5 Best Healthy Living Tips for a Digital Nomad Lifestyle

I’m sharing my top five healthy living tips for a digital nomad lifestyle. These tips allow anyone, regardless of location or work situation, to balance health and wellness as a digital nomad while working remotely and traveling the world. The digital nomad lifestyle is a thrilling adventure but comes with unique challenges.

The constantly changing environments introduce you to new cuisines, diverse cultures, and various climates and time zones. However, this dynamic lifestyle can make it challenging to maintain a healthy routine, making establishing one all the more important.

The first step involves a slight shift in mindset. Starting as a digital nomad feels like an extended vacation, so you always eat out and let go of your daily routines. However, this is not a holiday—this is your life now. While you should enjoy your digital nomad lifestyle and maximize this opportunity, you must get out of vacation mode.

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So, how do you maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle while constantly on the road in an ever-changing environment? As someone who’s worked in the health and wellness industry for well over a decade, I’m here to share the healthy living tips and tricks I apply in my own life as a digital nomad.

Maintaining a routine is not just a crucial element of a successful wellness plan—it’s a lifeline in the digital nomad lifestyle. While the appeal of this lifestyle lies in its flexibility and spontaneity, having a consistent routine can provide stability and help you prioritize your health.

A routine doesn’t have to mean scheduling every minute of your day or that it can’t be flexible. As digital nomads, we must be adaptable, so I highly recommend a malleable routine in an otherwise flexible and spontaneous lifestyle.

We all must earn a living, so you must structure some work hours into your week. When planning your weekly work schedule, consider specific days and times for exercise, meal preparation, and other essential activities to support your health or mental health.

Remember, you’re the architect of your schedule, which can be empowering and reassuring. This control over your routine can instill confidence in your ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle, even in the midst of a dynamic digital nomad lifestyle.

Pre-planning is crucial to sustaining any routine. Consider your travel days and sightseeing activities and how work, fitness, healthy eating, and self-care time will fit in. This approach can make sticking to a routine much more effortless and reduce stress, leaving you feeling prepared and in control.

The first task is to prep my meals for the week in advance. That way, no matter how busy or tired I get, I always have healthy dishes ready whenever I need them.

It only takes a little more time or effort to prepare an extra couple of servings of a dish. That little bit of additional time cooking one day means I don’t have to spend any time cooking for the next three or four days. I designate two times a week in my schedule for meal preparation and make enough food to last three to four days each time.

The second task I consistently do is to research the gyms and green spaces near my accommodations before arriving in a new city. I narrow down suitable options based on business websites, Google, social media reviews, and expat group advice.

I message the businesses beforehand if I need help finding specific details, like prices. That way, when I arrive in a new city, I know where I will work out (gym, home, or park) and can start immediately, maintaining my weekly routine.

Once you implement a routine, it’s essential to maintain it. If something unexpected comes up, adapt your schedule that week, but don’t skip your routine altogether. Consistency is vital to a healthy lifestyle, even in changing circumstances.

One good way to ensure you always have some extra time in your week for these kinds of adjustments is to underschedule yourself. Leave more time than expected to complete tasks so you aren’t overwhelmed or stressed trying to cram everything in.

Aim for a well-balanced schedule that allows you to work, travel, and care for your physical and mental health.

We all know that a sedentary lifestyle is associated with a range of increased health risks, and you’ve probably heard phrases like “sitting is the new smoking.”

As digital nomads, we often cling to our laptops for most of the day. So, what can we do to mitigate these risks?

Office equipment like standing desks and under-desk treadmills don’t travel well, so nomads must be more mindful and creative. I concocted a setup using a footstool on a table to create a standing desk.

Of course, regular exercise is part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and a critical factor in decreasing the risk of health conditions like high cholesterol, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Regular exercise, including walking, biking, pilates, yoga, playing sports, weight lifting, and interval training, can positively affect one’s physical and mental health.

Additionally, moving and stretching our bodies can help alleviate stiff muscles from hours hunched over a computer. Depending on the exercise, it can even help strengthen weak muscles and improve our posture.

However, despite regular daily exercise, sitting for long periods still increases your health risk. Even with an exercise routine, those who regularly sit for long periods have higher risks of conditions like stroke, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and deep vein thrombosis (blood clots).

Generally, sitting also leads to daily discomforts like headaches, back or neck pain, and fatigue due to poor posture. To combat these health risks and reduce back and neck discomfort, get up and move around at least every one to two hours.

If your work schedule is flexible, take a couple of longer breaks between work sessions to do something active, like go for a walk, get in a workout, practice yoga, or do some housework or grocery shopping.

For short breaks, try doing a few stretches, especially those to lengthen the muscles along the front of the body or walking around your home. If you can spend some of your work time standing in an optimal ergonomic position, alternate between sitting and standing and take a few more dynamic breaks.

No matter how you arrange your work schedule or what activities you choose to do, just be sure to get up and move your body as much as you can!

Living abroad or frequently changing locations can disrupt our preventative or maintenance health check routines. In your hometown, you probably have a family doctor and a specific dentist you see at least once or twice a year, but living overseas can limit your regular access to their services.

Maintaining regular healthcare and appropriate examinations during your nomadic adventure is not just a task—it’s a responsibility. It’s crucial for your short- and long-term health and well-being, and it’s a proactive step you can take to ensure you’re always at your best.

Neglecting dental cleanings, routine check-ups, annual pap smears, mammograms, or eye exams can have devastating consequences. So, as uncomfortable as it can be to navigate a new healthcare system and encounter new medical professionals, we need to stay on top of any emerging health issues and seek early intervention.

Many doctors nowadays offer virtual consultations, depending on the appointments you require. It is worth asking if your regular healthcare provider would be amenable to this arrangement while you are out of the country.

You can obtain the tests you need locally, like blood work or x-rays, and submit the results to your doctor online for a virtual consultation.

For those situations where in-person appointments and examinations are mandatory, feel free to use the local healthcare system where you are temporarily residing.

From personal experience, good doctors worldwide often speak some English. It just takes a little research to find one close to you. Depending on your medical insurance, your insurance company can provide you with a list of doctors and facilities in your location.

Social media expat groups are invaluable resources for finding good-quality, affordable doctors and dentists who can communicate in English. Additionally, your host or landlord can recommend a suitable option. Of course, there are always Google reviews to round out your research.

To ensure I can keep my regular appointments and necessary tests on schedule, I plan in advance and often contact the doctor or medical facility before arriving in the city or country where I plan on receiving care.

As a foreigner, I never knew the specific process or wait time to access medical services in a new country, so looking into this matter a couple of months beforehand guaranteed that I would get everything addressed in a suitable time frame.

We’re lucky to be living this incredible digital nomad life. If we want to continue it for years to come, we must take care of our health.

The fantastic advantages of modern technology allow us to work from anywhere. However, this also permits companies and clients to contact us wherever and whenever. Just because you can be connected every minute of the day doesn’t mean you should be.

Of course, my cellular data enables me to access my work messages while exploring a new city or hiking in the mountains on the weekend, but am I going to check them? No. I may have my phone or laptop nearby, but if it’s outside my work hours, I’m not checking or responding to messages or doing extra tasks.

Healthy, clear boundaries help us maintain a good work-life balance. Whether you are at home watching Netflix or out sightseeing, you deserve free time to disconnect from work and engage in leisure activities.

It’s unreasonable for clients to expect you to be available 24/7, as we all need time to relax and manage our stress. A good work-life balance is essential for our mental and physical well-being.

Overworking and chronic stress can contribute to a variety of health concerns, such as hypertension, diabetes, digestive problems, headaches, weight management issues, depression, and anxiety.  

Setting boundaries about when you will work or engage in work-related communication and sticking to them is fair to you and your clients.

Communicate clear time frames within which clients or professional associates can expect to hear back from you. I’ve notified clients that I do my best to respond to messages within 48 hours between Mondays and Fridays.

While we rely on the widespread availability of a reliable internet connection to work remotely, keep that ubiquitous connectivity from a healthy work-life balance and your ability to make the most of the digital nomad lifestyle.

Sufficient, good-quality sleep plays a crucial role in optimal cognitive function, physical health, and mental health. Our brains need about seven-and-a-half to nine hours of quality sleep, which includes spending around 25% of the time in deep sleep.

Countless vital processes occur while we sleep, including the body’s repair and recovery process and memory conversion. Additionally, sleep affects blood sugar regulation, metabolism, and immune system function.

The short-term effects of insufficient sleep, like brain fog, lack of concentration, low energy levels, and negative impacts on mood, can decrease productivity and quality of life.

Blue light from digital screens, such as computers, tablets, and phones, interferes with our circadian rhythms and the body’s hormonal signals that tell us it is time to sleep. Studies have found that blue light emitted from screens disrupts the release of melatonin, which our body produces when it gets dark, to prepare us for sleep.

Sleep experts recommend avoiding screens at least one to two hours before bed to decrease sleep latency issues and allow for better and longer sleep. With an appropriate amount of melatonin in our system, we can fall asleep quickly, resulting in sufficient and good overall sleep quality.

Many of us remote workers provide services across various time zones. We may work less conventional hours, like evenings or late nights. Although we don’t always have total control over work schedules, it’s vital to organize our routine to get adequate sleep and allow our bodies enough time to wind down before bed.

Whether you use it for work or entertainment, put the laptop and cell phone away at least an hour before bedtime. My bedtime routine includes setting my phone alarm and putting it on airplane mode right after last night’s appointment when I shut down my laptop. From then on, I do not look at a screen for the rest of the night.

Instead, I do activities that slow down and relax my mind and body. I wash up any leftover dishes from the day or put away laundry, do my nightly hygiene routine, and read a book in a room with dimmed lighting. (Kobo and Kindle e-readers have warm, eye-friendly screens for reading.)

Other relaxing, screen-free activities include gentle or restorative yoga, meditation, or journaling in an actual book. Choosing something that shifts your mind away from work or any stress-related tasks is best.

Cutting just one hour of screen time out of your day can significantly improve your sleep and positively impact your health, energy, mood, and concentration.

With these five healthy living tips aimed at digital nomads, remote workers, and travelers, you can have the time and energy to embrace every destination while fully managing your health and well-being.

Organizing balanced routines and maintaining our physical and mental health means we can enjoy this incredible nomad experience longer, feel great, and get the most out of every day! Check out more of our digital nomad tips!