Road warrior health hazards

None of these CEOs deprive themselves of all luxuries. At a recent 10 a.m. business meeting at Olives restaurant in New York, Robert LoCascio, CEO of software firm LivePerson, ordered peanut butter and jelly pancakes with banana-flavored whipped cream. (He had already eaten breakfast.) "It's OK. I'll spend two hours sweating later today," said LoCascio, 38.

LoCascio works up a sweat by practicing Capoeira, a Brazilian sport that's part dance and part marital art. He spends half his time on the road, but he can usually find a Capoeira class in any city he visits; otherwise, he can always practice on his own. Exercising also allows him to step out of boss mode. Though he's usually the oldest person in class, he's still a beginner. At the end of one recent session, a 22-year-old offered him advice.

Unfortunately, travel can kill even the best-laid exercise plans. It's difficult to get on the treadmill at 7 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, when you're exhausted from a red-eye flight and rushing to get to a breakfast meeting. "Being a road warrior makes it exceptionally difficult to think about health," says Randy Fields, 59, co-founder of Mrs. Fields cookies and CEO of Park City Group.

When he's on the road, Fields tries to sleep well and keep stress to a minimum. Bad habits reinforce each other — stress can lead travelers to overeat, which just makes them sleepier — so Fields always arrives early for flights to avoid the rush. And at the end of a long day, he spends a half hour decompressing in his hotel room — meditating, doing yoga or just answering e-mail — before going to bed. "If I go to bed stressed, I don't sleep as well," Fields says.

Frequent travelers develop tricks for managing stress and fatigue. Fredrik Halvorsen, the CEO of videoconferencing firm Tandberg, uses noise-reduction headphones to help him relax on the plane and special socks that improve circulation. His company has two headquarters, one in Norway and one in the U.S., so he travels about 60 percent of the year. By establishing a small routine on the plane, he can rapidly adjust to his new environment. But his routine is humbling. "They're not the most sexy socks," admits Halvorsen, 32. "They stay pretty high. It's typically an odd moment when you're putting them on inside the plane."

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