Business travel stress and what you can do about it | the Art of …
Business travelers experience a host of miseries, especially during the holiday season. Long lines, late connections, canceled flights, poor service, and crowded terminals increase the stresses travelers face. Here?s a summary of what the latest surveys tell us about business travel plus some solutions for lowering your stress level.
Air travel woes: Schedule disruptions top the list of air travel complaints. According to the 1999 OAG Business Lifestyle Travel Survey, which canvasses nearly 3,000 business travelers in 13 countries, 95 percent of travelers reported being forced to change their itinerary after departure in the last year.
Airline carry-on baggage policies were another complaint. While boarding, 23 percent of those surveyed by the OAG had baggage refused last year. Forty percent indicated that they would change airlines for more flexible luggage policies.
Air rage was another factor. Nearly four of ten international business travelers witnessed verbal or physical abuse of passengers or airline personnel during a flight last year.
About one half of travelers surveyed said they would avoid airline travel if they could accomplish their business without it, according to the YP&B/Yankelovich Partners 2000 National Business Travel Monitor, a survey based on interviews with 1,207 American business travelers.
Hate the wait: The international research firm, TNS Inter-search of Horsham, Pennsylvania, surveyed 1,000 U.S. households and found that the single worst aspect of traveling was waiting in line. Fifty percent of those surveyed admitted that waiting in line causes stress while traveling. Twice as many men as women reported that waiting in line is the most stressful aspect of business travel. Other factors that affected travelers were flight or train delays (42 percent), bad weather (40 percent), travel cancellations (37 percent), and overbooked planes (33 percent).
Heightened stress levels: According to the Hilton Hotel?s holiday travel survey, women frequent travelers report higher stress levels during the holiday travel season than do men. In a random telephone survey of more than 500 frequent travelers, pollsters found that 61 percent of women travelers say holiday travel greatly or somewhat disrupts their schedules ? including their sleep habits, diet and fitness routines. Men experienced similar problems to a lesser degree (44 percent). One in five business travelers said that holiday travel is even more stressful than getting married or going to the dentist. Ouch!
Stress busting solutions: What can the overstressed business traveler do, short of canceling a trip? Here are some suggestions from frequent fliers:
- White-out the noise. Carry a pair of noise-canceling headphones and clamp them on as soon as the engines start to engage. Like magic, the headphones sample the outside noises and generate sound through the headphones? speakers that is out-of-phase with the exterior noise. The result: the sound of the throbbing engines disappears. QuietComforts from Bose and Sony?s MDR-NC20 are said to be the best headphones on the market. You can find links to manufacturers at Headwize, a headphone resource site.
- Get a massage before boarding. A 15-minute massage at the Massage Bar in the Seattle/Tacoma airport will set you back only $17 and set you up for a relaxing ride. A licensed massage therapist provides a seated massage requiring only that you remove your coat. ?We focus on the back, neck, shoulders, arms, and hands,? says Cary Cruea, president and founder of the 60-employee company, with branches at several locations. The company experiences a brisk business and averages 120 massages a day at Seattle. Massage concessions are setting up in a number of airports including Nashville, San Diego, Boston, Chicago and Orlando. American Express?s Skyguide has a complete list of airport massage locations.
- Try a software solution. If you don?t know how to self-hypnotize or relax through yoga, you might turn to technology for help. The I.M.A.C. Brain Recharger is stress reduction software designed to help you reduce stress, relieve anxiety, and sharpen concentration. It uses computer-generated sound frequencies to sync with your brainwave patterns. It all results in deep relaxation.
- Destress with music. Take along a MP3 or CD player loaded with Mozart?s classical concertos, andantes and sonatas and chill out. According to Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect, a combination of particular sounds, tones, and rhythms can improve memory, boost productivity, and soothe jangled nerves. If you?re not wild about baroque music, Campbell says you can get similar benefits from listening to Gregorian chants, and some types of jazz, New Age, Latin, pop, and even rock music (Diana Ross, for example). Campbell cites many authorities in backing up his claims including this one: The director of a Baltimore hospital?s coronary care unit says that half an hour of classical music produces the same effect as 10 milligrams of Valium. Works for me.
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