Business of Well-being

Improving Wellness by Ending the Physical and Psychological Stress of Commuting

The greatest source of work-related stress does not occur at the office. Before an employee reads and answers emails, returns calls and accepts summary requests from managers and bosses; before a worker confronts the pressure of an imminent deadline and the concomitant anxiety of watching time accelerate; before this "coordinated chaos" unleashes itself - amidst a background chorus of ringing phones, mouse clicks and foot traffic - there is real traffic - the clogged arteries of the nation's freeways and highways, the seemingly infinite queue of cars and buses, where drivers and passengers feel the stress of making it to work without delay.


That scenario, a daily experience for tens of millions of Americans, is costly, inefficient, environmentally dangerous and personally harmful. Thankfully, there is a solution to this crisis. First, an important point of qualification: There is a technological renaissance underway regarding transportation, fuel, safety, technology, green energy and efficiency - and it has nothing to do with automobiles, trains, buses or light rail transit.


I emphasize this matter, and offer it as caveat, because the predominance of the internal combustion engine is such a powerful force - in every sense of the word - that it pervades our roads, our lives and the entirety of our shared cultural experience. Musicians mythologize cars, teenagers venerate them, political lobbies protect them, and filmmakers and writers memorialize them.


Meanwhile, approximately 35,000 people die each year in automobile accidents. And, before I delve deeper into the physical and psychological toll of the traditional commute, please allow me to make an addendum to this comment about American culture: Because the automobile is so familiar, and since marketing campaigns on behalf of the car industry are a ubiquitous feature of advertising; because the car is such a thoroughly American icon, an aerodynamically designed fusion of steel, chrome, glass, rubber and leather, because "new car smell" is the scent of simultaneous liberation and imprisonment, it is hard to conceive of an alternative form of transportation that is neither evocative of science fiction nor a fiscal fantasy.


The truth, however, is that all of the technology is available - today - to construct, computerize and control (for personal safety) a series of suspended, solar-powered pods ("JPods") that eliminate the stress of driving, the risks imposed by other drivers (from intoxication, multitasking or texting), and the cost of owning and maintaining a car.


I write these words from experience, as an engineer and graduate of West Point, where solving logistical challenges is an officer's assignment and the defense of liberty his or her duty. The current system is unsustainable for a multitude of reasons, hence the purpose for JPods, of which I am the Founder and CEO.JPods are networks of Horizontal-Elevators, which provide short- to medium-range travel.


The system utilizes ultra light computer-controlled vehicles that are suspended from rails amounted on elevated structures. Solar collectors (mounted above the overhead rails) provide power for the electrical network and emit no carbon dioxide gases. Best of all, this option uses only 10% of the energy, per passenger mile, compared to light or heavy rail, buses or cars.


The Health and Safety Priority: A New Workforce for a Better Environment

By addressing the most common complaint of workers - that commuting is expensive and stressful - companies can have an earnest dialogue with their respective employees about this subject. In fact, that conversation does not exist; or rather, it is less a discussion and more a series of annoyed expressions and angry murmurings, the passing words of an irritable executive or a short-tempered staff person.


And yet, there is tangible impact - a highly negative one - concerning that one individual's experience and the shared price of an office filled with needlessly frustrated workers. For example: A recent study of 4,297 Texans by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and reprinted here in the New York Times, concludes that as the distances of a commute increased, physical activity and cardiovascular fitness dropped, and blood pressure, body weight, waist circumference and metabolic risks rose.


The report's review of the effects of a lengthy commute on health over the course of seven years reveals that driving more than 10 miles one way, to and from work, five days a week was associated with an increased risk of developing high blood sugar and high cholesterol.


The researchers also link long driving commutes to a greater risk of depression, anxiety and social isolation, all of which can impair the quality and length of life. Statistics abound concerning this avoidable phenomenon, which is a direct threat to morale, productivity, worker retention, personal safety, health care costs and promotion of the general welfare of the nation.


These facts demand action - an intelligent and environmentally sound response - where we may all enjoy a commutation from the grind of commuting.Our chariot - I mean, our JPod - awaits us.


About the Author

Bill James is the Founder and CEO of JPods (www.jpods.com), an innovative and environmentally friendly solution to conventional forms of transportation and vehicle safety.

Learn about how you can become a Certified Corporate Wellness Specialist→