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You may be in the midst of planning a much anticipated vacation. Alternatively, you may have yet another business trip, for which you quickly pack your small bag and dash off to the airport. Either way, the last thing on your mind is how to best maintain your health throughout the journey.
The chances are that you haven’t considered your health at all. You may have given a moment’s thought to the unwelcome jetlag awaiting you on the other side. But alas, jetlag is just one of many possible health concerns. Regrettably, with frequent travel, the odds are stacked highly against you during and after your trip. And even if you don’t actually catch something, your health is still compromised. Scott Cohen from the University of Surrey and Stefan Gossling from Lund University in Sweden published a paper titled ‘A darker side of hypermobility’ in the Environment and Planning, Interdisciplinary Sage Journal 2015 in which they aggregated the data from 15 years of major studies on frequent travel.
It’s no secret that traveling is tough on your immune system. In fact, a recent survey by World Access, a travel insurance company, estimated that 35 percent of business travelers become ill while on the go. If you think about it, it’s quite daunting to be onboard together with 200 strangers for anything from an hour to 18 hours, all sharing the same couple of toilets and breathing the same re-circulated air.
According to Cohen and Gossling, the idea of being a “road warrior” tends to be glamorized. However, for those hypermobile business travelers with 14 or more days of travel in a month, there’s a wide range of physiological and mental consequences that are often overlooked.
“Frequent flying can lead to chronic jet lag, which can cause memory impairment and has been linked in studies to disrupting gene expression that influences aging and the immune system, and increased risk of heart attack or stroke,” says Cohen.
If aging faster isn’t scary enough, it turns out that frequent business travelers are exposed to more radiation than is considered healthy. “Radiation exposure is hundreds of times higher at high altitude than at ground,” says Cohen. Whether you’re in economy or first class, everyone on a long-haul transatlantic flight is also breathing the same re-circulated air. Not only does this expose frequent business travelers to more germs, the jet lag and general tiredness from running to and from airports “can even switch off genes that are linked to the immune system,” Cohen notes in his paper. This means frequent travelers are not as well equipped to fight off disease as people who travel less frequently.
“The disruption of the circadian rhythm from jet lag affects mood, judgment, and concentration for up to six days,” says Cohen. For most of us intermittent travelers, we aren’t at this extreme risk for long term damage, but our health still takes a physical and mental beating whilst on board and thereafter.
For any trip, it’s wise to implement healthy travel habits to prevent illness, optimize your wellbeing and boost your immunity before, during and after your trip.
Many people suggest taking supplements such as vitamin C and probiotics, as well as herbal remedies such as Echinacea. There’s no proven scientific evidence on their effectiveness, but there’s no harm in trying.
As your plane roars down the runway, sit back, relax, and slip on some snugly socks. Whether your trip is for business or for leisure, you can make the most of it by being prepared health-wise. So, begin your foot exercises, pull out your bag of high fiber nutritious goodies and enjoy the journey!
Linda Friedland
Dr. Linda Friedland is a medical doctor, media personality, best-selling author of seven books and sought-after international speaker. She is an authority on executive and corporate health, women’s wellbeing, as well as stress management, resilience, and performance.
With a professional career of more than 20 years in clinical medicine and over a decade of healthcare advisory and consulting, Dr Friedland is a leading authority on health and performance. She is an international advisor to many of Fortune and Forbes' top global companies, and she designs and implementshealth, lifestyle, and disease prevention programs. A highly-rated international speaker for numerous global organizationsand an author of several books, she has spoken in more than 30 countries in the past few years. She travels frequently to deliver keynotes and consult for corporations throughout Asia, North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. Linda consults on corporate health andwellbeing as well as women’s health, leadership and performance.
She is also advisory board member for several international healthcare companies including the Shanghai-based JUCCE (Joint US–China Collaboration on Clean Energy) and the China —A New Way to Eatinitiative: a project of the World Economic Forum.
Dr. Friedlandresides mostly in Australia and is married to Peter, a surgeon. She is a mother of five.