Less driving, more cycling: How you commute to work impacts your health

The alarm clock sounds at the same time five days a week. You get up, have breakfast, shower and get dressed. It’s a routine that’s repeated nearly every day of the year, with slight variations. You leave the house like an automaton. And this is where you are presented with different choices that will affect your long-term physical and mental health. The important thing is not so much where you are going, but how you get there.

A recent study by the University of Glasgow looked at the daily routines of 82,297 Scottish commuters over 18 years and divided them into groups based on their commuting habits: cyclists, pedestrians, drivers and public transport users. It then analyzed their hospitalization, death and prescription record during this time. The results were quite clear. According to the study, pedestrians and cyclists — especially the latter group — had a lower risk of mortality and hospitalization, of cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and even of being prescribed medication for mental health problems. Those who opted to use public transportation or drove to work had worse data in all these areas.

“There have been previous studies that have analyzed this relationship,” says Bruce Whyte, Director of the Public Health Programme at the University of Glasgow and one of the authors of the study, in an exchange of messages. “But few have done this large a sample and followed their medical records for such a long time.”

Exercising regularly reduces the prevalence of cardiovascular events, and reduces the risk of obesity, and its associated diseases. It also has positive effects on physical and mental health. However, almost half of Europeans — 45% according to the 2022 Eurobarometer — say they never exercise. When asked why, the most common reason (41%) is lack of time. After working eight hours, it can be difficult to get to the gym to do indoor cycling. But if cycling becomes a means of transportation, there is a much greater likelihood that a person will stick with it. Cycling or walking to work is a way of incorporating exercise into your daily routine, without investing too much additional time. What’s more, it encourages consistency: you can skip the gym out of laziness, but you cannot do the same with work.

Whyte suspects that public transportation users might have better health results than drivers, since it usually involves a short stroll to either the train or bus stop. But his study did not differentiate between the two groups, which fall under the generic “non-active” category. Regarding cyclists, there was only one area where they didn’t have better results than the other groups: hospitalizations due to traffic accidents.

“It is a relatively rare occurrence, but it shows the need to build safer bike lanes,” explains the author. Whyte maintains that these numbers are conditioned, above all, by public policies. “There are many studies that corroborate this,” he points out. “If you invest exclusively in roads, you encourage car use; if, on the other hand, you invest in public transportation, bike lanes and good infrastructure for pedestrians, you will get many more people to travel in an active and sustainable way.”

Driving on the rise

In an associated analysis, the study notes that in Scotland, levels of travel on foot to work have fallen significantly over the past 50 years, while levels of driving have increased exponentially. “Obviously, this is not an isolated case,” Whyte notes. There are exceptions such as Copenhagen or Amsterdam, but in most large Western cities, car use is on the rise.

In Spain, for example, the number of cars per inhabitant has increased by 10% in the last 10 years. And more than half of Spaniards (61.3%) drive to work, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The INE data found that the distance between home and work is the top factor that determines commuting by car. But there is also a class component: the more money a person has, the more likely they are to drive to work.

In a place like Amsterdam, where bicycle use is more widespread, a recent study indicated that the relationship between income and car ownership is not clear. It depends on the city model. As Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá, said: “The characteristic of an advanced society is not that the poor drive, but that the rich use public transportation.”

Jeff Speck, director of the urban design consultancy Speck Dempsey and author of the book Walkable City, has spent years explaining to mayors of U.S. cities the advantages of the European urban model. In an email exchange, he explains that he often cites Madrid and Barcelona as examples. “I am aware that they may have their problems and challenges, but for an American urban planner they are a dream,” he says.

Speck contrasts the European urban model — defined by a highly concentrated population and high-rise buildings — with the suburban model that predominates in the United States (and in the outskirts of European cities): neighborhoods with wide avenues, single-family homes and housing estates, which are much more spread out.

“Urban life is all about shared space, shared transportation, shared services and acceptance of diversity,” he explains. “In contrast, suburban life is about privatizing what belongs to everyone in the city: for example, the park and the public swimming pool are replaced by the large courtyard and the private swimming pool.” In this scenario, the car (which replaces public transportation with private transportation) plays a central role. For this reason, he recognizes, car use has begun to be seen as a question of identity and politics. “It requires a certain faith in one’s neighbor to live a more urban life, and the growing political division can make that harder to sell,” he says. “But one thing is certain: being stuck in a traffic jam is not freedom.”

Road rage

Ultimately, Speck says that travelling by car is simply less pleasant. And there is reason for this. “Humans are social primates and nothing interests us more than other humans. We like to occupy places that allow us to meet each other and it is much better to do so by walking than by driving.” The urban planner admits jokingly that he also has some bias when it comes to the issue: “I met my wife on the platform, while waiting for the train.”

It would have been difficult for Speck to meet his wife in a traffic jam in the city or driving down the freeway. Cars are, in essence, antisocial. They separate us in metal bubbles. A concentration of pedestrians could be a protest or a party, but a concentration of drivers will always be a traffic jam. According to Speck, this is because all drivers compete for limited space on the asphalt, with other cars seen as a risk and a threat. They are not company, but competition. “To be clear: have you ever given another person the finger while walking because they wouldn’t let you pass?”

Road rage is neither new nor surprising. Behind the wheel, people who are otherwise polite and shy become screaming hydras. But aggressive behavior can go beyond the car and have more sweeping effects. A 2018 analysis, published in the Journal of Public Economics, found that in Los Angeles, “extreme traffic increases the incidence of domestic violence by approximately 9%.” It explained that this link was due to the fact that domestic violence is sensitive to emotional cues.

The relationship between physical well-being and active commuting is well documented, but there are fewer studies on how it impacts mental health. One of the most comprehensive was a 2014 longitudinal study involving Marc Suhrcke, a professor in the Health Economics Group at the School of Medicine in Norwich, England. “Active travel, such as walking or cycling, involves physical activity, which improves mood and reduces stress,” he says in an exchange of messages. “Public transportation often involves some walking and offers time to relax, read or socialize, which contrasts with the stress and isolation associated with driving.” Cycling, walking and taking the bus are very different, but they all share elements such as stress reduction, increased movement and the possibility of social interaction.

Going to work can become a time to disconnect, even from work problems, says the expert. More and more studies support this idea. “Since we published our study, the mental health benefits of active travel have been increasingly recognized. More attention has been paid to the role of urban design and to the political interventions that promote it.”

The social perception of cars and densely populated cities has also changed. Popular culture has reflected this paradigm shift. Speck, for example, does not cite urban planners as references when explaining his argument. Instead, he highlights an interview with singer Taylor Swift, who explained why she loved New York as opposed to a city designed for cars, like Los Angeles.

But to understand this shift in mentality, it’s best to look back. Economist Chris Leinberger analyzed TV shows to understand our relationship with roads. He pointed out how children in the 1960s grew up watching suburban TV shows like The Brady Bunch, while subsequent generations have been enthralled with series like Friends, Seinfeld and Sex and the City, sitcoms that glorified urban life. “In this way,” Speck explains, “they were able to learn about the freedom, convenience and pleasure of living in a place where every social space is not separated from the others by a car ride.”

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