With over 40.8 million autos registered on the finish of September 2022 travelling throughout the nation, driving is an element on a regular basis UK life. We spend a number of time in our vehicles, notably when we’re behind the wheel commuting to worokay. Analysis from Statista into period of commutes in 2022, discovering that the typical employee spends between 15 to 29 minutes travelling to work. Which means that many employees could spend practically an hour travelling of their used Audi A3 commuting to their office.
With the period of time spent in our autos travelling between our properties and workplaces, is there a relationship that’s shaped between the act of commuting and employees psychological well being? On this article, we’ll take a look at how psychological well being might be improved when journeyling to and from our jobs.
Automobiles as our sanctuaries
With us spending a number of time in our vehicles after we commute, this might imply spending a number of time travelling by ourselves. Speaking about being alone within the context of psychological well being can set off some alarm bells, however there’s an essential distinction to attract within the dialog.
There’s a important distinction between loneliness and being alone. Whereas loneliness is the absence of connection, being alone is the act of being in your personal firm. Being alone can assist to unpack our issues, worries, and anxieties with out feeling like we should justify our ideas to others.
Automobiles may give us this sanctuary away from the worry of judgement, and our morning and night commutes can act as self-therapy. Take a look at it like giving your self some much-deserved alone time slightly than a every day isolation.
What facets of commuting ought to we glance to optimise?
Whereas we can’t management the degrees of site visitors or change the space of our properties from our workplaces, driving needs to be gratifying whether or not you’re going to work or a fast journey to the retailers. So, we must always be sure we’re enhancing our expertise whereas we’re on the street as potential.
Our temper might be affected in other ways and when we’re behind the wheel, these feelings might be accentuated by the site visitors round us. An essential factor to recollect to keep away from that is to remind ourselves that each different driver on the street is a human with their very own lives and issues. This can assist to actualise anger and dissipate the detrimental feelings.
One small factor that would make the world of distinction might be constructing a playlist on your commute. It is a customisable thought, so you possibly can select your vibe based mostly on what music you are feeling you’ll must get your self in the best temper for work. We can’t management all the pieces when we’re driving, however we will undoubtedly select which tracks make it onto the playlist.
All of us love our music decisions, however you would possibly really feel such as you need a change media to hearken to whereas driving. There’s a complete world of audio content material at your fingertips the place you possibly can uncover new issues and even assist stimulate you in other ways.
There’s no higher instance of this than podcasts. Being so accessible in the case of creation and launch, there are estimated to be round 4.7 million distinctive audio podcasts on Spotify alone. It doesn’t matter what you’re concerned about, there’ll be a podcast on the market that you may bounce in to and be taught one thing from.
Listening to narrative tales also can assist to stimulate optimistic and new feelings in our brains, which was present in outcomes from a research by UC Berkeley in California. Most podcasts will comply with a subject construction and there are such a lot of genres to select from, whether or not you need to hearken to tales from the world of sport or snigger alongside to comedians.
It will possibly really feel uncomfortable altering routines, which is why it’s essential to alter up your commute to encourage the distinction in temper. Not solely might it have a optimistic influence in your psychological well being, however your productiveness at work might see extra enchancment as properly.
