Rosie Garthwaite - How to Avoid Being Killed in a War Zone

Watermelons are a fantastic source of safe water. And they have a few salts and sugars to help you rehydrate properly.

Water is also essential to maintain basic hygiene, as Nick Toksvig remembers: ‘Moving into Kuwait after the coalition forces pushed the Iraqis out, we discovered there was no running water for the toilets. So we took it from the still full hotel swimming pool.’

You need to stay clean. You may be surrounded by death, broken water pipes or floodwater. Disasters are a festival for bacteria, so now would be a good time to become obsessive about being clean.

Aftershocks, newly broken riverbanks, a returning hurricane – all these things could happen. So stay away from potentially collapsible buildings if there has been an earthquake. Pitch your tent on high ground if there is the threat of a flood. And if there’s a hurricane approaching, you need to seek shelter wherever local authorities are recommending. Basements are not always a good idea if there is a risk of flooding or your building collapsing.

As a general rule, avoid getting into arguments with voodoo priests.

‘Hajia, Hajia!’This was my name for a month before I left Iraq. It means ‘old woman’, and was given to me because I developed a back problem that left me bent double like an ancient crone.

As I slid from my 50°C bed into a taxi every morning, longing for air conditioning or a shower that I’d gone without for up to six days, exercise was the last thing on my mind. I hadn’t done anything to keep fit, and now my back, which I had broken four years earlier when I was 18, had broken itself again. With all my stomach muscles gone, there was nothing left to take the pressure off my spine. I regretted every step not walked over the last few months, and every muscle-using opportunity missed as I lay for 17 hours groaning in the back of a saloon car all the way from Basra to Amman to get myself home to a hospital.

Like most people, I’d used all the usual excuses for not exercising, but this time included cultural sensitivity. As a woman in a Muslim country, it is difficult but not impossible to keep yourself fit. You can’t just pop out for a run, even if you are covered from head to toe. You will be stared at or even followed in a car, as was my experience in relatively cosmopolitan Amman in Jordan. Gyms for women are rare and usually single-sex. It is just not expected that women will want to work out.

When I returned as a producer for Al Jazeera four years later I had learnt my lesson. I took one look at the stairs in my hotel in Baghdad and vowed to run up and down them every morning. Exercise helps with sleeping. It helps to burn off all those calories you eat and drink. It also helps to stop the body creaking, though it was tricky when you’re not allowed to move more than a few metres from two charming bodyguards. (Bodyguards, by the way, can make excellent fitness instructors if you can keep up. I can’t.)

For most people exercise is also invaluable as stress relief. It gives you a rush of that happy hormone endorphin. It burns up unused adrenalin that nutritionists say will end up giving you a fat tummy when it converts itself to sugar and sticks to your torso.

Ideally you should aim to be as fit as the people who are running the war zone – soldiers. You need to be able to move as fast as them. In an emergency evacuation you might find yourself carrying a lot of weight for miles on end, or flying in an army plane for 16 hours, or bumping over a long, long road. Damage will be done if your back isn’t in top order. Also, what happens if you need to carry a friend to safety? It isn’t your job to be that fit, but it will help you.

As your body prepares itself chemically for fight or flight, you should prepare it physically too. You can come up with all the excuses in the world – and I have used them all – but 15 minutes a day spent looking after your body will make a huge difference to how you are able to deal with your job.

Getting out of breathis the only way to keep your heart fit. Try to get your heart rate up and a sweat going three times a week for half an hour, or every day for 15 minutes. BBC correspondent Caroline Hawley has found her own way of achieving this: ‘For entertainment and exercise when confined to a small area, I definitely rate ping pong. You can work up a surprising sweat if you move around the table enough!’

Stairs are your friend.Run up and walk down, unless you feel like running both ways. But be careful not to hurt your knees by overdoing it. Running uphill is great for your tummy muscles. We spend far too much time sitting down, so skip lifts whenever possible.

Fitness machines are greatif you have them. Just make sure you use them, and don’t let yourself get into a dull routine. Make it different each time. Your body will stop responding if it becomes predictable.

Skipping is easy.Do one minute skipping and one minute of another exercise 10 times and you will be done for the day.

Leg lungesstrengthen your legs. They’ll be most effective when you have run out of breath already. Make sure your knee doesn’t go forward of your foot and your tummy is pulled in. Add weights (see box overleaf) in your hands if it is getting too easy.

Step exercisecan be done with a bench, chair or stairs. Start with both feet on the floor and step up to your chosen height, being careful to keep your back straight and your knees no further than 90 degrees from your torso. Bring the other foot up and stand straight on your bench or whatever, then step down again. Go as fast as you can without losing control, and switch legs every 10 repetitions.

Shadow boxingis also pretty easy. Keep your legs still, one foot forward of the other. Look straight ahead at a point on the wall and start punching, keeping your arms at that height. Now try moving your legs back and forth too.

Samantha Bolton recommends Kegel exercises: ‘These strengthen the pelvic floor and can be done sitting down – just pull in as if holding in a wee, tighten the butt muscles, then release. Do it 20 times. Good for both men and women are yoga sun salutations and sit-ups; also tricep dips for the backs of the arms, which you can do while sitting on the toilet, bath or bidet [see here]. Dancing is also good exercise, as is having a good laugh!’

In this section are basic Pilates exercises, which are easy to follow without expert help being at hand. Once you’ve mastered them, a quick search on the Internet will throw up plenty more complicated ones to keep you interested.

Go through the exercises as slowly as possible. It is not the number or size or speed of repetitions that will help. It is keeping your tummy ‘zipped up’ (held still with your core muscles) that will maximize the effect.

The key is to keep your core still and tight throughout. Feel those muscles you hardly ever use at the bottom of your stomach. Pull them in and imagine they are trying to touch your spine. You should be able to feel they are tense to your hand, but don’t suck in your stomach. You need to be able to breathe and have your muscles engaged throughout. When lying down, your spine should be as flat to the floor as you can make it without it being uncomfortable – anchored not pressed. Don’t let that feeling go while you work your core muscles in these exercises.