How commuting harms health
Monday October 31st, 2011
Both car commuting and public transport place significant stresses and strains on the health of workers, according to a new analysis.
Only walking
and cycling to work help workers to maintain their physical and mental
health, according to a Swedish study.
The research found that public transport was no better than car-driving at soothing the stresses of daily workers.
According to the report in BMC Public Health, commuting stress increases with the time spent on public transport - but car-driving stress may not do so.
Instead researchers found the health of car-drivers improved when they had to drive for more than an hour to work.
The findings come from research on Swedish drivers and the researchers say the improved health of long-distance drivers may result from the road conditions in their country.
Erik Hansson, of Lund University medical school, Sweden, and his fellow researchers studied some 21,000 commuters.
Dr Hansson said: Generally car and public transport users suffered more everyday stress, poorer sleep quality, exhaustion and, on a seven point scale, felt that they struggled with their health compared to the active commuters.
One explanation for the discrepancy between car and public transport users might be that long-distance car commuting, within our geographical region, could provide more of an opportunity for relaxation.
"However, it could be that these drivers tended to be men, and high-income earners, who travelled in from rural areas, a group that generally consider themselves to be in good health.
"More research needs to be done to identify how exactly commuting is related to the ill health we observed in order to readdress the balance between economic needs, health, and the costs of working days lost."
Detection Relationship between commuting and health outcomes in a cross-sectional population survey in southern Sweden. Erik Hansson, Kristoffer Mattisson, Jonas Bjork, Per-Olof Ostergren and Kristina Jakobsson. BMC Public Health - in press
Tags: Europe | General Health | Mental Health
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