Coping with Stress
An important facet of personal health and fitness is your mental state. When you are behind the wheel (whether it’s a CMV or your personal vehicle), it is important that you are alert, focused, and able to deal with any situation you encounter. Think about your typical mental state:
Do you feel calm and relaxed most of the time or do you have frequent headaches, tense muscles, etc.?- Do you eat compulsively?
- Are you frequently depressed?
- Do you sleep well?
Your answers to those questions should give you some clue to whether you have a “problem” with stress.
Dealing Effectively with Your Emotions
Emotions are a part of everyone’s life. You can feel excited and up one day, and then sad or depressed the next day. How you feel only becomes a problem when your emotions begin to adversely affect your performance behind the wheel.
Without a doubt anger is the mental state that causes the most problems. Imagine a really angry driver, and you are looking at a case of “road rage” just waiting to happen. Such a person is physically tense, has a rapid heartbeat and breathing, and slowed digestion. That body is prepared for a fight. This “ready” condition results in braking, steering, and acceleration behaviors that are erratic at best, and can be very dangerous. Usually emotions tend to abate with the passage of time. But if you remain angry for an extended period of time, you will also become physically tired. And mentally, an angry driver has trouble making reasoned decisions. And he/she may not see things that are ahead.
Some Coping Techniques to Try
Since your total concentration needs to be on driving when you are behind the wheel, coping with emotions and calming your mental state during driving is crucial. Try these simple methods:
- Practice safe, consistent, and dependable driving habits—if you have good habits, they will see you through temporary periods of high stress
- Mentally prepare yourself to meet stressful conditions—that one-lane construction zone just around the bend or the speeder who is coming up fast in your rear-view mirror will bother you far less if you tell yourself well in advance that you can handle it
- Know your own reactions and be honest about them—if you have a temper, accept that as part of your personality and take steps to see if you can lengthen your fuse a bit (especially in a highway situation)
- Be aware that stress and emotion often surface when your body is tired. Get enough rest and practice releasing tension
To get rid of emotional stress and tension, here are some simple relaxation techniques to try:
- Stop the truck if you can, get out and stretch; then exercise briefly. A little physical exertion generally will improve your mental attitude. Simple exercises work just fine.
- If you can’t stop at all, try breathing deeply and regularly while you are still on the road. Practice letting tension flow out of your body as you exhale.
- Listen to music and concentrate only on your driving in order to turn your mind away from the cause of the tension.
- Accept the things you cannot change. Talk about what’s on your mind with someone you can trust so problems don’t keep building up inside you.