--- title: Study: Commuting Makes You Unhappy, Anxious and Miserable description: At least now you know canonical: https://time.com/7468/your-life-is-terrible-because-you-are-a-commuter/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-13T01:10:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:24:44.351Z article:section: Health og:title: Study: Commuting Makes You Unhappy, Anxious and Miserable og:description: At least now you know og:url: https://time.com/7468/your-life-is-terrible-because-you-are-a-commuter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study: Commuting Makes You Unhappy, Anxious and Miserable twitter:description: At least now you know twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Your Life is Terrible Because You Are a Commuter  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Feb 13, 2014 1:10 AM UTC  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Feb 13, 2014 1:10 AM UTC Heaven help you if you [ride the bus](http://ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/wellbeing/measuring-national-well-being/commuting-and-personal-well-being--2014/art-commuting-and-personal-well-being.html#tab-8--Interpreting-the-results) for more than half an hour to work because that, according to a new study out Wednesday, is the worst possible commute you can have. The study, released Wednesday by the United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics, finds that “commuters have lower life satisfaction, a lower sense that their daily activities are worthwhile, lower levels of happiness and higher anxiety on average than non-commuters.” If you don’t ride the bus for more than 30 minutes, don’t be too quick to leap for joy—any commute more than 15 minutes long tends to lower life satisfaction. And if you’re a health nut don’t be too quick to celebrate you 45-minute, sweat-soaked trail ride into work every day. Though active commuters are in better health, in terms of mental well-being, the results still hold true even for people riding a bike or walking to work if those commutes last longer than 15 minutes. Then again, the study only included UK residents. Maybe British buses are just that awful. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7468/your-life-is-terrible-because-you-are-a-commuter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7468/your-life-is-terrible-because-you-are-a-commuter/"},"headline":"Your Life is Terrible Because You Are a Commuter","datePublished":"2014-02-13T01:10:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:24:44.351Z","description":"At least now you know","url":"https://time.com/7468/your-life-is-terrible-because-you-are-a-commuter/","keywords":["Mental Health","Anxiety","U.K.","Happiness","study","commuting","Wellness"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7468/your-life-is-terrible-because-you-are-a-commuter/","name":"Your Life is Terrible Because You Are a Commuter"}}]}] ```