Your Commute Is Killing You

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moneybox Your Commute Is Killing You Long commutes cause obesity, neck pain, loneliness, divorce, stress, and insomnia. By Annie Lowrey Posted Thursday, May 26, 2011, at 5:57 PM ET This week, researchers at Umea University in Sweden released a startling finding: Couples in which one partner commutes for longer than 45 minutes are 40 percent likelier to divorce. The Swedes could not say why. Perhaps long-distance commuters tend to be poorer or less educated, both conditions that make divorce more common. Perhaps long transit times exacerbate corrosive marital inequalities, with one partner overburdened by child care and the other overburdened by work. But perhaps the Swedes are just telling us something we all already know, which is that commuting is bad for you. Awful, in fact. Commuting is a migraine-inducing life-suck--a mundane task about as pleasurable as assembling flat-pack furniture or getting your license renewed, and you have to do it every day. If you are commuting, you are not spending quality time with your loved ones. You are not exercising, doing challenging work, having sex, petting your dog, or playing with your kids (or your Wii). You are not doing any of the things that make human beings happy. Instead, you are getting nauseous on a bus, jostled on a train, or cut off in traffic. To continue reading, click here. Annie Lowrey reports on economics and business for Slate. Previously, she worked as a staff writer for the Washington Independent and on the editorial staffs of Foreign Policy and The New Yorker. Her e-mail is annie.lowrey@slate.com. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Wow--Herman Cain Gets 10 Percent of the GOP Vote in New Poll Krauthammer's Attack on Obama's Israel Stance Is So Wrong How Do You Make Someone Mentally Fit To Stand Trial?	Advertisement
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