Commuters who are more active i.e. cycling to work, tend to be able to concentrate better and felt under less strain than when they travel to work via car a study by University of East Anglia found.
Travelling by public transport was even found more preferable than driving according to data gathered from 18,000 commuters over the past decade. Researches suggest that policies encouraging people to leave their cars at home could have a large impact on general well-being. The physical benefits of exercise are already well known and documented and this study has shown that there are also positive psychological effects of exercise and cycling to work daily.
University of East Anglia’s study was carried out at their Norwich Medical School and the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York gathered and used data on around 18,000 adult commuters in the UK over an 18 year period.
73% of the group tested said they travelled to work in a car, 13% said they walked and 3% cycled. Around 11% used public transport. Those who had an active commute to work were found to have a higher level of well-being compared to those who travelled by car or public transport. After analysing the well-being of a small group who swapped driving/ public transport for walking/cycling, researchers found that they became happier after the swap.
The study also looked at feelings of unhappiness, worthlessness, inability to sleep and not being able to face problems. Researchers accounted for numerous factors known to affect will being which included income, moving house or job, having children and relationship changes. Adam Martin, lead researchers said that the study shows that the longer people spend commuting in cars, the worse their psychological well-being is. In correspondence to this, people feel better when they have a longer walk to work and cycling to work. Mr Martin also said that the study’s findings show that surprisingly, commuters felt better when travelling by public transport, compared to when driving. Although factors such as disruption to services or crowded carriage may cause stress, buses and trains also give people time to relax, socialise, read and also usually involves a small walk which cheers people up.