In-flight food and a cell-like environments of recycled air doesn't exactly do the body good.
So for the weary traveler, a few layover work-out tricks will make for stress-free and healthy trip.
"Exercising between flights not only keeps you balanced, it may help you take a nap on the next flight," said San Diego fitness instructor Jaylin Allen.
Allen suggests first stretching sitting muscles such as glutes and hamstrings, which often get tense during flights. Next, taking a walk around the terminal is relaxing and doesn't draw as much attention to travelers as say, overhead suitcase presses. For the shameless, Allen also suggests lunges down isleways and squats against vacant walls.
As far as food, items with fewer preservatives and carbs help to make impending flights more pleasant --fruits, nuts, yogurt, or even dried fruit, Allen said.
If a lap around the terminal just won't cut it, help may be just a quick taxi-ride away.
One San Diego man developed a website that compiles gyms within a 10-minute taxi ride from airports. The website compiles information from users who have visited the gyms.
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"I'd have these massive layovers where I'm sitting there doing nothing, and for an active guy like me, I can't sit like that," said the website's creator Kevin Gillotti to USA Today.
The need for websites like Gillotti's reflects a growing interest in healthy layover practices. In San Francisco's International Airport, for instance, travelers can visit the airport's yoga room. Many airports now feature mini-spas to work out tension built up between flights.
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