Your Daily Commute Could Be Making You Fat

Your commute to work could be making you fat; unless you have a short drive.

Which, unfortunately, I do not. If you've gotten to know me, you know that I live in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; which is an hour away from here. When I tell people in Rockford that I live there I get asked one of two questions - "Do you have plans on moving to Rockford?" or "Oh my gosh, don't  you hate the commute?" As of right now, I have no plans to move here (my husband and I want my son to finish high school in Wisconsin) and actually, my commute; while it's long, is not that bad.

I'm very fortunate that I travel the roads at a very quiet time. There isn't a lot of traffic at 3:30 in the morning or at noon most days.  But my commute wasn't always like that. Before moving to Iowa for my first radio job, where my commute was two blocks, I commuted 30 minutes one way in brutal Minneapolis traffic. It was easily the most stressful part of my day. The constant stop and go, horns honking and the whizzing of cars passing you at 80 miles per hour. It was awful. It was also probably a contributing factor to my weight gain.

Traffic isn't just frustrating; it turns out it can also be fattening. According to a new study, the sound of all those cars could me making you fat. The study revealed you're 25% more likely to be overweight if you regularly drive in light traffic above 45 decibels. If you just asked how loud that was - here's your comparison- 45 decibels is equivalent to the sound of a bird chirping. Not very loud, is it? The noise from that traffic stresses you out and makes you produce cortisol, which makes you gain weight. And, if you drive in heavy traffic, it can make your waistline a half-an-inch bigger.

So what can we take away from this? The next time you're listening to 97ZOK, make sure to turn the volume dial all the way to right and drown out that traffic.