No one likes to commute long hours stuck in traffic, with air pollution and noise, but as part of our daily lives, we spend our time commuting for work, education, and travel. longer daily commutes have been associated with several adverse effects on health. It causes physical and mental concerns such as less sleep, poor leisure time to spend with family, and physically inactive. A study in the US National Library of Medicine has shown the relation between longer daily commutation and increased levels of stress, fatigue, anxiety, and even aversion.
The study analyzes the effect of commuting time on the quality of life. The longer commuting the workers use, the lower satisfaction with the work they have and it can also cause health damage. However, better public transportation like the construction of subways can decrease the time for commuting. People who are living in cities need to travel for work because of the job-housing imbalance. commuting time occupies a larger portion of their daily time.
Data from the US showed that more time spent on the daily commute was associated with higher levels of fatigue and stress during commuting. The longer commutes were associated with behavioral patterns that over time may contribute to obesity and other poor health consequences.
Similarly, a recent study was performed in South Korea and it was published in the Journal of Transport and Health, which says that long commuting time was significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms. In this study, they examined the relationship between commutation time and depression by using representative data from South Korea.
The researchers examined data from 23,415 people between the age group of 20-59 years from the fifth Korean working condition survey, which is a nationally representative survey conducted in 2017. The individuals were asked to answer questions that were based on the World Health Organization (WHO) well-being index, according to which the researchers distinguished their mental health. They examined various factors which include sex, age, education, income, region, marital status, employment, and so on.
The study finds that people who spend long commuting times that is more than 60 minutes were associated with depressive symptoms compared to those with short commuting times of less than 30 minutes.
These findings were published by a research team that was led by Dr. Lee Dong-Wook, a professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at South Korea Inha University Hospital.
(Input from various media sources)
Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina