More the commute to office less the life satisfaction for workers

A new study has demonstrated that one is less likely to be satisfied with their life if they spend more time in commuting to and from work.

The study reveals that exactly why commuting is such a contentment killer.

Margo Hilbrecht, a professor in Applied Health Sciences and the associate director of research for the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, said that they found that the longer it took someone to get to work, the lower their satisfaction with life in general.

The researchers analyzed data from Statistics Canada to better understand the links between commute time and well-being and found that on top of being linked to lower life satisfaction, long commute lengths are related to an increased sense of time pressure.

Hilbrecht asserted that they learned that commuters who had time for physical leisure had higher life satisfaction and physical activity could mitigate commuting-related stress if workers could include it in their daily routines, but the obvious constraint was time scarcity. Longer commutes meant less time for other activities, which leads to lower life satisfaction.

Hilbrecht added that along commute was detrimental to health and maybe it was better to take a job that paid a little less money but was closer to home.

The study is published in World Leisure Journal.