One Snarky Chica with Issues

When I am traveling I like to have as few things to keep up with as possible. And I also like to avoid checking luggage if I can. Usually that means that I have two overstuffed backpacks that I carry with me. And when I am lugging those around a city or trains I really regret it. They do not seem all that heavy when I leave home, but after walking a few blocks to a train station they get pretty heavy pretty quickly. And it is only then that I realize I have packed them too heavy.

It is no secret that doing things like this is bad for the back. If there had not been studies proving it, then I could tell you from personal experience.

You see, I made the mistake once of not verifying the hotel distance from the train stop. The hotel page said it was about a half mile. It was my first trip to Paris and I thought walking that distance would be a great way to see some of the local life. If I had bothered to check the distance to the hotel from the train station I would have know that it was a severe typo. That half mile walk was actually 5 miles. I had a backpack with a 8 pound laptop as well as a bunch of clothes in it AND a stuffed duffle bag that I carried the entire way. That was utterly horrible.

A recent study concluded that wearing a heavy backpack can significantly decrease blood flow through your shoulder, down to your fingertips, and could result in the loss of some fine motor skills as well as increased fatigue! That’s insanity! The study showed that just 10 minutes of wearing a 26 pound backpack resulted in about a 50 percent decrease in blood flow through large and small vessels in their upper bodies.

It is important for all of us to remember not to over pack those bags and backpacks. That means handbags also!