Wellness Traveling often for work can seriously harm your health

Those who often do many business trips are more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression, have trouble sleeping and the highest body mass index.

If you are on vacation, catching a plane that takes you to the other side of the world can be exciting. But it is stressful if your mission is to visit a client, close a deal or do an interview. Spending the days visiting different countries can be a dream life for many but, far from idealizations, those who are obliged to make these trips for work tend to suffer more health problems. Changes in daily habits, in sleep cycles and lack of healthy activities generate physical but also emotional ailments.

When organizing a business trip, many corporate health programs manage vaccines, information on how to avoid food indispositions and alerts about civil and political disturbances. But many times they neglect a more common threat to health: stress, sleep disturbance, unhealthy eating and lack of exercise, which are common side effects of being on a work trip. In the long term, these problems can add to the risks of chronic diseases. Those who travel two weeks or more per month are more likely to smoke and have symptoms of anxiety.

In addition to the willpower of workers to take care of their habits, companies have to make a proactive effort to improve the situation. Experts recommend that travel dates be made more flexible, that airport-hotel transfers be hired in advance, that health programs be designed with specific protocols, and that an extra effort be made to make workers aware of the risks involved in changing from town, sleep in hotels, eat fast and sleep badly. The flight schedule is essential because it will condition the first days of travel. Do not lose sight of the jetlag: on the plane it is better to sleep than to advance work. And this can also be learned: companies can offer sleep hygiene courses so as not to lose good habits. Maintaining healthy eating habits is perhaps the most complicated part. Different studies have found that restaurant food contains more calories per serving, more fat and less fiber than meals prepared at home. In addition, stress influences and hinders the relationship between healthy and traveling food: stress often causes us to want more caloric meals or to filter less than when we are relaxed.