Brighton commuters not only lose several hours a day sitting on the train or in traffic but they’re shaving more than a year off their life expectancy too.
The bold claim is made by a pensions consultancy which identified places where people are living longer or dying younger than expected.
According to The Sunday Times, Club Vita – owned by actuarial firm Hymans Robertson – found that people in Brighton were living 14 months less than the usual life expectancy for their income.
The relationship between income and life expectancy is usually strong.
Andrew Gaches, a consultant at Club Vita, suggested that the faster pace of life in London was also affecting people living in commuter towns like Brighton, according to the Sunday Times report.
Mr Gaches said that research suggested the pace of life in London was often blamed for shorter life expectancy in the capital.
But that was now spreading further out to places like Brighton, Watford, Windsor, Maidenhead and Reading.
“In all these commuter towns, life expectancy falls short of the level that you would expect people to have,” said Gaches.
“It’s possible the pace of London life is starting to move outside the M25.”
The research also found places with a slower pace of life, such as Ceredigion in Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland, had a higher than expected life expectancy.
