HOUSTON — Look, we get it. Driving around Houston is not exactly calming. But recently researchers from Rutgers and Wayne State Universities published a paper suggesting commuting to and from work can have some positives.
One of those researchers told NPR the public reaction to that headline was not great, with many suggesting the researchers were really working for big corporations trying to end work from home benefits. But she said reports misunderstood what their paper was about.
So what were these researchers really trying to say?
It looks at our commutes as a buffer space between work and home, allowing us to transition between the two. Think of it as an airlock on a space ship, a space set aside just for us to go from our public lives to our private ones. That doesn’t mean your commute isn’t stressful, but if we acknowledge its role, we can turn off our work brains or turn on our home brain.
While working from home can save us time and money, the researchers say there is a chance it comes at a cost. Without that buffer between work and home, work can start bleeding into our home life.
There are strategies to stop that, like creating a space in your home just for work and nothing else, or use rituals to mark when work ends, like taking your dog for a walk or having a cup of coffee with a friend; something that tells your brain it is time to make the switchover.