I am very upset, mad, for three consecutive times now over the last few months, I have been late for my appointments. And I haaaaaate to be late for any engagement, no matter how trivial, but the monster called Lagos traffic has inflicted much pain on me. But to be sure, I am not alone in this pain. For many people working, schooling or just living in mega cities like Lagos,there is a common headache — a long commute. Sometimes the situation is complete traffic chaos. Most of us have learned to endure it but in a country with lifespan as short as 55 years, that’s about half the average lifespan in Japan! a new research is giving us reason to worry: The new study finds that long urban commuting and the chaotic traffic might be taking a deadly toll on our bodies.
A study by Washington University in St. Louis found that long commutes take people away from restful leisure, exercise and lead to conditions that are strong predictors of diabetes, obesity and some cancers. Couple this with the fact that most of our cars and buses are not effectively air conditioned and we rarely go for routine health check up, the problem becomes even more worrisome.
Researchers found people who live more than 10 miles from their work are more likely to have high blood pressure than people with shorter commutes. People who commute more than 15 miles each way are much more likely to be obese, perhaps because people who commute that distance don’t get enough daily activity, the study found. I definitely see how it could wear you down, especially at an older age. It’s very frustrating, you sit in traffic, especially in the early hours of the morning it could be very tedious.
Even long commuters who found ways to get enough exercise were more likely to have high blood pressure than people with shorter commutes who get the same amount of exercise. The latest research comes after a 2011 study by Swedish researchers found that people who had long commutes to work were more likely to divorce, experience neck pain and loneliness.
According to another report from the American Community Survey, over 86 percent of workers commute to the office by car, train or bus, and the average commute lasts about 45 minutes.
With such a large percentage of people sitting on their way to work, it now behoves on both employers and employees to reexamine their transportation routines and practices so as to adopt more healthy alternatives and this forms the premise of our discussion today.
For starters, work sites can play a role by allowing more flexible in and out times so people can drive to work outside rush hour, or they can allow physical activity breaks during the day,
Governments can design modern, convenient and fast multi modal urban transportation systems including rails within cities, water transit, city air vehicles and dedicated routes for smaller vehicles including bikes or if it’s possible encourage people who live closer to work to walk or bike, or if they must work far from home, adopt sleeker, faster and greener transport modes.
To be continued...
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