One of the great environmental stressors in Los Angeles, and elsewhere, is the morning and evening commute to work. Here in Los Angeles, it’s the worst in the nation and involves thought-provoking bottlenecks . (And by “thought-provoking” I don’t mean that I’m engaged in philosophical thoughts, but fantasies about turning the car into a helicopter).

Commuting isn’t necessarily well-studied scientifically, but there is research to suggest that the longer the commute, the less able commuters are to complete a simple task upon arrival—not an ideal set up for arriving at work.

Theologically, I think that commuting in cars alienates us from one another, though it provides a sense of more control than commuting by train or bus. Carpooling has long been suggested as an alternative, though it relies on living and working in tandem.

There are ways to cope.

1. praying before (and after, I’d suggest) the drive. Note that praying during the commute isn’t necessarily something I’d encourage. At least not deep mindful prayer.

2. Deep breathing during the drive seems to help. Not so deep that you are totally relaxed, but deep enough that you are breathing regularly (since one way many of us deal with anxiety is by hardly breathing at all).

3. Changing your commuting times might help, but the commutes in our neck of the woods start at 4:30 a.m. with all of the neighbors gone by 5:15 a.m. It’s hard to get too much earlier. You might as well just stay at work the night before.

4. Not commuting at all is ideal, but not available to many of us.

5. Make a suggestion to those who can help. I’m highly in favor of this one, although it seems that Jaime de la Vega, LA’s transportation chief, wasn’t listening last week. We’ll try this week.

Steve Lopez’s column about de la Vega driving a Hummer (yes, that would be the chief of transportation for LA driving a Hummer to work—nice modeling of appropriate behavior!) has provoked irritation and anger as well as constructive suggestions for bus routes, metro routes, and my favorite, “My solution? I moved to Oregon.”

Let’s just say there’s more than one person with that idea.

More Tips to Minimize Commuting Stress