6 Smart Tips for Staying Healthy on the Road

February 13, 2026

Editor’s NOte: This summary of the webinar transcript was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence.

Travel is part of the job, but it doesn’t have to take a toll on your health. As a meeting planner, you’re juggling logistics, timeline shocks, AV crises and people problems—often while running on a plane’s worth of caffeine. The following practical tips help you protect your energy, mobility and mental clarity so you show up at your best for every event.

In a recent Knowledge Exchange webinar hosted by Smart Meetings’ JT Long, health experts Dr. Romie Mushtaq, MD, bestselling author of “The Busy Brain Cure”; Greg Scheinman, bestselling author, speaker, coach and founder of Midlife Male Ventures; and Light Watkins, bestselling author of five books on happiness, mindfulness, minimalism and transformation and a TEDx speaker, discussed what planners can do to greet each day with vim and vigor. You can view the full webinar online.

1. Anchor your day with three non-negotiables.

Pick three small rituals you do on every trip, regardless of location. Consider a 20-minute morning mobility routine, a hydration target (a refillable bottle that you finish twice daily) and a 10-minute pre-sleep wind-down with no screens. These simple anchors restore rhythm when time zones, late nights and shifting priorities try to knock you off course. Commit to them—calendar blocks or an app reminder helps make them real.

“It starts with just one minute of stillness,” Watkins says. “You can wake up in the morning, slide up and sit up against your headboard and close your eyes for one minute. You’re going to practice not focusing on anything, not noticing anything, not witnessing anything. Just let your mind roam around freely wherever it wants to go. What you’re practicing is no judgment.”

2. Build micro-movement into your schedule.

Long site walks, standing registration and marathon meetings add up. Break your day into 75-minute focus blocks and set a timer for 5-minute movement breaks. Standing stretches, shoulder rolls or a quick walk around the block usually does the trick. Use guided micro-workouts or desk-stretch videos when you’re short on space. Over a multi-day event, those tiny bursts protect your back, neck and wrists and return more cognitive energy than a single long stretch would.

Read More: Fitness on the Go

“Integrate a morning walk before the sessions, you can integrate a walk after lunch, and you can integrate a post session walk. Conclusion—walk,” says Scheinman. “Walking is one of the best things you can do for your overall health. Movement is medicine. Just get up and walk and invite people to it. It is easy, it is free, and it is extremely effective for connection, community, collaboration and education.”

3. Pack ergonomic, travel-friendly gear.

A few compact items drastically reduce physical strain. A foldable laptop stand, a small wireless keyboard and mouse, a lumbar cushion and supportive insoles are lightweight but have high impact. Choose wheeled luggage and a backpack with hip straps to distribute heavy loads. When you know days will be on your feet, rotate shoes and bring insoles so you’re not injuring your feet by day two.

4. Prioritize nourishing, planned eating.

Skipping meals or surviving on airport snacks depletes focus and increases irritability. Prep a stash of nutrient-dense snacks—nuts, fruit, single-serve nut butter and quality protein bars—and identify reliable food options near venues before you arrive. When you control catering, reserve boxed lunches or plated meals for you and your team, so everyone eats and hydrates on schedule. Aim for protein and fiber to stabilize energy; pair coffee with water and avoid late-in-the-day caffeine that sabotages sleep.

5. Protect your mental bandwidth with role separation and small buffers.

Hybrid sessions, vendor escalations and endless problem-solving fragment attention. Assign one person to manage the digital audience and tech, even if it’s a local contractor or remote co-host. Create low-cognitive windows for routine tasks (confirmations, checklists) and a daily 15-minute decompression habit after major milestones—a short walk, breathwork or a quick mindfulness session. Teach a simple “pause” language on your team (e.g., “On pause until 3:30”) so stakeholders know when you’re deliberately offline.

6. Track a single personal metric and iterate.

You don’t need exhaustive data—one simple measure tracked consistently reveals patterns that change behavior. Choose a metric like nightly sleep hours, the number of movement breaks taken or an end-of-day energy rating on a 1–5 scale. Use a note on your phone or a basic habit app to record it each day for a month. When you review those entries, you’ll spot what drains you (late-night calls, too many back-to-back sessions) and what helps (hydration, pre-sleep routine), which makes it easier to argue for schedule changes, staffing or wellness investments.

“It takes a leader and a meeting professional to say, you know, I’m somebody that likes to sleep early,” says Romie. “It’s 8:39 pm. I’m going up for my digital detox and sleep. You can make it cool for the people who want to leave and get to sleep early—or check in with loved ones. You give them permission to do so, and they don’t feel forced to stay out late.”

A Mini-Plan to Get You Started

If you want immediate impact, do these three things on your next trip.

Block 10-minute movement breaks every 75 minutes.
Pack high-quality protein snacks and a refillable bottle.
Name a co-host or tech lead for any hybrid session.
Track one metric—sleep or movement breaks—and see how small course corrections change your energy.