Business travel increases the likelihood of suffering a stroke or heart attack. More than 70 percent of business travelers report some symptoms of an unhealthy lifestyle, including poor diet, lack of exercise, excess drinking, stress, mood swings and gastrointestinal problems. The main factors are bad airport food, uneven exercise habits and jet lag.
A study conducted by Andrew G. Rundle and Catherine A. Richards, MPH, drew data from medical records of more than 13,000 employees in a corporate wellness program provided by EHE International. They tracked the body mass index; levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, what’s known as “bad” cholesterol; and self-rated healthiness of more than 13,000 business travelers. Dr. Rundle has just completed a follow-up study, and the new findings, currently under peer review, “are pretty much the same as the old ones,” he said. “What we’re seeing is kind of like a U-shaped curve. People who travel the most and people who don’t travel at all have the worst health.”
Jack and Ferdi compared the desirable levels in term of BMI, cholesterol and blood pressure communicated by the CDC and the results from the study conducted by Andrew G. Rundle and Catherine A. Richards.