Commuting Culture

Perhaps inspired by the Doctor Who episode entitled "Gridlock", where a futuristic society spends literal lifetimes stuck in a seemingly enternal gridlocked path layering levels of lanes - the episode was a wake up call to our own diminished quality of life when we consider that the average American spends about one fourth of their day commuting.

Trains

Millions of rail passengers are suffering chronic health problems as a result of travelling on grossly overcrowded carriages, a situation that has prompted the first official investigation into 'cattle truck' train syndrome. The cumulative impact of journeys on crowded trains is the culprit behind high blood pressure, chronic anxiety and even fatal heart conditions.

Experts modeling high traffic patterns have weighed in and state that the ritual of coping with an overcrowded, unreliable service ensured commuters were stressed long before they arrived at work and long after they returned home. Some even warned that this tension could prove fatal, depending on the duration of exposure to this type of repeated high-level stress, combined with the individual's own resistance to anxiety-driven pressures.

However, regardless of the situation being fatal, it is certainly far less than desirable. Cary Cooper, professor of psychology and health at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, said: 'People develop a constant internal anger on crowded trains that they cannot easily displace.

If you’ve ever ridden a subway, particularly New York’s aged system, you’ve probably experienced the ear-splitting shrieks as the train takes a fast turn or screeches to a halt. Those sounds are more than just annoying; they can actually contribute to hearing loss, according to a new study published in the August edition of the American Journal of Public Health.

Researchers took sound level readings while waiting for and riding buses, trains, subways and ferries in the New York metro area, and found that subways were the loudest. But they also found that all commuter systems were loud enough to cause noise-induced hearing loss in some riders, given sufficient length of exposure.

The actual risk varies from person to person. But according to the researchers the highest maximum sound level of 102 decibels, recorded at a subway platform, could cause hearing loss over time for some people within just two minutes a day—based on guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency. The average sound level for the entire New York subway system of 80.4 decibels could cause hearing loss if regular exposure exceeds about an hour and 40 minutes a day, or just 18 minutes per day on some of the noisiest platforms averaging 90.2 decibels.

And with iPods and cell phones now a common accessory, subways themselves may not be the only in-transit exposure. "Imagine someone on a subway who is getting 80 decibels of exposure in the car," explains Rick Neitzel, a research scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle and one of the study’s lead investigators. "Most people would turn their MP3 player up at least a few decibels above the background noise, if not five or six. So now their exposure isn’t 80, it’s 86. And when we start getting up to sustained levels in the mid-80s that’s a concern because your recommended daily exposure duration is pretty short at those levels—less than an hour based on recommendations from the EPA."

One would think that the sound mode of transportation would be a car, but considering that billions of cars hit the roads everyday, this alternative is far from feasible.

Cars

Scientists at the University of Southern California studied urban commuters and found that though they spend only 6% of their day in the car, during that time they're exposed to up to 45% of the air pollutants they encounter in a 24-hour period. That makes getting to work in car-centric cities the second biggest weekday health risk—topped only by smoking.

"If you don't smoke, it's the next worse environment," aid Scott Fruin, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health at USC Keck School of Medicine. "The air coming into your car is the worst air in the whole city,"

An electric car tracked just how much pollution drivers are exposed to. Los Angeles commuters spend an average of 90 minutes sucking in diesel fuel fumes and ultra fine particles or UFP every day. These particles, smaller than 1/1,000 the size of a human hair, can enter the bloodstream and disperse throughout the body. They have been linked to increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

"They get deepest into your lungs. They get into your bloodstream, and those are particularly high on freeways and busy roads," said Fruin. The American Heart Association found high concentrations of diesel exhaust increases clot formation by almost 25 percent, which can lead to deadly cardiovascular problems.

The USC study also found the biggest concerns are fumes from diesel trucks and following cars that hit the gas pedal too hard - kicking up those deadly particles into the air and into your car.

The solution? During a high traffic commute, try driving with the windows shut and the air conditioning on, even if set to low. Make sure not to switch on the vent, as that only pulls in the outside. A real-time solution is to try a using an air purifier to make the air you do breathe as clean as possible.