Austin, TX is one of the two fastest growing cities in the entire western hemisphere. Austin’s growth makes it one of the top 15 American cities with worst traffic congestion, costing Austin residents $1,270 in annual lost fuel as we idle more than 100 hours in traffic – the worst city to drive in Texas. With Texas leading the nation in automobile-related fatalities, the city of Austin’s automobile fatality rate rose 30% even as more Americans relocate to central Texas and drive Austin’s population over one million residents.
HOW TRAFFIC CONGESTION SLOWLY KILLS YOU
Insomnia and poor sleep are worsening in America, with the average American now sleeping less than six hours per night. The various impacts of traffic congestion are well-known, but what are often ignored are the side-effects to your sleep health, wellness and overall quality of life. Austin’s severe traffic congestion taxes your health by increasing insomnia and reducing total restorative sleep time. You know this intuitively – do you feel relaxed while sitting in traffic? Do you feel calm when you first pull into your driveway at home? Does the commute into work and back home relax you? Scientific studies have quantified why you feel more stressed and perhaps aggressive when sitting in traffic:
Sitting in increasingly longer periods of congested traffic directly raise blood pressure;
Daily traffic exposure increases your body’s chronic production of norepinephrine and cortisol.
Your body treats heavy traffic congestion like any other dangerous situation and produces stress hormones to prepare you for ‘fight or flight.’ You know this intuitively as well – consider the ‘adrenaline-rush’ of a roller coaster. The evolution of your mammalian brain does not distinguish between the California license plated-SUV cutting you off as you try to merge onto MoPac nor that predator wolf pack stalking you out in the open forest. These stress hormones are meant to provide you with temporary speed and strength but also are meant to reduce damage should you be injured (such as reducing your digestion and circulation to limit blood loss in the event of injury). But these short-term “strengths” become life-threatening weaknesses when these stress hormones remain chronically elevated. The body’s stress reflex naturally reduces once the body has sensed that the danger has passed, but with prolonged traffic congestion and increasingly longer commutes, Austin residents remain in hours-long fight-or-flight stress states daily now.
Chronic cortisol and stress-hormone production impact your health, often in ways seemingly unrelated. Immune system action is temporarily lowered with stress hormone release, which means that chronic levels produce chronic immuno-suppression, increasing infections and fatigue. Long-term stress response activation and elevated cortisol production are primary factors in anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Headaches are a common side-effect. Adrenal fatigue is a common factor in unexplained weight gain. Long-term heart disease is possible with overexposure to stress hormones and higher blood pressure. Perhaps the most insidious side-effect of severe traffic congestion is to how it destroys your restorative sleep time. The stress hormones induced from your after-work commute leave you in a heightened state of alertness and stress in the evening, causing insomnia and preventing you from falling asleep at an early hour. However, with traffic’s morning congestion, you are forced to wake up earlier and earlier to compensate for the time you must now sit in traffic, thus further reducing the time available for you to get the necessary 7-9 hours of restorative nightly sleep.
FOUR STEPS TO REDUCE TRAFFIC CONGESTION STRESS
Four options to naturally reduce stress hormone production caused by heavy traffic congestion:
Turn your phone off when you get home and keep it turned off until you leave for work the following morning. Your smart phone’s dopamine-reflex loop can cause anxiety and insomnia, which high cortisol levels will inevitably aggravate and compound your symptoms.
Take a brisk walk (not jog or run) for thirty minutes outdoors in nature immediately upon getting home. Walking in nature for twenty minutes significantly reduces cortisol and blood pressure.
Perform mindfulness meditation after your walk. Mindfulness programs can reduce stress levels by nearly one-third as meditation lowers serum cortisol levels.
Take high dosage of quality Vitamin C. Large doses of Vitamin C can reduce adrenaline and cortisol following stressful situations. Large doses (e.g. 1,000 mg – 1,500 mg) should be followed with 16 ounces or more of water. High doses of Vitamin C may increase risks for kidney stones in some patients and may aggravate diarrhea. Consult with your healthcare provider before high dose supplementation as a daily treatment for traffic congestion-induced stress.
Long-term the only true solution to Austin’s severe congestion problem is the expansion of highways and roads. Until Austin makes that happen, take the steps in this article to reduce your stress and improve your restorative sleep and quality of life.
Need help with a sleep disorder? Austin residents have trusted SleepSomatics for 21 years for accredited, five-star sleep testing and CPAP treatment. Schedule a consultation at SleepSomatics sleep disorders testing and treatment center today. Don’t worry — if you’re a few minutes late due to traffic, we will understand.
