IN TODAY'S fast-paced
There's a lot of irony in modern life--we work to obtain the most up-to-date conveniences and luxuries, yet have less and less time to enjoy them.
After a decades-long trend of shrinking workdays, we're working longer and longer hours again.
We are more knowledgeable about our health than ever before, yet we have more heart disease and obesity than ever.
We're commuting longer and longer distances, adding to the strains on our health.
We're not as active as we used to be. It's hard when you spend a good chunk of the day sitting in a car, or on the train.
We don't walk as much as we used to, relying on our cars even to collect our mail or go around the corner for lunch. We jockey and fight for the nearest parking space at the mall.
Along with all that sitting comes increased back strain, which makes us even less likely to want to move when we finally get home.
Spending so much of our lives commuting robs us of time we could spend with our families or hitting the gym.
I've been making a concerted effort to get into shape as I enter my 40s, but it's a real struggle to find the time to fit it into my schedule.
Many employers, like mine, realize that healthy employees are more productive employees, and offer on-site health centers or group memberships at nearby health clubs. That's great, but the clubs tend to be expensive, and to use them you have to either start extra early or stay extra late.
Then there's the abundance of convenience foods available to time-starved commuters. Nobody wants to cook after getting home at 7 or later every night. We'd rather just order takeout or go through one of those seductively convenient drive-throughs.
So what can we do about it? A lot, actually. Just to let you know where I'm coming from, for the past two years I have been on a quest to get into shape. Over this time, I've managed to lose 85 pounds, and I feel better than I have since high school.
I realized early on that my commuting lifestyle was a big part of the problem. There wasn't much I could do about the length of my commute, so instead I tried to find ways to kill two birds with one stone.
For example, taking the train instead of driving is far better for my stress level, but it also has the benefit of requiring me to walk a lot more. I walk from the downtown parking lot to the train, from the train to the Metro at Union Station, and a couple of blocks from Metro to work.
I took a pedometer to work on a few days, and was surprised at just how much of a hike it is--0.3 mile to the train, 0.3 mile from the train to Metro and 0.5 mile from Metro to work. That's a minimum of 2.2 miles a day, even if I don't move from my desk at the office or walk during lunch as I often do.
We can also walk up the escalators and use the stairs at work rather than the elevators.
There are many other things we can do to make our commutes healthier. We can hit the health club after work, instead of Happy Hour down at the old tavern.
We can eat right: Instead of starving yourself all day and then bingeing when you finally get home, pack some fruit or a protein bar for the ride home. That starving and then gorging is what caused me to pack on the pounds in the first place.
We can sit straight and flex those muscles once in a while. I am a prime offender, reading a lot on the train and slouching over, and my back is killing me at the end of the ride.
Lastly, we need to get enough sleep. This is one of the hardest things to do, but also the most important. I know you don't want to hit the sheets an hour after getting home, but a string of late nights is enough to make you crash and burn at the office. I know all the good stuff comes on late at night, but now we have DVR. It's the greatest breakthrough for commuters since telecommuting.
It's ironic that the more we know about the human body, the more damage we do to it. We pay lots of attention to keeping our cars in peak condition, but not our bodies.
We wouldn't put diesel in our luxury sedans, but we put all kinds of junk in our bodies and wonder why we don't feel good afterward.
Remember, you can always buy a new car, but you get only one body.
Christopher Tripp of Spotsylvania County commutes to Rockville, Md. Write him c/o Commuter Crossroads, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401. Or e-mail
Email: newsroom@freelancestar.com.