First Aid For Travel - Seek The Honey

How honey is a great travellers first aid resource.

An African safari, trekking in the Himilayas, visiting the beaches of Thailand, snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, or climbing in the Alps. Just some of the wonderful adventurous travel options we have these days. You have your own list of places you would like to see, and things you want to do.

When you’re in the middle of your dream holiday, far from home, smile on your face, fresh air on your checks, the last thing you want is to have it interrupted by some unfortunate incident. An unwanted cut, gash, or graze, an unexpected bite from an animal, or anything else that may require some on the go first aid. Being prepared, and having the ability to provide some appropriate care to yourself could make a difference to the remainder of your trip.

In remote locations, where the risk of infection from what caused your cut or graze is higher, and where clean water and the medications you’d expect at home are not always so readily available, honey just may be your answer.

Yes, honey, that sticky stuff you are more used to having on your toast. It was actually used as a medicine for treating wounds as long ago as the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. To an extent all honey contains some antibacterial ability from the hydrogen peroxide that comes from it.

This means you can make use of honey as an antiseptic / antibacterial ‘cream’ for any wounds, grazes, or cuts you get. The more raw, or natural the honey is, the better. Which is good for you when you are travelling to remote places, as generally the local honey will be less processed, or at least raw honey is likely to more available.

An additional benefit of using honey when you are travelling, is that the layer of honey left over the wound or cut creates a barrier, that helps prevent infection from entering. When on travels where you are more exposed to extra infection risks – dirty water, and just the dirt and germs in that location that your body is not used to, having that barrier layer is very beneficial in reducing your risk of getting a wound infected. Also, when you find yourself without a nice clean sterile bandage to use, your risk from using some other material – a strip of cloth etc – as a bandage is reduced, as a good layer of honey can stop that material from having direct contact with the wound.

Now for best results, there is a unique honey that you could actually take with you. Active Manuka Honey that comes from New Zealand, has actually been proven to have extra antibacterial properties to other honeys, that make it a very useful wound treatment. To the extent that this honey is now being used in some hospitals around the world to treat wounds, and even burns. There has been academic research into some manuka honey’s healing properties, that support its ability to help treat difficult to heal wounds, make infected wounds sterile, and even reduced the amount of scarring.

The only downside is its sticky nature, which is something that can be dealt with.

Hopefully your travel all goes smoothly, and you have nothing but wonderful experiences. But if you do find yourself cut, grazed, or otherwise wounded away from your normal medical help, then look to nature, and honey, to help you out.

The Active Manuka Honey is available in a sterilised form, in a tube that is easy to apply and very convenient for including in your first aid supplies. Being the size of a tube of toothpaste it will easily fit into your pack. If you are able to take more first aid supplies, or your travel circumstances see you taking more advanced preparations, then there are also honey impregnated dressings available that are ready to use.