Wellness design is shaping new homes in 2026, featuring wellness kitchens, spa-like bathrooms, enhanced air and water quality, and calming colors. While wellness design tends to spotlight a home’s features, where you live and how far you commute can have a significant impact on health.
Commuting is an important aspect of wellness home design that is frequently overlooked, even by homeowners who prioritize their health.
“A lot of people talk about health and wellness, but they don’t talk about how a commute affects wellbeing, even though it (the commute) is part of people’s everyday life,” says researcher Annie Barreck, an author of a recent study published in the Journal of Transport & Health on work/family conflict and commuting.
Long Commutes Come With Hidden Health Costs
For years, researchers have pointed to a link between long commutes and challenges to physical health, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, back and neck problems, poorer sleep quality, and higher blood pressure. Today, in addition to physical health, there is a renewed focus on mental health risks, as commutes generally become longer and work and family responsibilities increase, sending the work-life balance off kilter.
Barreck, in partnership with the Observatory on Health and Well-being at Work (OSMET), found a link between commute times. work/family conflict and psychological distress: the longer the commute, the greater the conflict, and the more pronounced the mental health harms.
The underlying reason can be quite simple," says Barreck: Time management.
“The more time you spend commuting, the less time you have for family, leisure, and possibilities to relax and regain energy, on top of work responsibilities,” increasing the likelihood of psychological distress.
Interestingly, Barreck’s study found that it wasn’t just driving in gridlock that caused stress for commuters but also travelling long distances on public transit.
Even in hybrid schedules, workers commuting just two or three days a week still spend dozens of hours per month in transit.
The takeaway from the study is that for commuters of all kinds, distance equals distress.
Generational factors affect commuting and mental health, Barreck notes. Gen Z and Millennials may have less housing location options due to affordability and might end up living farther from work with longer commutes. Possibly less senior at work than the older generations, they may lack the power to have flex or remote schedules, while childcare and parental care add to the time crunch.
For homeowners who prioritize health and wellness design, this underscores that time ownership is crucial for work/life balance to support mental health, and location is an increasingly important element.
The New Construction Advantage for Health and Wellness
When you add location as a health factor, proximity to where life happens matters.
New construction homes and master-planned communities may offer a distinct advantage in wellness design. Builders are focusing new developments close to major employers, and close to commuter arteries and transit hubs that offer a shorter commute, compared to some resale homes located farther out of town.
New-build design trends cater to wellness, with light-filled floorplans, appliances that support healthy eating habits, serene acoustics, air and water filtration, and layouts that foster family and social connections.
Meanwhile, daily-use amenities, along with recreational and social opportunities that might have required driving to get to, are either intentionally incorporated in the community or located nearby.
In other words, choosing a home isn’t just about square footage — it’s about how your daily rhythm fits into your location.
To alleviate stress from a commute, Barreck suggests that house hunters should ask:
How much time will you spend commuting?
Do you have control over the time that you arrive at, and leave from work?
How much time do you have to get to childcare or school?
If you drive a car, is there traffic?
If you take public transit, what is the frequency?
How will you manage and integrate all of this into your daily life?
This Community Shows How Walkability Turns Location Into a Wellness Asset
Serenbe, a master-planned, agrihood-focused community near Atlanta, shows how walkable, amenity-rich neighborhoods can turn wellness design into a lifestyle advantage. Serenbe has been considered a blueprint for wellness real estate development in the United States since it was established in the early 2000s.
By reducing car reliance and bringing daily necessities within easy reach, the community demonstrates how thoughtful planning can give residents back one of the most overlooked elements of health: time.
Serenbe’s founder, Steve Nygren, says the community’s walkable, nature-first design embraces a back-to-basics approach that challenges the norm of daily commuting.
“A lot of our stress comes from getting in cars, going somewhere, and not knowing the time it takes to travel a distance. You’re in a closed mechanical vehicle. There is just nothing natural about it,” noting that the stress-lowering benefits of a walkable community can be as simple as not having to put kids in their car seats for a long drive, which can be stressful for the whole family.
Over the decades since Serenbe was established, Nygren has had the opportunity to witness the health and wellness benefits enjoyed by the residents of his community.
Nygren says residents frequently share that proximity to everyday essentials has given them time back, leading to improvements in physical health, weight loss, stronger relationships, and children who are more focused and engaged.
Ultimately, choosing the right location gives you the time to benefit from wellness features that shape interior design, from biophilic design and indoor-outdoor connections to calming colors and spaces that support rest and focus. Reducing commuting and vehicle reliance turns those intentional design choices into a wellbeing payoff,
The Bottom Line
Wellness in 2026 isn’t just about air filtration systems, spa showers, or calming color palettes. It’s also about how much of your day is spent getting to and from work.
Location decisions shape stress levels, family time, sleep, and overall mental health in ways that no countertop upgrade can fix. A shorter, more predictable commute — or a walkable community that reduces daily car dependence — can offer one of the most powerful wellness returns of all: time.
For today’s buyers, choosing where to live isn’t just a real estate decision. It’s a lifestyle and health decision that plays out every single day.
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