Nobody desires to be caught in site visitors, particularly not with analysis displaying how detrimental it may be to our well being.
Lengthy every day commutes can depart little time round busy work days for commuters, who are typically less physically active, chubby, drink extra alcohol, and sleep poorly in consequence.
Sitting in site visitors can even raise your blood pressure, a examine out final week discovered – not out of frustration although, however due to the air air pollution drivers inhale.
Nowhere are these well being results felt extra acutely, maybe, than in South Korea, a rustic thought to have among the longest average commuting times and highest rates of depression amongst OECD nations.
But little analysis on the health impacts of lengthy commutes has been accomplished in Asian populations, or to grasp how bodily results could snowball into poor psychological well being, comparable to depression.
A brand new examine of greater than 23,000 folks has rectified that analysis hole, discovering that South Koreans who commute longer than an hour are 16 % extra more likely to expertise depressive signs than these with shorter commutes underneath half-hour.
Dong-Wook Lee, a public well being researcher at Inha College in Korea, and colleagues dug into information on working-aged individuals from the Fifth Korean Working Situation Survey, a nationally consultant survey performed in 2017.
Survey individuals answered questions based mostly on the five-point World Health Organization well-being index, from which the researchers scored their psychological well being.
The typical every day commute time was 47 minutes. That equates to nearly 4 hours of commuting per week if folks labored 5 days.
One-quarter of the 23,415 respondents reported experiencing depressive signs, judged by their index scores – a far cry from a health care provider’s evaluation or prognosis of any type.
Though the examine doesn’t present trigger and impact, the hyperlink between hour-plus commutes and poorer psychological well being amongst males was strongest for many who had been single, labored greater than 52 hours per week, and had no kids.
Amongst females, lengthy commuting occasions had been most strongly related to depressive signs amongst low-income staff, shift staff, and people with kids.
“With less time to spare, people could be short of time to relieve stress and combat physical fatigue through sleep, hobbies, and other activities,” the researchers told the Korean Biomedical Evaluate.
Whereas the evaluation adjusted for age, weekly work hours, earnings, occupation, and shift work – all components that might influence somebody’s psychological well being – many particular person danger components for depressive signs, comparable to household historical past, couldn’t be accounted for.
The nationwide Korean survey information additionally did not specify the modes of transport that commuters used. Nevertheless, switching from driving to lively transport comparable to biking or strolling can boost commuters’ mental health, a 2018 examine of practically 4,500 UK survey individuals discovered.
There are some potential upsides to an extended commute that we should not overlook: some commuters describe their long journeys residence as time to ‘swap off’ or detach from work.
It is also price noting the Korean survey was performed earlier than the pandemic, which noticed a dramatic shift in the way in which we work – however not everyone can work from home.
“The association between long commuting times and worsened depressive symptoms was found to be stronger among low-income workers,” the researchers note.
“However, the shift to working from home is occurring more quickly among white-collar and high-income workers” than amongst low-income ones.
“Reducing travel time and distance through improved transportation may provide a better commuting environment for people and improve their health,” the researchers conclude.
The examine has been revealed within the Journal of Transport & Health.
