Is commuting good for you? I miss the break between work and home

theguardian.com:

I f you’re reading this standing in a stationary train’s vestibule, squeezed between a furtive flosser and someone eating a keto breakfast of hard-boiled eggs and sardines, while everyone listens to Jolyon on speakerphone review the new draft pitch deck, take heart: commuting is good for you.

It’s the second outing I have spotted for this argument. In 2021, the Harvard Business Review asserted the value of commuting in setting and maintaining boundaries between work and home selves, thus avoiding burnout. Now the concept is back, with US researchers further exploring the role of the commute as a “liminal space” that allows for psychological detachment and recovery from work. There are psychological as well as physical and temporal dimensions to the commute, they argue, and “the experience of rolelessness” during it may create a mental space for “psychological role transition and recovery”.

I’m not sure anyone on a (supply your preferred failing rail operator here) commuter service is now enjoying their “rolelessness” or experiencing recovery. Think of all the proper therapy you could get for the price of a season ticket, for a start. Unsurprisingly, the researchers do note that on days when commutes were more stressful, participants “reported less psychological detachment from work and less relaxation”.

The soul suck is real: I saw a tweet last week from someone whose commute neighbour had clipped his fingernail on to her lap. Yet, there is something in this idea that commuting can be mentally beneficial. My past commutes have been a mixed bunch: the best was the Brussels tram stuffed with garrulous eccentrics (including one man who mused for 20 minutes about whether it would be possible to milk a rabbit). The absolute