Tips for Reducing Stress Levels in Traffic

Video Transcript

Hi, Dr. Roadmap, and as I promised, I'll tell you a little bit about how to avoid getting stressed out during your drive. And who doesn't get stressed out as we drive on a busy freeway or something like that? But there are tips to avoid it. Most of these studies were done at the University of California by doctors Raymond Devaco and Dan Stokles and they gave several pointers. And of course, it is important to follow them because the effects of stress are physical and mental. Mentally, we can arrive at work in a bad mood or arrive home. It's called transference. When we take the stress of the drive into our next domain, be it home or work. Driving stress can cause memory loss. See? I'm forgetting already! It can also put you in a negative mood naturally. The physical effects of stress and driving are increased heart rate, cardiac arrhythmias (which are skipped beats) and even the increase chance of a heart attack (myocardial infarction). So, you want to avoid stress. Rule number one: take a break before you start out. In other words, five minutes, even if it's at work. It's important to just relax for a minute. And doctors even recommend that you eat a nutritional snack; not necessarily a candy bar, but something like fruit or trail mix. Anything like that will help. What that does is it gets your blood sugar up, especially for the trip home. I mean, it's the end of the day, you are thinking about dinner on the stove. You want to eat something, your brain will function better with a little bit more blood sugar. So after having taken a break. You get in your car. What you do...one of the things to avoid stress...one of the things is you leave early in the car. In fact, it works miracles. Nothing like leaving early to prevent traffic stress. Try it and you'll be hooked. Let's say you are on the road; you are going along...the first thing is to drop your destination. In other words, all we are thinking about is "God, how fast can I get home?" You have to quit looking at your watch. It's almost like the "Zen Driving" thing (the book written by K.T. Barter - Zen Driving). Think about where you are now and forget about getting there in a hurry. The other thing is to create a pleasing environment in your car. Yes; air conditioning. Turn it on. Leave the windows rolled up when you are on the freeway. If you've got sheepskin, you know if you've got leather seats on a hot day, buy those sheepskin covers. Because we know that if the body is relaxed, the mind will be relaxed. The other thing is...listen to relaxing things on the radio. In other words, as opposed to Nine Inch Nails or Rob Zombie, you may want to try Mozart or Beethoven. Something relaxing does relax you; studies have shown it works. The other thing is to take deep breaths if you get really stressed out. It sounds simple, but it really works. For example, whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again. And also, contracting your muscles; that gets the blood pumped back up to your brain. It's very important. IT also helps prevent blood clots. You've heard about this on airplanes; it works in cars. Get that blood back up to your brain and you'll be a little bit more alert and less stressed out. Lastly, if someone cuts you off, don't take it personally. Easier said than done, but you've got an aggressive driver tailgating you or something like that, all you have to do is relax. And watch them; they'll tailgate somebody else, so it's not directed at you. It's their problem. You'll be more relaxed when you arrive.

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