How To Reduce Stress While Driving

Search for 'road rage' on YouTube, and yous'll detect over 6.5 meg videos of drivers losing it at the wheel (and unfortunately for them, on camera). And while some videos might seem funny, they all highlight the same serious upshot — and that'south just how many of u.s.a. are affected by route rage when we climb into the driving seat.

For years now, Britain has been ranked the worst country in the world for road rage, with iv in 5 motorists having lost their temper while driving. Traffic jams, tailgating and bad driving are just some of the things which tin make people run across red at the wheel. Getting into the car in a bad mood tin make you more susceptible to stress on the road besides.

April is Stress Sensation Month here in the Uk, a time when healthcare professionals come together to raise sensation for the modern epidemic that is stress. So, in honor of this of import outcome, nosotros're here to provide 12 ways drivers can cope with stress when they're out on the open road.

Quick Links

• Effort to Plan Alternatives to Driving Every Day
• Program Plan Plan
• Remember That Driving Isn't a Competition
• Take a Break
• Switch Off Your Phone
• Wait Further Down the Road
• Keep Your Distance From Ambitious Drivers
• Requite Bad Drivers the Do good of the Uncertainty
• Choose the Right Music
• Keep Your Machine Full of Fuel and in Adept Status
• Focus on the Consequences

1. Effort to Plan Alternatives to Driving Every Day

The more you drive in bad traffic and tailbacks, the more of a frustrating chore information technology will get, and you lot'll carry this resentment with you lot the next fourth dimension you become in your car. Run into if you can take one day a fortnight or even a month when yous do something different – piece of work from home, go the train, or peradventure even automobile share with someone so that at that place's another person in the car to share the irritations of the road and keep you calm.

two. Program Plan Plan

There's goose egg similar being in a rush to bring on a bout of road rage, so always give yourself plenty of time and anticipate that you might hit back traffic. The pressure of time ticking by never does any favours for your mood, so check the traffic before you travel and aim to requite yourself double the time to accomplish your destination. It'south also worth checking out your route before you set up off and understanding what your alternatives are should a road alee be blocked – trying to negotiate an alternative road with lots of traffic while your sabbatum nav is barking instructions isn't conducive to at-home driving.

3. Remember That Driving Isn't a Competition

Karma, fate or 'what goes around comes around' — phone call it what y'all will, but there's a lot to exist said for showing other road users the same courtesy you wait from them. Past making a witting endeavor to be a considerate driver and not get into situations aggressively, you'll not only take the moral high ground, but keep your stress levels to a minimum. Take a deep breath rather than brandishing an aroused gesture or using your horn. Everyone on the road has somewhere to exist, and by understanding that, yous'll be able to relax and stay at-home at the wheel.

4. Take a Break

Whether making breakfast in a decorated kitchen or sitting in a queue of traffic, tiredness tin brand even the very best of us cranky. If yous didn't get enough sleep before a long drive, have a break every two hours to wake yourself up and continue those feelings of stress at bay. Even just a unproblematic five-minute leg stretch will exist plenty to ease tension and articulate your head, ready for another spell on the busy throughway.

five. Switch Off Your Phone

With the penalty for using your phone while driving now hiked to 6 points and a £ane,000 fine, it's worth but switching it off as presently as you go far the car. Even if y'all're non touching it, the sound of it buzzing away in the centre console is distracting enough, and can stress y'all out when y'all should be concentrating on the road alee. Letting things annoy you over the phone and discussing work issues which you might not be able to solve straight away is an added stress which y'all don't need.

half-dozen. Expect Further Downwardly the Road

Road rage is often brought on past other drivers doing unexpected things on the road ahead, be it a desperately-timed turn in the route or pulling out of a junction without waiting to meet how fast your auto is travelling. By looking further down the road and being enlightened of upcoming take a chance spots, y'all'll exist amend placed to bargain with these moments of madness, keeping your eye rate downwardly and your stress at a minimum. Sudden surprises like these tin can be extremely stressful, but just keep in mind that the other driver hasn't done it specifically to badger you.

7. Go on Your Distance from Aggressive Drivers

Some drivers simply don't have the capacity to be calm at the cycle, and have it upon themselves to allow this stress out in the form of aggressive, reckless driving. Encounter one of these stressed-out petrol heads on the route, and you lot should endeavour to go on your distance, assuasive them to laissez passer without losing your cool. The last affair you want is to go embroiled in a route rage incident with a driver who looks destined to be the next Ronnie Pickering.

8. Give Bad Drivers the Benefit of the Doubt

Bad driving can be a bitter pill to eat, especially if someone has just cut yous up, pulled out in forepart of you or tried to squeeze into a gap in traffic that'south but non there. Simply, while it can be tempting to give these offenders a quick smash of your horn, it's better to give them the benefit of the doubt and accept that it was probably just an accident. Bear witness people a little courtesy in moments like this by giving them the infinite they need to rectify their mistake, and they'll likely thank yous with a quick wave or wink of their hazards, diffusing a potentially angering situation.

ix. Cull the Correct Music

The environment in your car can influence your mood without you fifty-fifty realising it. Listening to maddening news reports or sitting in an uncomfortable position tin increase your irritation, whereas being comfortable and listening to music you enjoy and can sing along to could help to lower your blood pressure level.

10. Keep Your Car Full of Fuel and in Adept Condition

If you're sat in a traffic jam with the fuel low-cal blinking at you from the dashboard, this is going to do cipher to assistance your nerves, and you'll remain stressed all the mode to the fuel station. Try to height your automobile upward earlier you're running on empty to avoid the stress of having to detect a fuel station at a infinitesimal'south discover. Information technology'due south likewise a adept thought to keep your car in a good condition, ensuring all fluids are topped up regularly so you aren't all of a sudden faced with a dashboard warning light or a very muddied windscreen — both of which could send your stress levels through the roof.

11. Focus on the Consequences

And if all else fails and you still find driving stressful, think about all yous stand up to lose if yous don't control your temper. Your licence, your freedom, perchance even your job? Think of the bigger film and take steps to keep your anger in check.

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Source: https://www.holtsauto.com/holts/news/11-ways-to-cope-with-stress-on-the-road/

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