By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: May 12, 2012
Now, here’s another reason for Squamish to work towards creating employment close to home.
A new US study has found what commuters probably knew already: Commuting can be bad for health.
Commuting to work has been linked to increased weight, bigger waistlines and poorer heart and lung fitness, according to the new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The study based its data on nearly 4,300 people in Texas near the major metropolitan hubs of Dallas and Austin.
People who drove longer distances to work were found generally to have larger waist circumferences, lower cardiovascular fitness levels, higher blood pressure and higher body-mass index.
Longer commuting, more than 24 kilometres, can lead to a reduction in overall energy expenditure, said lead investigator Christine Hoehner of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
“This study yields new information about biological outcomes and commuting distance, an understudied contributor to sedentary behavior that is prevalent among employed adults,” she said.
The long commuters also reported going to the gym or getting physical exercise less often than people who drove shorter distances to their jobs each day.
Commuters were also less likely to meet recommendations for moderate to vigorous physical activity, and had a higher likelihood of obesity.
Hoehner said although previous studies had looked at sedentary behaviour like TV viewing and time spent driving, the researchers wanted this time to look specifically at commuting distance, since it’s an important part of people’s daily routine.
Those who took part in this survey had no history of heart attack, stroke or diabetes, and none were pregnant. All were employed in jobs that required a commute of some kind.
According to a separate Statistics Canada study, Canadians were in a better position than Americans when it comes to commuting to work.
Canadian commuters took an average of 26 minutes to travel to work on a typical day in 2010, including all modes of transportation, Statistics Canada said.
About 82 per cent of Canadian of commuters travelled to work by car, 12 per cent took public transit and six per cent walked or bicycled.
