The average British person spends around an hour commuting each day, yet it’s something that most of us hate.  Indeed, surveys suggest that most of us would gladly accept a pay cut if it meant a shorter commute, with some companies even paying staff to live closer to the office.

Whilst most of the time, the commute is framed in the sense of its impact upon our productivity and psychological wellbeing, a new study by George Mason University highlights the health risks posed by our commute.  What’s more, these risks seem to be particularly born by women.

The research set out to explore the impact exposure to traffic-related air pollution on people, especially in terms of adverse health outcomes.  The study highlighted the higher exposure to harmful pollutants we face when commuting during rush hour.

Monitoring air quality

The researchers used personal air pollution monitors alongside vehicle monitors to test the precise exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5), which is commonly found in road traffic.  They collected this data across 48-hour periods with their group of nearly 50 women from the Washington D.C. area.

“Women frequently have different commute patterns compared to men, for example due to increased trips for household errands and/or transporting children,” the researchers say. “With this difference and adverse birth outcomes found in previous research, we believed it was important to focus on this population.”

The data revealed that there wasn’t a significant difference in PM2.5 exposure according to the length of each trip, which the researchers believe might not be reflective of factors such as traffic volume, which have an obvious impact upon exposure.

“Reducing vehicle trips might be one way to reduce PM2.5 exposures, and subsequently air pollution associated health effects,” they continue. “This is particularly important for vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women.”

They plan to continue investigating the issue to understand how other parameters, such as traffic volumes and speed impact our exposure to pollution.