Snackers—

Obviously, we’re all about the real-food, snack game. But health doesn’t stop at what we eat.

Take this common business travel experience as a hypothetical example. Eat some healthy snacks on the plane, then sit in a chair for 16 hours, slam back a few beers at happy hour, barely sleep in an uncomfortable hotel bed, and hop a flight back home early enough for tomorrow’s workday to begin.

We’ve tried that before, as have many of you, and the verdict remains the same: 0/10. Do not recommend. Two unhealthy thumbs down.

To truly maintain health on the move and do our best work, it all matters—diet, sleep, movement, and, of course, supreme mental oneness with the universe. Ohhhmmm.

In this article, we offer up some helpful hotel room hacks to ensure good sleep, prime fitness, and universal equanimity.

Sleep hack 1: The towel-propped pillow

Cofounder Geremy has a pillow problem.
To get great sleep, he needs the exact pillow he has at home—the Tempur-Pedic Memory Foam Symphony Pillow Luxury Soft Feel, to be specific. Without the Symphony’s firmness, size, filling, and material, his neck muscles protest, and pain soon follows—the man is quite particular.

Last year, however, a tip from a well-known Boston physical therapist started transforming Geremy’s regular, crappy, hotel pillows into the perfect solution for a side-sleeper

The simple hack is to fold a towel from the bathroom over itself long-ways three of four times. The number of folds will depend on the awfulness of the pillow and individual sleep preferences, as will the choice of a bath towel or hand towel. Adjusting the folded towel to the correct height and placing it underneath the pillow changes the shape and firmness, like we might adjust the sand piles under a towel on the beach.

Since discovering this method, Geremy has—shockingly, and for the first time in decades—not complained about the quality of his pillow. He wakes up with a relaxed, limber neck, feeling rested and ready for adventure.

And we all sleep better because of it.

Sleep hack 2: The dark room

If the pillow isn’t the sleep problem—and it’s not the two mezcal cocktails from dinner—often light seeping through hotel curtains is the culprit. As world-renowned sleep scientist Matthew Walker has said, darkness is crucial for restful sleep.

We have two ways to maintain darkness. The first one is a creative move from Jeff Darcy on Twitter, simply using the clips on a pants hanger to keep the curtains tightly closed.

Brilliant.

The other way is to wear a mask. For the prepared-ahead-of-time type, try Geremy’s favorite sleep mask, which we mentioned in our article about our favorite travel gadgets.

Either way, the goal is the same: “Stay away from the light!”

Fitness hack: The no-gym back attack

Most hotel gyms suck.

While resources can help fid a good gym on the road—like this awesome city-specific guide from Chris at Fittest Travel—booking a hotel with a great fitness setup isn’t always possible. In those cases, we like several of the hacks in the “10 Quick Exercises” section of this Nerd Fitness article.

Working the back muscles is particularly challenging outside of a gym, so our two favorites on this list are both focused on that area. Try either the inverted back row using the hotel table or desk or the backpack curl or row.

Meditation hack: The solo retreat mindset

It’s rare to have a room to ourselves.

We’re so busy with on-the-go-ness that time and space seem to jumble into a noisy, crowded mess. This hack doesn’t involve hotel furniture as much as it uses the space, quiet and time of the four walls of a hotel room.

Take advantage of this peaceful haven with a simple 10-minute meditation. Sit on a cushion or chair looking out the window, focus on your breath, and do…nothing. And if sharing a room with a friend, partner or colleague, use the time when they’re showering, at the gym, or running an errand.

Whether using our favorite apps like Waking Up, Headspace, or Calm, listening to some Tibetan singing bowl sounds, or just sitting in silence, there are few better ways to spend 10 minutes to quite your mind…and achieve universal oneness.

Ohhhmmm.

And that’s it. Four simple ways to get better sleep, exercise, and mindset away from home. Add some healthy snacks to this mix, and you really have something special.