Daily long-distance commuting can be detrimental to a person’s health, a study carried out in Sweden has concluded. The research has argued that commuting by car or public transport, compared with walking or cycling, is tied with negative effects on health.
The Lund University researchers surveyed 21,000 people aged between 18 and 65 who worked more than 30 hours a week and commuted either by car, train or bus, or were active commuters who walked or cycled.
The study, published in the journal BMC Public Health, examined how commuting affected sleep quality, exhaustion and stress.
Long-distance commuters struggled with their health compared with those who walked or cycled to work, the report concluded.
However, car drivers commuting between 30 and 60 minutes experienced worse health than those with a journey of more than one hour.
In a separate study by the TUC, it was revealed that employees spend nearly 200 hours per year travelling to and from work.
