Top Tips for Keeping Healthy at Festivals this Summer with the OGC How To Tool Kit, by Reiki Master and Arts Facilitator Debs Hoy.
The summer has finally arrived, and it’s not too late to enjoy this year’s offering of music festivals, camping, road trips and concerts in the sunshine. Yet these long weekends can take their toll on the body – so here is The Orange Grove Clinic’s “How to” Guide to Keeping Healthy at Festivals, with everything you need for the essential travel pack to optimise good health this summer.
- First and most important… Drink lots of water! It’s the number one essential way of keeping healthy and preventing dehydration.
- Aloe Vera gel (99%) is great for sunburn. With its innate skin-healing qualities it produces a thin protective layer and has a cooling effect on weather-worn skin. It also helps hydrate your skin. Available at our clinic shop in reception.
- Lavender oil is a brilliant way to counteract minor burns, and mixed with aloe is also a great skin soother. Ask our aromatherapists for more information.
- Arnica downloads shock from the body after a fall, and brings out bruises so they clear up quicker.
- Nux Vomica is a must-have for keeping party animals healthy – its name means ‘poison nut’ so it’s a great remedy for hangovers and over indulgences of all kinds. Our homeopath Kathy Payne has all kinds of effective remedies in her tool kit, so do speak to her for more information.
- For women, maintaining the correct balance of friendly bacteria is essential for feminine freshness and keeping your bowels healthy – so take a combined probiotic daily which also aids digestion and helps to keep you free of any festival belly complaints. Our nutritional therapist Catherine Jeans can provide you with more info and advise you on the right probiotic for you.
- For singers or crowd-shouters – ‘Yogi Tea: Throat Tea’ will ease a gravely hoarse growl and keep you bopping from gig to gig with a smile. One of its key ingredients is natural licorice. Combine this with slippery elm tincture to replace the old fashioned honey and lemon and your voicebox will be back to normal in no time.
- There’s also milk thistle tincture for the booze hounds (to help alleviate liver toxins)
- Dandelion leaves and Cornsilk may help with a urinary infection (best taken with conventional medication).
- Festival food can often be limited and pricy so if your access to fresh fruit and veg is limited then a good quality multi-vitamin may help keep nutrient levels up. At The Orange Grove Clinic, we stock a range of top quality multi-vitamins and minerals, ideal as an insurance policy for keeping healthy long term. Pop into reception and speak to our helpful receptionist team, or you can book a free 15 minute consultation with our nutritional therapist to discuss your supplement needs.
- Green Barley Grass is also a great way to get vitamins, iron, minerals and fresh enzymes all in one hit, ideal for replenishing your body with all the essential nutrients in a natural, organic food form. We stock green barley grass capsules or powder.
- For cold nights and wet weather, fresh ginger is a staple warmer-upper and it’s also fantastic for digestive complaints and travelers tummy.
- And lastly, if it all gets a bit much and you feel overwhelmed or ‘spacey’ then walking bare foot in the grass or sitting quietly under a tree in the shade is a great way to get grounded and literally feel the earth beneath your feet.
Best of all, I take my Reiki hands with me wherever I go, ideal for keeping healthy all year round. I give myself a Reiki treatment in the car, on the bus, train, plane or boat, in a tent, a yurt, a hotel room or out in a field. My Reiki treatments have helped many a musician, roadie and manager come back to their centre in the midst of a challenging tour, and best of all anyone can learn to practise Reiki for themselves. I’ll be teaching Reiki Level 1 and 2 over the coming months at The Orange Clinic – so contact reception for details or book in for a treatment to balance your body with Reiki before you hit the road – Happy travels, and have fun keeping healthy! Debs Hoy.