health and fitness: How to love your daily commute

vendredi 8 avril 2016

How to love your daily commute | Oliver Burkeman

You’re better off embracing the fact that you’re heading into work than trying to prolong the feeling of not yet being at work

I am all for diversity and nontraditional lifestyles, but what’s with that small percentage of the population who, according to numerous surveys, say their commute is the best part of their day? That’s just wrong. Everyone knows commuting is hell. It’s depressing; it damages your health; it’s associated with higher divorce rates – and the longer the commute, the more acute the effects. Even worse, because traffic jams and train delays are so unpredictable, it’s a form of suffering to which people never fully adjust. That’s one reason you shouldn’t trade your short commute for a nicer house a longer distance from the office: the fixed pleasures of the new house will fade, while the variable torture of the daily schlep never will.

So who are the 16% of Canadians – to pick one representative study, highlighted recently in The Atlantic – who say they greatly enjoy commuting, or the 3% who appreciate it more than anything else? Cyclists, mainly. But a study out this year suggests another factor: people with higher levels of self-control enjoy commuting more, Harvard researchers found, because they use it for “prospection”, or mentally planning the day ahead, while those with lower self-control try to focus on fun, by listening to music or playing Candy Crush. In another part of the study, participants who were actively encouraged to engage in prospection were happier commuters, too. In short: you’re better off embracing the fact that you’re heading into the office, and preparing accordingly, than trying to prolong the feeling of not yet being at work.