Why Business Travel Is Making You Sick (And What You Can Do About It)
I recently read that 45% of Millennials want to travel more for business.
Are they crazy? I mean, I get it. Travel is an opportunity to do something different -- to have an experience. But as someone who spent considerable time in seemingly endless business travel, I understand the frequent (non-recreational) flyer’s lament.
While it's necessary in moderation, it takes its toll -- studies show that frequent business travel makes us age faster, not to mention, more prone to cardiovascular disease. And as if that weren’t enough, constant flight exposes us to what the Harvard Business Review calls “pathological levels of germs and radiation.”
It doesn’t have to be that bad -- there are ways to stay healthy on the road. By turning these tips into habits, you might not only decrease your chances of getting sick, but business travel can even become an exercise in prioritizing effectively, sleeping better, and learning to make time for yourself.
(Note: These tips are not intended to be substitutes for medical advice -- they're for educational purposes only. Consult your healthcare professional before making any health, medical, or other decisions based on the data within these tips.)
Why Business Travel Is Making You Sick (And What You Can Do About It)
You’re not eating healthily -- which is trickier than it looks.
While your brain might require more calories during these intense periods of travel -- and want to reward itself with airport junk food -- you have to feed it the right kind of sustenance. That means consuming healthy snacks, and not the salty, sugary ones that we usually find on the road.
HubSpot’s VP of Marketing Meghan Keaney Anderson recommends packing healthier options for yourself. “They don’t take up much room,” she says, “and will get you through those long trips.”
Back when I had to travel nearly every week for work, if I didn’t have any meals planned with colleagues or clients, I would bring homemade freezer meals: Portable containers with grilled chicken strips, green beans, and sweet potatoes that I would freeze and throw in my carry-on when it was time to leave.
Make-ahead meals like that are especially helpful if you’re going to be on the road for several days -- just call your hotel ahead of time and ask if there’s a refrigerator or microwave in your room. If there isn’t, you can request one -- hotels are usually happy to oblige.
You don’t know what’s nearby.
To piggyback on the importance of healthy eating, it helps to know what’s near the place you’ll be staying. That might not be up to you -- it’s often up to your client and boss to dictate lodging, especially when you have to stick to places that have a specific corporate rate.
However, with the help of sites like Yelp and Google Maps, it’s easy to make a spreadsheet or list on your phone of what options are available near each hotel you stay at.
If you are able to pick where you stay, “book hotels in downtown areas,” Anderson recommends. “It might be tempting to book the hotel closest to the airport, but staying downtown will minimize your reliance on cabs and let you see the true city.”
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