of snacking for you to have on the road.

Starting point is 00:05:35 Raw nuts and grass-fed organic beef jerky will keep you from eating fast foods and junk that is in the airport just laden with sodium that's just going to suck the life out of you. Another little tip that I do is I tell people to leave the air on in the airplane. You don't have to point the air nozzle right down at yourself, but leave it open and point it at your lap. If you don't like the air on your face or it's too cold on the plane, redirect that air and point it down at your lap. Believe it or not, this creates a little fresh air pocket around yourself. It can even dispel viruses and bacteria and other pathogens that your body's having to deal with on long flights that excite your immune system. If you really want to take it to the next level, get yourself a pair of blue light blocking glasses. There are all kinds of great blue

Starting point is 00:06:20 light glasses. Airplanes are infamous for poor lighting. Fluorescent lighting is the junk food of light. And then we have oxidative stress. How do we fight oxidative stress? Well, flying takes a massive toll on your body from the circadian rhythms, meaning your sleep patterns. They're being disrupted because of time zone changes. There's increased cosmic radiation, electromagnetic fields, the EMFs we always hear about, which is electromagnetic field. It gets your immune system working overtime to fight bacteria and pathogens that are found on the plane and passengers around you.

Starting point is 00:06:53 Your body is not really happy when it's flying. All this stuff is causing something called oxidative stress, which is the main cause of your equilibrium and your general health breaking down. So to combat this, I give my body an extra boost of antioxidants on flights every time I fly. My personal go-to additional supplements for when I travel, you know, every day I take a methylated multivitamin. Mine is called 10X Optimize.

Starting point is 00:07:20 It's actually a vitamin I designed on my own, but you can take other methylated multivitamins. But when I travel, I take additional resveratrol, magnesium, and zinc to help combat oxidative stress. Resveratrol is known for its telomerase lengthening, meaning it lengthens your telomeres. It's a telomerase activator. That is not why I take it when I travel.

Starting point is 00:07:40 I take it because it's excellent for circulation. Magnesium and zinc are great with the antioxidant effect that they have. They help your body battle free radical oxidation. So a little extra resveratrol, magnesium and zinc are go-tos for me when I travel. But remember, this is what I do personally. I am not here to give you medical advice. Hey guys, if you've been watching the Ultimate Human Podcast for any length of time, you know that one thing I do not do is push products. I do not just let any advertiser into this space because I believe that the products that appear on the Ultimate Human Podcast should be things that I use every day in my life to improve my own physiology. One of them

Starting point is 00:08:19 is something called the Echo Go Plus. The Echo Go Plus is a hydrogen water generator that you can take on the go. You essentially take the top off of this bottle, you pour bottled water in this, and repeatedly it will make high part per million hydrogen water. You press this little button, you'll see these bubbles going up in the water. That's hydrogen being created in the water. There are all kinds of peer-reviewed, published clinical studies on the benefits of hydrogen water, including reduced inflammation, better absorption of your supplements, better absorption of your foods, better balance of the stomach acid, and it feeds an entire class of bacteria in your gut. Hydrogen water, in my opinion, is the most beneficial water that you can drink and now you can take it wherever you go you can go to echo e-c-h-o h2o.com that's echo e-c-h-o h2o.com enter the code ultimate 10 for a discount echo

Starting point is 00:09:16 h2o enter the code ultimate 10 for a discount most of us have a very difficult time meeting our protein needs and certain protein sources like whey protein and others can be as little as 20% absorbable. This is 99% absorbable and it has all of the essential amino acids that the body needs to build lean muscle, to recover, to improve our exercise performance, and most importantly importantly to repair after we have intense exercise. So this is called Perfect Amino by Body Health. It's like I said 99% absorbable. It only has two calories. Eventually the caloric intake has virtually no caloric intake. It will not break a fast. It tastes amazing. You mix it in water. I take this literally every single morning. If

Starting point is 00:10:03 you're working out in a fasted state, you have to take a full spectrum amino acid prior to your workout to preserve your lean muscle and make sure that you're recovering properly. And again, it will not break your fast. So the caloric impact is virtually zero. You get all of the full spectrum amino acids. It tastes wonderful. I use it every single day. You can go to bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate that's bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate and look for the perfect aminos they actually come in capsules if you're on the go or it becomes in several flavors that they make in a powder which I love it's flavored with natural um uh means of flavoring so there's no

Starting point is 00:10:43 artificial sweeteners in here. So this is one of my absolute favorite products. Give it a try. If you're working out at all, you need a full spectrum amino acid, go to bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate. That's bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate. I love their lab tested products.

Starting point is 00:11:01 You can actually see the absorption rate for all of their products. They've got great electrolyte protein combinations. My favorite is the Perfect Aminos. Bodyhealth.com forward slash ultimate. And now back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. Now, what do you do when you arrive? So you've been on the plane.

Starting point is 00:11:18 You've had eight to 10 ounces of water every hour on the hour. You've gotten up. This is why I always choose an aisle seat. You've gone to the back of the plane. You've done 10 air squats. You've gotten up. This is why I always choose an aisle seat. You've gone to the back of the plane. You've done 10 air squats. You've done 25 deep breaths, or you've gone into the bathroom. Passengers are going to think you're a little freaky, breathing heavy in the bathroom, but it's well worth it. And I do 10 air squats and 25 deep breaths every single hour on the hour.

Starting point is 00:11:40 Now, upon arrival, I also do three rounds of 30 deep breaths as soon as I get to my destination. Sometimes I'm going straight to a meeting or a stage talk or a podcast. So I'll actually do three rounds of 30 breaths in an Uber on my way to a meeting. So try this when you get to your hotel next time and tell me if that doesn't put you in a much better state mentally, physically, emotionally, your mood, your energy level, your focus, your cognition. These are simple, simple travel hacks that'll have you arriving with a lot more energy. And then remember, the biggest sin of travel, in my opinion, is alcohol on airplanes. You have to go to zero alcohol when you travel. It is the worst thing

Starting point is 00:12:23 in the world for you when you're flying. It not only can interrupt your digestion, it reduces your circulation. Remember, alcohol becomes something called acetyl aldehyde. And acetyl aldehyde is very acidic to the body, can actually change the pH of our bloodstream and actually make us acidic. We do not need extra acidity when we travel. This makes us tired, gives us headaches. It sucks the energy out of you. It gets into your digestive system and it actually turns into sugar. So now your liver is having to process all of this alcohol, turn it into sugar. Your blood sugar is rising while you're sitting. This is an absolute horrible combination for energy, for focus, for concentration. And then of course, you get the alcohol crash. So remember, zero alcohol on flights, whether they're international

Starting point is 00:13:11 or domestic. So now let's talk about longer flights. You know, what about international flights where you're actually flying through the night? You know, I took a flight from Los Angeles all the way to Dubai. So on a flight like that, 15 hours, you obviously are going to need to eat. But there's a couple other things I take on long flights. One of them is compression gear. Just Google around, find a good copper compression socks, look for copper compression socks. Lululemon makes a great pair. No, I do not have an affiliation with Lululemon, but I actually happen to like their copper compression socks. You can get full body compression, which actually gets uncomfortable on long flights, in my opinion, but compression gear that goes up to your knee. What this does is it pulls all of that pulled fluid when you're

Starting point is 00:13:54 sitting for long periods of time up your calves, your ankles, pulls it up into the back of your knee and dumps it into a vein to allow it to circulate back through your body and also helps your lymphs in the lower part of your extremities circulate. You might've heard of something called a deep vein thrombosis, which actually occurs when people actually sit in seats for prolonged periods of time and don't move. So the other travel hack,

Starting point is 00:14:20 this is something I never hear anyone talk about. I do not have a scientific peer-reviewed published clinical study to back this up, but I promise you if you are switching time zones and you add this to your travel hacks, it will make a major difference in your energy level and how quickly you're able to adjust to the time zone. I have probably told three or 4,000 people about this travel hack. And when I do, they always get back to me and go, oh my God, Gary, that was the most amazing thing. It made the biggest impact on my readiness and my ability to adjust to the new time zone. And that is this. If you don't remember anything else from this video,

Starting point is 00:15:00 write this one down. When you are changing time zones, do not eat during your normal sleeping window. What I mean by this is when you arrive at your new destination, let's say that you live on the East Coast, you live in Miami, you live in Washington, D.C., and you go to bed for the sake of argument between, you go to bed at 10 p.m. and you wake up at 6 a.m. So you're sleeping from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. You need to preserve that 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. time and not eat anything solid, only fluids, during that sleeping window. So let's say you now go to London and you're normally sleeping between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. London's six hours

Starting point is 00:15:41 ahead, so you don't want to eat between 6 a.m and noon in other words do not start eating your first solid meal until noon for the first 48 hours in your destination if you're going to be at your destination for a prolonged period of time after 48 hours you can start to eat on that cycle but I promise you if you start feeding your body when it thinks you should be sleeping because our digestion is tied to our circadian rhythm, it will be a disaster for you to accommodate to a new time zone. So every time I'm traveling domestically around the United States, I'm very cautious not to ever eat when I would normally be sleeping. If you want to do this experiment at home, just set your alarm for three o'clock this

Starting point is 00:16:23 morning, wake up, eat a three-egg omelet, have yourself a glass of orange juice and half an avocado and see if you can go back to bed. It will be a disaster for your sleep patterns that night. So another little trick that I use if I do eat and I do eat on long international flights, eat as soon as you board the plane and try to keep your normal sleeping time. So go to bed on the plane. And as soon as you are done your meal, go to the bathroom with bottled water, never brush your teeth with the water from the sink in an airplane. I know that they'll tell you that it's safe. It's actually not. It's city water that they put in storage tanks that sits stagnant for days on end. And then they pump it up through that system, and they pump it into the bathrooms.

Starting point is 00:17:05 So don't brush your teeth with the bathroom sink water, even on a good international first-class flight. Bring bottled water into the bathroom. Brush your teeth as soon as you are done eating, and continue to hydrate while you're awake. Get yourself an Echo water filtration bottle or hydrogen water bottle, and drink 8 to 10 ounces of water every hour on the hour unless you're sleeping. Don't forget to do 25 air squats and 10 deep breaths every hour on the hour and do not eat during your normal sleeping window for the first 48 hours in your new destination. I really hope a couple of these travel hacks find their way into your travel portfolio because they have been a game changer for me

Starting point is 00:17:49 in an active travel schedule. Try it the next time you go on a domestic flight, you arrive at the airport early, fast on that flight, don't divert all of that beautiful oxygen and blood to your gut. Keep it in your brain where you can use it for processing, arrive refreshed,

Starting point is 00:18:06 arrive cognizant, clear, clean, awake, and ready to tackle your day. I hope you found these travel tips helpful. If you did, drop a comment in the podcast below, and please continue to submit your questions to theultimatehuman.com so that I can get back to you with more tips that you can take away from these podcasts and put to work in your daily life to change the trajectory of your life. And as always, that's just science. The most important part of my morning routine beyond any shadow of a doubt is breath work.

Starting point is 00:18:36 I decided to write a free three-day breath work guide and host a three-day breath work challenge absolutely free. Go to theultimatehuman.com, theultimatehuman.com, download the free breathwork guide, and join me for a three-day breathwork challenge. It's completely free. I will see you guys there. If you haven't had a chance to connect with me

Starting point is 00:18:55 on theultimatehuman.com, head over there now and sign up for my free newsletter and all of the exclusive content.

The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka - 32. Travel Hacks | Avoiding Jet Lag, Adjusting to Time Zones, and Staying Energized with Gary Brecka

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