There is now mountains of evidence that point to the impact of stress upon our overall health and well-being. Stress can have many sources in our day to day lives. There are some sources of stress that we have more control over than others, but the skill of managing stress can be applied throughout our daily routine. Learning how to manage our stress and keep perspective on the issue causing us stress in the moment is a crucial ability that can reduce the impact of stress on our health.

Leave The Phone Alone!
Along with the other distractions mentioned above, there is one that deserves a little more attention than the rest. The invasion of the mobile or cellular phone into every corner of our lives has meant that we can no longer escape the grasp of people's demands upon us. You get calls from your boss, co-workers, kids, friends, annoying sales people and a range of other contacts that all vie for your attention. All that demand and distraction is neatly packaged into a convenient instrument that we know as the cell phone. The temptation to reach for the phone while driving can be strong, especially in stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic. Giving into this temptation does two things that greatly impact a person's driving stress. Right away, the distraction of looking into that little screen and fumbling around with the ridiculously small keypad causes you to lose focus on the road. The loss of focus on driving can put you at risk of having an accident and just generally messes up your ability to drive the car smoothly. This results in other drivers becoming more annoyed around you and probably letting you know about it with a horn blast that again bumps up your stress levels. You may be lucky to get away with a few near misses, but all the last minute braking and jerky driving can really ramp up your adrenaline.The other way in which the mobile phone increases stress levels while driving is that it often brings demands and time constraints into the moment as people message you or call you while on the road. You crawl along in your car and are reminded of deadlines, meeting times, to do lists, and any number of pressing issues. Sure, we all need to stay on top of these things, but you can't effectively do anything about them while driving anyway, so put the phone down. Staring at a digital reminder on your phone's screen is not going to make that issue go away. Focus on the task of driving and try to enjoy your controlled space within the car. Those issues that stare up from your phone will all be there when you arrive at your destination and then you can address them more effectively.

Give A Little...
Is it just me or is common courtesy a rare commodity in the world today? We all rush around in our own little worlds and it seems that we forget that we are clearly part of a larger human machine. We created this world and like it or not, we have chosen a social model that requires cooperation to function properly. There is perhaps no more evident place than the road to illustrate the dramatic effects that cooperation can have on our lives. Here's a prime example of what I am talking about. Merge lanes, on ramps, collector ramps or whatever you choose to can them, offer amazing insight into the different attitudes people approach life with. At one end of the spectrum is the person who drives at full speed to the very end of the merge lane and then barges into the crawling traffic with the simple aim of gaining perhaps three car positions. This type of driver is all about his or her own personal gain in the moment and has little insight into the larger impact of their actions. The irony is that as these types of drivers barge their way onto the main roads, they are actually contributing to the issues that cause traffic congestion in the first place. If they simply do as the intention of the lane indicates and merge smoothly into the traffic flow, there is a greater likelihood that other drivers are not forced to brake suddenly to compensate for their selfish actions and thus cause a ripple effect throughout the overall traffic flow.Generally being more courteous on the road will ultimately reduce everyone's commuting times and stress over the course of our lifetime. The aim of the game is to keep the traffic moving and the way we do that is to drive smoothly and cooperatively. Driving smoothly means avoiding the need to take sudden driving actions and one of the best ways to do that is give a little on the roads. The list of stupid driving habits is endless and we all have our own personal annoyances. Habits like tailgating, not signaling, pushing in, aggressive driving, reckless lane changes and hundreds of others all add up to create a dangerous, stressful driving experience. If we can all be a little more accommodating to the other drivers and not so selfish in our approach to driving, then the result is certain to be less stress on us personally.

Don't Take It Personally...
No matter where you drive or how you drive, it is inevitable that conflicts will arise during your daily commute. These conflicts can be born out of any range of driving etiquette transgressions on the part of other drivers. Whether the other driver fails to indicate, cuts you off or follows so closely that you might as well be towing him or her, the frustration can build behind the wheel. One technique to reduce the stress is to realize that these actions are not directed at you personally and are just the product of millions of cars and millions of types of drivers all sharing the road in different ways. That does not make their actions acceptable, but it can put things in perspective when you feel like everything is not going your way. The fact is that these little annoyances are happening to all of us and they a part of being human and living in a busy world. There is no point in allowing yourself to give these minor disturbances more attention and energy than they are worth. Try not to tally all these smaller annoyances up into a larger notion that somehow the world is conspiring against you. It's easy to say and takes practice to do, but try to isolate each incident of stress while driving and simply deal with it and move on. Dwelling on these things endlessly is a pointless exercise as once they have occurred there is nothing you can do to undo them, so they are best left in the past.

A car is a very heavy and fast chunk of metal with a steering wheel. We voluntarily get into these contraptions and hurtle down the road only inches away from other chunks of speeding metal. The only thing that keeps us alive when we get behind the wheel is the trust we have in our own abilities and the trust we put in the other drivers that we share the road with. If either party does not do their utmost to fulfill that trust, then only shear luck will prevent disaster.

Driving stress is one of the areas in our lives where simple techniques, like the ones listed above, can make a big difference it the stress we accumulate over the course of a day. Stress is all around us in the modern world and everything we can do to keep our personal stress levels in check will ultimately benefit our health in the long term and generally make our lives more enjoyable.

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