A guide to understanding the health risks of your daily commute

Scientists know today that people who log lots of miles and frequently find themselves stuck in traffic may be taking the short route to some serious health problems. Here's a brief guide that will help you understand the health risks of your daily commute.

• The typical employee spends more time each year driving to and from work than on vacation; the Canadian national average is 50 minutes a day, with commuters logging the yearly equivalent of 32 workdays.
• Although roads are getting increasingly clogged, congestion is not new. Traffic tie-ups were so bad in Rome during the first century B.C. that Julius Caesar banned the use of delivery carts during the daytime.

Yes. If your commute drives you crazy, chronic stress could be making you vulnerable to minor and major health threats.

• Many of us just can't leave our tension behind after a stressful commute. In a recent study, psychologists showed that people who consistently feel the most harried as they drive home from work also report feeling the most irritable, impatient, tired and sad in the evening.
• Moreover, the study concluded that women find long commutes and heavy traffic more stressful than men do, probably because they are most often the parents who must get home in time to pick up the kids at soccer practice and put supper on the table.
• Since stress weakens the immune system, it's not surprising that the research team found a direct link between the amount of traffic a commuter must fight each day and how often he or she got sick.

Research shows that people with the longest commutes tend to have the highest blood pressure.

• Beware if you routinely blow your stack when traffic backs up: a recent study found that people with "Type A" personalities who are impatient and often feel rushed have a 50 percent increased risk of developing high blood pressure.

Getting plenty of physical activity each day is essential to staying healthy, of course, and people who drive to work may shortchange themselves.

• Just 14 percent of people who commute by car take at least 10,000 steps per day as recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• One study found that about 40 percent of train riders attained this goal, probably because twice a day they had to walk from their cars to the platform and from the platform to their workplaces.

Yes. Sitting behind the wheel for too many hours seems to be even more damaging than sitting at a desk.

• That's probably due to stress on spinal disks from vibration and swaying back and forth as you take turns, speed up or slow down.
• Furthermore, using your feet to operate the accelerator, brake and clutch means they are not available to support your back, which increases strain.
• A number of studies suggest that the more you drive, the more likely you are to develop some form of back injury.
• British scientists reported that people who drove 20 hours or more a week as part of their jobs missed six times more work days due to back pain than people who drove 10 hours or less.

Take public transportation to work, if possible.

• A recent study that followed two groups of commuters for three years found that people who travelled by train every day reported feeling significantly less stress than a similar group of commuters who drove to work

Commuting by car can have several negative effects. Try an alternative mode of transportation and find a healthy way to commute to and from work!