Well Being Lower Among Workers With Long Commutes

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Well Being Lower Among Workers With Long Commutes


August 13, 2010

By Steve Crabtree



Read More: http://www.gallup.com/poll/142142/We...mail&utm_campa

American workers with lengthy commutes are more likely to report a range of adverse physical and emotional conditions, leading to lower overall scores on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. American employees report an average commute from home to work of 23 minutes, with average times higher in most of the country's largest metro areas. About one in five U.S. workers (19%) spends more than half an hour getting to work, and 3% commute for more than an hour each way.

Those who do report long commutes are more likely to complain of several health problems. For example, one in three employees with a commute of more than 90 minutes say they have had a neck or back condition that has caused recurrent pain in the past 12 months; among those with commutes of 10 minutes or less, the figure drops to roughly one in four. Those with long commutes are also more likely to say they have at some point been diagnosed with high cholesterol and are more likely to have a Body Mass Index that classifies them as obese.

The psychological toll of long commutes may be as detrimental to individuals' wellbeing as the physical effects. Behavioral economists Daniel Kahneman and Alan Krueger in 2004 tracked the emotional states of employed women in Texas during their daily activities. They found that respondents' ratio of positive to negative emotions was particularly low during time spent commuting.

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index results also point to a connection between commuting and emotional wellbeing. Among employees who take more than 90 minutes getting from home to work, 40% experienced worry for much of the previous day -- significantly higher than the 28% among those with negligible commutes of 10 minutes or less. Conversely, workers with extremely long commutes were less likely to have experienced enjoyment for much of the previous day or to say they felt well-rested that day.

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New Report: Better Transportation Means Healthier People


August 23, 2010

By Jonna McKone

Read More: http://thecityfix.com/new-report-bet...ple/#more-6481

Health Benefits Report: http://www.apta.com/resources/report...its_Litman.pdf

Across large- and mid-sized cities, projects and initiatives that link transportation and the built environment to public health are gaining ground. A recent study by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute (VTPI) reports that a multi-sectored and collaborative approach to planning can improve the quality of life in diverse communities. A healthy network of transport options and strong design that integrates transit-oriented development means better overall health for the residents of a community.

As communities age and incidents of diet-related diseases continue to rise across the globe, planning to improve opportunities for healthy living is increasingly significant. In the U.S., initiatives like the Kellogg Food and Fitness Initiative provide grants for innovative projects, from rural Holyoke, Mass. to Oakland, Calif. to look specifically at these linkages. To learn more about these types of initiatives, see our previous posts about the links between health and transport.

Access to sustainable transportation - from bicycles to trains - means healthier communities. Photo by Christa . Bike by the Sea.