More Problems with Your Commute

As a follow-up to our earlier blog post (The True Cost of Commuting), we’ve found yet another reason for you to be working from home:

Commuting can kill.

Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. BUT, according to a study published in the BMC Public Health Journal, a team of Swedish researches performed a variety of tests on a group of Swedish commuters - with a sample size over 20,000 strong - and saw that workers with longer commutes often deal with poorer sleep, greater stress, and poorer health than those with shorter commutes. Interestingly, commuters who were on the road for less than half an hour, or for more than an hour, experienced fewer negative symptoms. The researches believed this was due to the location of the study, with the longer commutes going through “Sweden’s tranquil countryside”, thus leading to less stress on the part of the commuter. Interestingly, test subjects who with short commutes (30 minutes or less) who rode public transit were found to have decreased levels of everyday stress.

The tests measured a wide variety of factors, including length and type of commute (private vehicle vs. public transit), sleep patterns, stress levels and feeling of general well-being.

As if that wasn’t enough, apparently economists have calculated that a commute of 45 minutes takes such a toll on a person that they need to make 20 percent more (!) to make the trip worth it.

So there you go: one more reason to telecommute (as if you needed it).

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