Frequent Flyer Miles Add Up to Family Stress

Business travelers' spouses file more mental health claims, study finds

By Ed Edelson
HealthScoutNews Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 6 (HealthScoutNews) -- The spouses of frequent flyers pay heavily for those free miles. And so do the travelers themselves, it seems.

Health insurance claims for stress-related psychological problems and physical illnesses are significantly higher for the husbands and wives of employees who travel frequently on business, says a report from Dr. Lennart A. Dimberg, a senior occupational health specialist at the World Bank. The findings appear in the March issue of the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Husbands and wives of workers who had at least four overseas assignments a year filed significantly more claims for stress-related disorders, compared to spouses of workers who did not travel, Dimberg and his colleagues found in a study of the organization's health insurance records.

"For psychological disorders, the rate of insurance claims was about twice as high for the spouses of travelers as spouses of non-travelers," the researchers say. "For specifically stress-related psychological diagnoses, the rates were three times higher among both female and male spouses of frequent travelers with more than four missions a year."

The travelers themselves also filed more claims for psychological problems than non-travelers did, the study says.

There was also a significantly higher rate of physical problems such as skin diseases and intestinal problems among the spouses of frequent travelers, Dimberg says.

"We don't know how they connect," he says. "These conditions may be aggravated by stress, but we do not know how the connection exists."

Dimberg, a frequent flyer himself, says jet lag and other problems are common among his fellow travelers.

"A lot of people have trouble sleeping on the plane," he says. "I sleep very well. Others in my department have trouble. They are tired for over a week when they come back from a trip."

An effect on the family life of the frequent flyer is inevitable, says Frederick Medway, professor of psychology at the University of South Carolina and spokesman for the American Psychological Association.

"Business travel is stressful," he says. "Generally, what you find is that a lot of that stress becomes manifested when people come home. It's when you have face-to-face contact that the problems emerge."

The problem is getting worse because of the events of Sept. 11, Medway says.

"Because of 9/11 security, lines are longer, the wait at the airport is longer," he says. "We're not just dealing with the stuff we had before Sept. 11. Now we have an overlay of security on top."

Employers can help ease the stress, says Dimberg. The World Bank, an international lending organization, gives frequent flyers flexible work arrangements, so they can work an extra hour a day in the office and have an extra day a week at home.

"We do have a counseling service," he says. "We are also trying to support the use of video conferencing so the spouses can see one another."

Dimberg says he will try to encourage similar corporate practices when he reports on his study at the American Occupational Health Conference in Chicago on April 15.

What To Do

Families can cope by establishing rituals, Medway says.

"When a husband is away, the spouse can sleep on the husband's side of the bed, sleep in the husband's pajamas, make sure his picture is in sight," he says. "The traveler can arrange to call every day, with the call at a specific time. Rituals are very comforting when the spouse is away. Also, we have found that families who have learned how to deal with frequent travel are good resources for other families."

Information on coping with work-related stress is available from the American Psychological Association. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has a page on staying healthy while traveling.

SOURCES: Interviews with Lennart A. Dimberg, M.D., senior occupational health specialist, World Bank, Washington, D.C.; Frederick Medway, Ph.D, professor, psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia; March 2002 Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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