Commuters May Get Less Sleep and Exercise
2020-01-28
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1People who work long hours and have long commutes to their jobs may be more likely to have sleep problems and not get enough exercise, a new study suggests.
2Researchers in Sweden carried out the study.
3They looked at people who work more than 40 hours a week and commute more than half an hour each way on an average day.
4The researchers found that those people had a 25-percent higher risk for having an inactive lifestyle and a 16-percent higher risk of having sleep problems.
5Jaana Halonen is the study's lead writer.
6 She is with Stockholm University and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland.
7She said sleep problems may happen from "lack of time for stress-releasing activities and relaxation."
8She also said people with long workdays and a long commute may be too tired to be physically active.
9The study recently appeared in the publication Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
10In the past, researchers have linked long work hours to unhealthy behaviors like physical inactivity, smoking and poor eating choices.
11However, little is known about the combined effects of working long hours and having long commutes over time.
12For this study, researchers questioned more than 22,000 working-age adults at least two times between 2008 and 2018.
13And they asked them about their work and commute hours, as well as how much they exercised and slept.
14The researchers also asked the study subjects how often they smoked and drank alcohol.
15Many of those questioned had a usual way of getting to work that remained unchanged during the study period.
16But 14 percent had commute times change once during the study, and about 5 percent had commute times change at least twice.
17Among people who normally worked less than 40 hours a week, the study found that commute time had little effect on habits such as drinking alcohol, smoking or exercising.
18The researchers did lack data on how people commuted.
19This makes it unclear if a commuter had an inactive method for getting to work, like driving a car, or if their commute included some form of exercise.
20"We know walking and cycling for commuting tend to be associated with better health," said Oliver Mytton.
21He is a researcher at Britain's University of Cambridge and was not involved in the study.
22Mytton told Reuters that "there is clearly a message here about when choosing a job with a long commute."
23He said that people should think about the effects that their job situation may have on their health.
24Not everyone has much choice over where they work, or the chance to work from home, Mytton noted.
25But he said that this "suggests there is a role for employers (and governments) to show flexibility to employees' needs."
26I'm Anne Ball.
1People who work long hours and have long commutes to their jobs may be more likely to have sleep problems and not get enough exercise, a new study suggests. 2Researchers in Sweden carried out the study. They looked at people who work more than 40 hours a week and commute more than half an hour each way on an average day. The researchers found that those people had a 25-percent higher risk for having an inactive lifestyle and a 16-percent higher risk of having sleep problems. 3Jaana Halonen is the study's lead writer. She is with Stockholm University and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland. She said sleep problems may happen from "lack of time for stress-releasing activities and relaxation." She also said people with long workdays and a long commute may be too tired to be physically active. 4The study recently appeared in the publication Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 5In the past, researchers have linked long work hours to unhealthy behaviors like physical inactivity, smoking and poor eating choices. However, little is known about the combined effects of working long hours and having long commutes over time. 6Many surveyed 7For this study, researchers questioned more than 22,000 working-age adults at least two times between 2008 and 2018. And they asked them about their work and commute hours, as well as how much they exercised and slept. The researchers also asked the study subjects how often they smoked and drank alcohol. 8Many of those questioned had a usual way of getting to work that remained unchanged during the study period. But 14 percent had commute times change once during the study, and about 5 percent had commute times change at least twice. 9Among people who normally worked less than 40 hours a week, the study found that commute time had little effect on habits such as drinking alcohol, smoking or exercising. 10The researchers did lack data on how people commuted. This makes it unclear if a commuter had an inactive method for getting to work, like driving a car, or if their commute included some form of exercise. 11"We know walking and cycling for commuting tend to be associated with better health," said Oliver Mytton. He is a researcher at Britain's University of Cambridge and was not involved in the study. 12Mytton told Reuters that "there is clearly a message here about when choosing a job with a long commute." He said that people should think about the effects that their job situation may have on their health. 13Not everyone has much choice over where they work, or the chance to work from home, Mytton noted. But he said that this "suggests there is a role for employers (and governments) to show flexibility to employees' needs." 14I'm Anne Ball. 15Lisa Rapaport wrote this story for Reuters. Anne Ball adapted the story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. 16Do you work long hours and/or have a long commute? Does it create sleep problems or inactive lifestyles for you? How to you deal with it? Write to us in the comments section below. 17_________________________________________________________________ 18Words in This Story 19commute - n. to travel regularly to and from a place and especially between where you live and where you work 20habit - n. a usual way of behaving, something one does often and in a regular and repeated way 21tend - v. used to describe what often happens or what someone often does or is likely to do 22flexibility - adj. willing to change or to try different things