So says the headline to a provocative article in Slate by Annie Lowrey.  Among the tidbits in her article:

• Swedish research:  Couples in which one partner commutes for longer than 45 minutes are 40 percent likelier to divorce.
• Texas:  Out of 19 typical daily activities, respondents ranked commuting dead last for enjoyment.
• Gallup:  40 percent of employees who spend more than 90 minutes getting home from work "experienced worry for much of the previous day."  
• That number falls to 28 percent for those with "negligible" commutes of 10 minutes or less.  
• Gallup:  One in three workers with a 90-minute daily commute has recurrent neck or back problems.
• Brown University:  A worker with a negligible commute and a 12-hour workday is healthier than one with an hour-long commute and a 10-hour workday, even though total time consumption is the same.
• UCLA & Cal State-Long Beach:  Vehicle-miles traveled had a stronger correlation with obesity than any other lifestyle factor.
• US Census:  Average one-way commuting time has steadily crept up over the course of the past five decades, and now sits at 24 minutes (although we routinely under-report the time it really takes us to get to work). About one in six workers commutes for more than 45 minutes, each way.  
• US Census:  About 3.5 million Americans commute a whopping 90 minutes each way; their number has doubled since 1990. 

Read the article in its entirety here.

Photo Octavio Heradia.