We all know fresh air is good for us, but how much can our commute affect our mental health? Rachel Thomas reports in the latest instalment of our MODE SHIFT series.
Dr Sarah-Jane O’Connor’s commute is about 70 kilometres each day, sometimes in Wellington’s peak highway traffic. That might sound like a nightmare to some people, But for O’Connor, it’s often the highlight of her day.
“I get to see the harbour every morning – it always looks different, it’s always beautiful. I’ll be watching the rowers out and the clouds rolling in,” she says.
It’s about a half hour from her home in Upper Hutt to her office at Victoria University in Kelburn, where she is a science teaching fellow – but the secret is doing the journey on two wheels, not four.
“When you’re on a bike .... you’re not checking your work email or instant messages at the traffic lights or on the train. You can’t take a call. You truly have to switch off and be present in the journey,” she says.
There are other perks – it’s faster than a car or public transport, the fuel economy is about that of a hybrid car, and parking is free.
Research shows those who walk, cycle, or use “open air transport” are more likely to reach the office in a good mood, said environmental sociologist Dr Kirsty Wild.
A major factor in a happy commute was a sense of control, Wild said: “You go when you want, you know when you’ll arrive.”
Compare that to cars where, ”you’re like ‘oh look there’s an opening’, then it closes up. Basically, it drives people mad,” Wild said.
“People who have to drive in congested conditions tend to have the worst mental health of any commuters, and of course it’s worse if you have a longer commute.”
It turns out our central nervous system goes through a whole lot just on the journey to work. The very sound of traffic can trigger a threat response, Wild said, causing our heart to beat faster, which can lead to heart diseases.
Wild, from the University of Auckland, was the lead author on a 100-page report in March 2021 to Waka Kotahi outlining the relationship between transport and mental health.
“In really congested conditions in a car you have this combination of low levels of control and quite high levels of stimulation.”
Throw in a job where people feel they have low levels of control too, and it’s a perfect storm, Wild said.
“Low income people not only have that double whammy of low control commutes and low control jobs – both which negatively affect your mental health – you also have transport poverty on top of that. You can’t really afford to run this car that you need to sit in for hours a day,” Wild said.
During lockdowns, active transport users – cyclists and walkers – and those with the shortest journeys were most likely to miss their commute, according to international research, Wild said.
As a recent electric bike convert, O’Connor is on a journey to further reduce her emissions and is using the zero-carbon option for the shorter, local journeys.
She has asthma, so cycling unaided up Wellington’s hills is a no-go, but the motorbike had given her the confidence to work the e-bike into her life.
She hoped to start phasing out petrol entirely over time.
But for now, she says, the Kawasaki Ninja allows her to live in a more affordable community while not heavily compromising on transport times.
“I wouldn’t be able to live in the Hutt where I am without it. Public transport would take me well over an hour if I had to bus and train”.
At worst, her commute won't take more than 40 minutes. Colleagues in cars can spend well over an hour on the same commute, O’Connor said.
