Business travel takes toll on workers' health
— -- 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.
"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.
