Overweight frequent flyers

Travelling the majority of the time could lead to higher rates of obesity, hypertension and high cholesterol. Plus, advice on actually moving when you travel.

Let’s face it: frequent travellers spend a lot of time sitting still. They can travel thousands of kilometres in a single trip, yet move only a few hundred metres.

Think about how far you actually walked on your last business trip – maybe a few steps to your car, or to the sidewalk for a cab to the airport. Maybe you took a few hundred quick strides through an airport concourse to catch a plane.

But think about how much time you spent immobile: in a car or cab, in an airplane seat, on a bus or shuttle, in a meeting room or at a restaurant, watching TV in your hotel room. There’s growing evidence that this lack of movement is having a big impact on travelers’ health.

Did you know that people with sitting jobs have twice the rate of cardiovascular disease as those with standing jobs? Or that obese people sit for more than two and half more hours per day than thin people?

When you are sitting still, your body burns just one calorie per minute, enzymes that break down fat drop 90% and the “good” cholesterol in your blood drops 20%, according to a recent infographic by Medical Billing and Coding, an organization that helps people find careers in healthcare.

Then there’s the new medical study in the Journal of Occupational and Environment Medicine at Columbia University that looks into the cardiovascular health of business travellers. It examined data from the medical records of 13,057 employed patients engaged in a corporate wellness plan.

The good news is that it found that some business travel might be good for you. Findings revealed that business travellers who are away from home between one and six nights per month are healthier and less likely to be obese than non-travellers.

On the other hand, the study determined that very frequent business travellers (those who are away 21 or more nights per month) have higher rates of obesity, hypertension and high cholesterol than those who travel moderately. These very frequent travellers who cover thousands of miles every month, but actually spend the great majority of their time sitting, share similar traits such as high blood pressure and obesity with very sedentary non-travellers – those who sit a lot at work or at home.

“Whether travel is by car or by plane, it essentially represents increased sedentary time and reduced overall time for physical activity. In addition, overnight stays in hotels may interrupt exercise schedules,” said report researchers. They also report that job strain associated with airline delays and tight schedules tends to lead to high blood pressure.

Moderately frequent business travellers have the time to get off the travel treadmill and exercise, take walks, go to the gym and move around. But very frequent travellers may not have that option – the constant transition from place to place leaves little time to take a walk, prepare and eat a healthy meal at home or stick with a training regimen at the gym.

All this means that frequent travellers need to keep a watchful eye on how much they are actually moving when they are travelling. The more you travel, the more important it is to monitor your physical activity. Some advice:

Get moving!  It could end up saving your life.

How do you stay healthy and fit while travelling? .