Life Your Commute Is Killing You - Page 3

Direckshun · 05-31-2012, 09:25 AM

Long commutes suck balls, but this is particularly fascinating.

http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0...167-5/abstract

Your Commute Is Killing You
Long commutes cause obesity, neck pain, loneliness, divorce, stress, and insomnia.
By Annie Lowrey
Posted Thursday, May 26, 2011, at 5:57 PM ET

This week, researchers at Umea University in Sweden released a startling finding: Couples in which one partner commutes for longer than 45 minutes are 40 percent likelier to divorce. The Swedes could not say why. Perhaps long-distance commuters tend to be poorer or less educated, both conditions that make divorce more common. Perhaps long transit times exacerbate corrosive marital inequalities, with one partner overburdened by child care and the other overburdened by work. But perhaps the Swedes are just telling us something we all already know, which is that commuting is bad for you. Awful, in fact.

Commuting is a migraine-inducing life-suck—a mundane task about as pleasurable as assembling flat-pack furniture or getting your license renewed, and you have to do it every day. If you are commuting, you are not spending quality time with your loved ones. You are not exercising, doing challenging work, having sex, petting your dog, or playing with your kids (or your Wii). You are not doing any of the things that make human beings happy. Instead, you are getting nauseous on a bus, jostled on a train, or cut off in traffic.

In the past decade or so, researchers have produced a significant body of research measuring the dreadfulness of a long commute. People with long transit times suffer from disproportionate pain, stress, obesity, and dissatisfaction. The joy of living in a big, exurban house, or that extra income left over from your cheap rent? It is almost certainly not worth it.

First, the research proves the most obvious point: We dislike commuting itself, finding it unpleasant and stressful. In 2006, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and Princeton economist Alan Krueger surveyed 900 Texan women, asking them how much they enjoyed a number of common activities. Having sex came in first. Socializing after work came second. Commuting came in dead last. "Commuting in the morning appears particularly unpleasant," the researchers noted.

That unpleasantness seems to have a spillover effect: making us less happy in general. A survey conducted last year for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, for instance,found that 40 percent of employees who spend more than 90 minutes getting home from work "experienced worry for much of the previous day." That number falls to 28 percent for those with "negligible" commutes of 10 minutes or less. Workers with very long commutes feel less rested and experience less "enjoyment," as well.

Long commutes also make us feel lonely. Robert Putnam, the famed Harvard political scientist and author of Bowling Alone, names long commuting times as one of the most robust predictors of social isolation. He posits that every 10 minutes spent commuting results in 10 percent fewer "social connections." Those social connections tend to make us feel happy and fulfilled.

Those stressful hours spent listening to drive-time radio do not merely make us less happy. They also make us less healthy. The Gallup survey, for instance, found that one in three workers with a 90-minute daily commute has recurrent neck or back problems. Our behaviors change as well, conspiring to make us less fit: When we spend more time commuting, we spend less time exercising and fixing ourselves meals at home.

According to research from Thomas James Christian of Brown University, each minute you commute is associated with "a 0.0257 minute exercise time reduction, a 0.0387 minute food preparation time reduction, and a 0.2205 minute sleep time reduction." It does not sound like much, but it adds up. Long commutes also tend to increase the chance that a worker will make "non-grocery food purchases"—buying things like fast food—and will shift into "lower-intensity" exercise.

It is commuting, not the total length of the workday, that matters, he found. Take a worker with a negligible commute and a 12-hour workday and a worker with an hourlong commute and a 10-hour workday. The former will have healthier habits than the latter, even though total time spent on the relatively stressful, unpleasant tasks is equal.

Plus, overall, people with long commutes are fatter, and national increases in commuting time are posited as one contributor to the obesity epidemic. Researchers at the University of California–Los Angeles, and Cal State–Long Beach, for instance, looked at the relationship between obesity and a number of lifestyle factors, such as physical activity. Vehicle-miles traveled had a stronger correlation with obesity than any other factor.

mr. tegu · 05-31-2012, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stewie

I have about a 10 minute commute and it's an easy drive.

There is a married couple that commutes from Savannah, MO (our company is in Lenexa) which is about 80 miles each way. We also have people that live in Smithville, Kearney and Oak Grove. These are people that have worked for us for several years. I can't imagine commuting those distances 5-6 days per week, year after year.

Kind of makes you wonder what is the point of living in those types of areas. Yeah you aren't really in the city but you spend a lot more time there between driving and working than you do at home. Also I know I am not the only one that holds my #2's until I get home so I can use my home bathroom. 80 miles is a long ways to hold that!

Pablo · 05-31-2012, 01:00 PM

30 mins and three stoplights. Not too bad.

whoman69 · 05-31-2012, 01:17 PM

Today was horrid. I live on the edge of a suburb next to the metropolis. It took me 15 minutes to get to the metropolis when I could literally walk there in less time. I had to turn around because of construction, then ran into 5 more construction zones on the main route which just had a major project which took two years to complete. Was even late for work because of the extra time to get through construction.

**BigRichard** · 05-31-2012, 01:17 PM

I just accepted a job that will make my commute from 30 min on a good day and 40 on a bad one to about 5 min.

mr. tegu · 05-31-2012, 01:30 PM

This thread has inspired me to continue work on my teleportation device

sedated · 05-31-2012, 01:58 PM

I recently doubled my commute (from 15/30 to 30/45), and have felt the effects of everything listed. I used to cook my own dinner pretty much every night, now its so tempting to pick something up. I also don’t workout as much, but I thought that was just because the added drive gave me more time to think of everything else I could do with that 45 minutes I would normally be at the gym.

Aries Walker · 05-31-2012, 02:05 PM

Now, I have about ten minutes each way, but I had a 90-minute-each-way commute for about five years there. It was not fun.

Direckshun · 05-31-2012, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sofa King

About 7 blocks, takes me 2 minutes. would be a lot less time if there wasn't 5 stop signs in between..

Why the hell do you drive to work?

I'd bike or walk if I had the option to.

**DaFace** · 05-31-2012, 02:22 PM

It'd be interesting to know how the issues impact people like me who are mentally engaged while commuting. It's odd, but I almost miss my daily reading time on the bus when I work from home.

ToxSocks · 05-31-2012, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosty

If I lived or worked in a city, I would commute by mass transit. I hate to drive, especially in heavy traffic.

I assure you, if you lived/worked in the city you would NOT want to take public transportation.

Frazod · 05-31-2012, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Detoxing

I assure you, if you lived/worked in the city you would NOT want to take public transportation.

???

When I lived in Chicago, I took the L. It sucked, but not as much as driving.

**Donger** · 05-31-2012, 02:44 PM

I feel sorry for the people who have to drive to work every day, especially when I look outside and there's a foot of snow on the ground. Well, maybe not sad but more, "Nanananabooboo! Suckers!"

**the Talking Can** · 05-31-2012, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Detoxing

I assure you, if you lived/worked in the city you would NOT want to take public transportation.

?

that would be news to everyone living in cities and taking mass transit...

ToxSocks · 05-31-2012, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frazod

???

When I lived in Chicago, I took the L. It sucked, but not as much as driving.

To each their own i guess. I'd MUCH rather drive then deal with stinky, uncomfortable public vehicles that are often tagged on. Late/early Bus drivers, broken down buses, waiting the extra 5 minutes so the old dude in the wheelchair can board and get strapped in, then another 5 minutes for him to get off, which then causes you to miss your next bus/trolley

Or the downed power lines that kill the Trolleys. Or when a freaking tree falls over during a storm, blocks the tracks and delays your commute for 2+ hours (been there, done that)

And the people?!?! OH EM GEE

How about the smelly alcoholics? ****ed up drug abusers, annoying loud mouth teens, stank ass homeless people trying to bum change off ya? Even the gang activity. I once had a group of black people try to jack me as i was getting off the trolley. Some bitch reached into my pockets as i was walking down the isle, i told the bitch, "WTF, you doing??" Next thing you know ima bout to get jumped.

I had a friend get robbed for his shoes on the trolley.

Yeah.....

**** public transportation.

I'd much rather drive in my car than to deal with all that shit again.

ToxSocks · 05-31-2012, 02:52 PM

I have SOOO many stories about public transportation....NO THANK YOU

05-31-2012, 09:25 AM
Direckshun __ Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Springpatch Casino cash: $2123447	Your Commute Is Killing You Long commutes suck balls, but this is particularly fascinating. http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0...167-5/abstract Your Commute Is Killing You Long commutes cause obesity, neck pain, loneliness, divorce, stress, and insomnia. By Annie Lowrey Posted Thursday, May 26, 2011, at 5:57 PM ET This week, researchers at Umea University in Sweden released a startling finding: Couples in which one partner commutes for longer than 45 minutes are 40 percent likelier to divorce. The Swedes could not say why. Perhaps long-distance commuters tend to be poorer or less educated, both conditions that make divorce more common. Perhaps long transit times exacerbate corrosive marital inequalities, with one partner overburdened by child care and the other overburdened by work. But perhaps the Swedes are just telling us something we all already know, which is that commuting is bad for you. Awful, in fact. Commuting is a migraine-inducing life-suck—a mundane task about as pleasurable as assembling flat-pack furniture or getting your license renewed, and you have to do it every day. If you are commuting, you are not spending quality time with your loved ones. You are not exercising, doing challenging work, having sex, petting your dog, or playing with your kids (or your Wii). You are not doing any of the things that make human beings happy. Instead, you are getting nauseous on a bus, jostled on a train, or cut off in traffic. In the past decade or so, researchers have produced a significant body of research measuring the dreadfulness of a long commute. People with long transit times suffer from disproportionate pain, stress, obesity, and dissatisfaction. The joy of living in a big, exurban house, or that extra income left over from your cheap rent? It is almost certainly not worth it. First, the research proves the most obvious point: We dislike commuting itself, finding it unpleasant and stressful. In 2006, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and Princeton economist Alan Krueger surveyed 900 Texan women, asking them how much they enjoyed a number of common activities. Having sex came in first. Socializing after work came second. Commuting came in dead last. "Commuting in the morning appears particularly unpleasant," the researchers noted. That unpleasantness seems to have a spillover effect: making us less happy in general. A survey conducted last year for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, for instance,found that 40 percent of employees who spend more than 90 minutes getting home from work "experienced worry for much of the previous day." That number falls to 28 percent for those with "negligible" commutes of 10 minutes or less. Workers with very long commutes feel less rested and experience less "enjoyment," as well. Long commutes also make us feel lonely. Robert Putnam, the famed Harvard political scientist and author of Bowling Alone, names long commuting times as one of the most robust predictors of social isolation. He posits that every 10 minutes spent commuting results in 10 percent fewer "social connections." Those social connections tend to make us feel happy and fulfilled. Those stressful hours spent listening to drive-time radio do not merely make us less happy. They also make us less healthy. The Gallup survey, for instance, found that one in three workers with a 90-minute daily commute has recurrent neck or back problems. Our behaviors change as well, conspiring to make us less fit: When we spend more time commuting, we spend less time exercising and fixing ourselves meals at home. According to research from Thomas James Christian of Brown University, each minute you commute is associated with "a 0.0257 minute exercise time reduction, a 0.0387 minute food preparation time reduction, and a 0.2205 minute sleep time reduction." It does not sound like much, but it adds up. Long commutes also tend to increase the chance that a worker will make "non-grocery food purchases"—buying things like fast food—and will shift into "lower-intensity" exercise. It is commuting, not the total length of the workday, that matters, he found. Take a worker with a negligible commute and a 12-hour workday and a worker with an hourlong commute and a 10-hour workday. The former will have healthier habits than the latter, even though total time spent on the relatively stressful, unpleasant tasks is equal. Plus, overall, people with long commutes are fatter, and national increases in commuting time are posited as one contributor to the obesity epidemic. Researchers at the University of California–Los Angeles, and Cal State–Long Beach, for instance, looked at the relationship between obesity and a number of lifestyle factors, such as physical activity. Vehicle-miles traveled had a stronger correlation with obesity than any other factor.
Posts: 59,688

05-31-2012, 01:00 PM	#32
Pablo Ultrabanned Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northland Casino cash: $-1660644	30 mins and three stoplights. Not too bad.
Posts: 43,789

05-31-2012, 01:17 PM	#34
BigRichard Buddy Christ is a Chiefs fan Join Date: Nov 2008 Casino cash: $-1690454	I just accepted a job that will make my commute from 30 min on a good day and 40 on a bad one to about 5 min. __________________ "You know, they lay down with their ugly wives in front of their ugly children and just look at their loser lives and then they look at me and say, "I CAN'T PROCESS IT!" Well, no, and you never will. Stop trying. Just sit back and enjoy the show .... You know?" Carlos Irwin Estevez
Posts: 11,295

05-31-2012, 01:30 PM	#35
mr. tegu Forever Royal Join Date: Mar 2012 Casino cash: $-1668700	This thread has inspired me to continue work on my teleportation device
Posts: 26,458

05-31-2012, 02:05 PM	#37
Aries Walker Back again, again. Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: York, PA Casino cash: $9503357	Now, I have about ten minutes each way, but I had a 90-minute-each-way commute for about five years there. It was not fun.
Posts: 8,213

05-31-2012, 02:22 PM	#39
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-1653101	It'd be interesting to know how the issues impact people like me who are mentally engaged while commuting. It's odd, but I almost miss my daily reading time on the bus when I work from home.
Posts: 53,118

05-31-2012, 02:44 PM	#42
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $6949900 VARSITY	I feel sorry for the people who have to drive to work every day, especially when I look outside and there's a foot of snow on the ground. Well, maybe not sad but more, "Nanananabooboo! Suckers!" __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 190,759

05-31-2012, 02:52 PM	#45
ToxSocks Needs more middle fingers Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: San Diego Casino cash: $2133063	I have SOOO many stories about public transportation....NO THANK YOU __________________ Life is like a dick. Sometimes it gets hard for no reason, but it can't stay hard forever.
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