Business travel takes toll on workers' health | MAARS News

By Charisse Jones/usatoday.com

Judith Briles crisscrosses the country as a consultant and is well-acquainted with the bumps of the road. Unhealthy meals, hit-and-miss hotel rooms and travel delays can all take a toll.

photo: wellcorporatehousing.wordpress.com

?I?ve always told the client part of my speaking/consulting fee is based on the pain ? on the body to get there,? Briles says. ?People who have to travel for business should get on-the-road hazard pay.?

Now, a recently published study backs up business trekkers like Briles who?ve long suspected life on the road was negatively affecting their health.

The study, which analyzed data gathered from roughly 13,000 workers, found that those who traveled more than 20 nights a month were 2.61 times more likely to report they were in poor or fair health than those on the road one to six days a month. And they were 1.92 times as likely to be obese, a condition that can lead to diabetes and heart disease.

?What we found was employees who travel the most had the highest rates of obesity and the poorest self-rated health,? says Andrew Rundle, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, who was senior author of the study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The rankings that workers gave their own health were particularly telling, Rundle says.

?If you told me your health was poor or fair, it?s a good predictor of your future risk of mortality,? he says, noting that while much has been reported on travelers? exposure to infectious diseases and other health issues, little has focused on the chronic disease conditions noted in his analysis.

An unhealthy environment

?I think ? the travel environment is not terribly healthy,? Rundle says. ?It?s hard to eat healthy food while you?re on the road when you think about what?s available at airports and at rest stops. ? A lot of hotels don?t have gyms or gyms aren?t that great quality. And layered on top of that you have the stress of business travel.?

The findings come as no surprise to Roger Phelps, who?s on the road roughly 120 days a year.

?I come back, and I?m coughing or my nose is running or I?ll actually have a sick day, which I hate, but I can?t help it,? says Phelps, who lives in Norfolk, Va., and handles public-relations events for a company that makes outdoor power equipment.

It?s not too hard to figure out the reason for his frequent bouts with sickness, he says. ?When you are trapped inside of what is basically a long aluminum petri dish, you can?t help but pick up illnesses.?

Hunter Wolfe doesn?t think his many business trips have impaired his health. But he agrees it?s hard to eat right and work out when you?re living out of a suitcase.

?I find that I also drink more on the road, as I?m often with co-workers or entertaining clients,? says Wolfe, a development project manager who lives in Salt Lake City, adding that ?sticking to a regular exercise routine becomes harder because you have to pack the clothes for it in addition to your business wear.

?Even if the hotel has a great gym, it just seems like there?s never as much time as when you?re at home. It definitely takes a lot of discipline to maintain healthy habits as a road warrior.?

Some travelers buck the trend

But some say that they?ve been fine on the road.

?I think I?m actually healthier due to traveling,? says Kevin Korterud, a senior manager for a consulting firm, who lives in New Albany, Ohio.

He carves out time to work out in either the morning or evening. Plus, he says, ?Traveling exposes you to just about every potential bug known to mankind. ? It?s an unintended form of inoculation.?

Lloyd Lipska says that he is constantly on the road and considers his health ?really good.?

?I am able to easily select good foods at the restaurants I go to eat, and then exercise is always available,? says Lipska, a technical manager for a snack food company, who lives in Gothenburg, Neb.

Indeed, more hotels are helping their guests be healthier while on the road, adding health facilities, designating rooms as allergen free and even offering different types of pillows to better the chances for a good night?s sleep.

?I think hotels are listening to what the traveler wants and are saying, ?OK, we?ll give you the option,?? says Jan Freitag of Smith Travel Research.

But more can be done, Rundle says. Employers, for instance, can make sure their preferred hotel chains have gyms and eateries with low-calorie choices.

And corporate trekkers can take matters into their own hands, using the stairs instead of the escalator, for instance, or traveling with their own healthy snacks, Rundle and other business travelers say.

?I ? find that when I?m traveling for business, I give myself permission to be bad in the sense of ordering french fries or going to the hotel bar to have a drink,? Rundle says. ?And I have to remind myself that just because I?m traveling for business, that?s still real life, and my health behavior while traveling has consequences.?

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Source: http://news.maars.net/blog/2011/05/31/business-travel-takes-toll-on-workers-health/

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