Link between our morning commute and mental health

A new study suggests New Zealand’s transport system could be contributing to increasing levels of poor mental health.

The research, by the University of Auckland, suggests commutes play an enormous part in life satisfaction and wellbeing, depending on how long they take and how stimulating the journey is.

Those who commute by car - and in this study four out of five journeys were by car - were most likely to find it stressful. After 15 minutes there’s a drop in trip satisfaction, and after 40 minutes a drop in life satisfaction, community participation, and productivity at work.

The longer you spend in the car the less satisfied respondents reported feeling with life overall. Photo credit: Maria Orlova from Pexels.

Open-air transport users such as cyclists and pedestrians, and public transport users who use active transport for part of their trips, generally have higher levels of nature exposure than those who use a car.

Greater sensory activation and nature exposure are identified as important components of higher transport satisfaction amongst active transport users. 

Public transport commuters were more likely to report feeling bored or depressed.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency contracted Auckland University to carry out the research, saying the field of transport and mental health research is a new but important area of investigation.

Pedestrians and cyclists, or those who spent at least part of their journey out in nature, reported the highest levels of satisfaction.

Researchers made 14 recommendations, including monitoring and reporting on progress around meeting the transport needs of Maori and Pacific people, as well as women and youth. 

They said previous research had highlighted the importance for Māori to travel together and be able to access important places such as marae and papakāinga. New transport systems should be developed that support this.

The report highlighted a number of ways in which the transport system has a particularly negative impact on the mental health of women, in part because of harassment and fear of violence in transport environments, and hyper-vigilance around keeping children safe from traffic within neighbourhoods.

It says a lack of transport choices for young people creates social isolation and feelings of exclusion, especially for those from low-income families. Researchers suggest reducing the cost of public transport, and increasing the safety of active transport as a form of low cost independent travel will improve the mental health of youth.

Transport noise is an under appreciated source of mental ill-health in communities, they noted. It should be monitored, and goals set to reduce traffic noise pollution in cities.

“As a first step, we should ensure that no one in New Zealand is exposed to a level of traffic noise that has been shown to cause physical health problems. Traffic noise should not exceed the WHO (2018) Environmental Noise Guidelines,” the report read. Noise levels in residential areas should be reduced even further on the basis of a small but growing body of work associating quiet streets with comfort, sociability, local engagement and levels of active transport.

Evidence suggests long commutes reduce life satisfaction and have a negative impact on physical health. So authorities should be looking at greater use of mixed-use planning to increase urban density as well as investment in fast cycling infrastructure (bicycle highways) and rapid transit, the researchers say.

You can read the full study here.