Stewing over traffic isn't best way to cope

Before Monday morning, when Interstate 5 is predicted to become an infinite parking lot, Jherek Swanger and his wife mulled over a list of options for his commute from Tacoma to Seattle.

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· Give yourself plenty of time to get to M's games
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Work at home? Can't do.

Train? Takes too long.

Bus? Same problem as the train.

"Yeah, it's going to suck," said Swanger's wife, Kirsti Thomas.

And that was after they decided that Swanger and their 5-year-old daughter -- who goes to a child care center at his workplace -- will spend this week and next schlepping from house to apartment to house of various friends in Seattle.

While Swanger was happy to avoid a likely soul-numbing commute, he still was distressed. The idea of essentially couch-surfing with a preschooler who needs lunches packed and her favorite stuffed animals, all in the homes of child-free friends, was entirely unappealing (even with daughter Eleanor's sunny view that it will be "like camping out").

"It won't be the worst, but it surely is bloody inconvenient," said Swanger, a lab technician at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

His wife, whose commute takes her south to Lacey, was more blunt: "He is completely and utterly stressed about this."

As thousands of people upend their routes, schedules and families to accommodate the state's 19 days of lane closures on northbound I-5, many are feeling frazzled.

Already burdened with a long commute, many are having to shuffle child care or wake up before dawn, leaving them less than blithe about the closures being "a great excuse" to go shopping downtown. That is how transportation officials are characterizing the massive construction project on one of the busiest highways in the state -- that, and a chance to eat breakfast downtown.

"Any disruption to a routine can be stressful to people. One of the ways people deal with a busy, stressful life is routine," said Julie Lindberg, director of clinical operations at Group Health Cooperative's Behavioral Health Department.

Combine that with a loss of control, worries about being late and having less time to do laundry or go running, and it simply means more stress.

But experts say there are ways to cope.

"Get plenty of sleep, eat right and do fun things when you're not at work or in the car," Lindberg said. "That's the kind of stuff that builds resilience to handling stress."

Other coping strategies include avoiding the congestion unless absolutely necessary, giving yourself plenty of time to go somewhere and making a contingency plan in case you are late.

Another thing that would help is if transportation officials would acknowledge the pain, said Leon James, a University of Hawaii professor who studies driving psychology. He said officials in general need to do more to recognize the frustration of drivers stuck in traffic.

In other states, he has advised authorities to get on talk radio during rush hour to tell drivers they understand their feelings. In Pennsylvania, he suggested crews change the road signs from "Expect delays" to "Expect to be annoyed."

"Officials aren't relating to the feelings of the motorist," James said. "Instead, they're relating to the consequences."

STRESS BUSTERS

• Ask friends and relatives for help; talk with your employer about working at home or taking time off.

• Recognize signs of stress, such as impatience, irritability and trouble sleeping. Get counseling if stress spills into other areas of your life.

• Calm down in traffic by telling yourself the situation will pass and is not life-threatening.

• Keep your head in charge of your heart. Remind yourself that everyone's in the same boat.

• Don't engage with aggressive drivers.

• Pull over safely and take a break if you're losing emotional control while driving.

Source: Julie Lindberg, director of clinical operations at Group Health Cooperative's Behavioral Health Department

MORE STRESS BUSTERS

• Relax with deep breathing.

• Prepare for tight time transitions. Tell people you must leave on time, then graciously excuse yourself.

• Cover the clock in your car. You can only get there when you get there.

• Shift your perspective. Try to see a long commute as time for yourself and prepare with books on tape or music. Look at the disruption as a snow day that gives you a break from your routine.

• You can say, I have a major interruption coming in my life: Do I want to fight it, or can this become an opportunity to readjust my life, to make things a little bit easier?

Source: Michel Eubank Spruance, corporate yoga and stress-management teacher, and owner of Be -- Yoga + Mediation in Seattle