On paper, business travel is a dream, but the reality is quite different. Researchers at Columbia University in the United States have just conducted a study which shows that the more time a person spends traveling for work, the more anxiety symptoms and depression increase. The results are published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The study was based on the health records of 18,328 employees who underwent an assessment in 2015. Symptoms of depression, anxiety and alcohol dependence, were measured using questionnaires. As a result, 24% suffered from anxiety, 15% from depression and 6% were addicted to alcohol. Scores on these questionnaires increased as the number of nights spent traveling.
Travel healthier
People who traveled a minimum of two weeks per month showed more symptoms of anxiety and depression. They were also more likely to smoke, be sedentary and have sleeping troubles than those who traveled less than a week per month.
According to the authors, new approaches should be considered to improve the health of employees when traveling for business. They offer, for example, for those who travel a lot, access to sports facilities and balanced meals or even some kind of training that would help employees to organize their trips in a healthier way.
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