Did you know relaxation helps reduce driving nerves? Practising relaxation exercises before driving lessons and before your driving test will help to reduce long term stress and minimise the impact that stressful situations have on you.
Every time we find ourselves in a stressful situation and we feel under threat we tense our muscles ready to fight, run, freeze or hide. Even when the stressful situation is resolved and the time for action has passed our muscles will often remain tense for a long period of time.
Repeated long-term stress whether generated by everyday life or by driving can lead to long-term muscle tension and muscle tension can lead to pain, headaches, poor sleep patterns and irritability which of course can make us more stressed! These habits are repeated and developed over years until the feelings of being stressed with our shoulders being up by our ears, aching necks and shoulders and sudden flares of anger in response to situations become a normal part of our lives.
Long-term stress affects your attitude, thinking, and behaviour so if you are feeling the effects of stress before you start your journey in the car then it is also likely to have an impact on your driving behaviour. With road safety statistics suggesting that driving error/behaviour could be a contributing factor in 95% of road incidents, it makes sense to start looking at ways of managing and reducing stress levels to improve your driving experience and using relaxation to help driving nerves. Read more in this blog from Brake about how your emotions may stop you from driving safely.
Muscular relaxation techniques are one of the possible options for helping you reduce and manage your stress levels as well as the physical symptoms of long-term stress. However learning to relax is a skill which takes practice the same as learning to drive so be prepared to keep practising, think of it as a relaxation training plan (you would not run a marathon without training first!). The Confident Drivers website has a variety of relaxation techniques and audios for you to try – give them a go and then continue to practice with the one which suits you best.
As you practice and learn how to relax you can start to transfer your new relaxation skills into your everyday life. Whenever you experience a stressful situation or event during your day you can practice your new skills to reduce muscle tension and modify your response to stress. This, in turn, will lead to you feeling more in control of yourself and your emotions, feeling more relaxed and increasing your confidence.
Imagine starting your driving journey feeling relaxed and focused and then having the skills to manage your stress response to different situations along the way. Staying calm and keeping your attention on your journey – becoming a Confident Driver!
Now you know how relaxation helps driving nerves, find out more about other stress management solutions in our subscription packages for learner drivers and group subscriptions for driving instructors.
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If you have a driving test coming up soon you might find our Ultimate Guide to Driving Test Nerves useful.
Read more of our reviews from happy learner drivers on Trustpilot
It's great to have a website offering fantastic techniques to assist with the challenges of driving. The website recognises the fact that learning to drive can be stressful and there are strategies to help with this. The website's name, 'CONFIDENT Drivers' is what a learner is aspiring to be, so it's very positive. The techniques also apply to building general confidence in all walks of life, so useful again. Thank you!
I was so pleased when my instructor signed me up for Confident Driver. I loved the hypnosis sessions & I recently passed first time with one fault. Recommend 100%
Confident drivers has been a really useful tool in changing my attitude to the driving test. I hadn't recognised just how much my negative thoughts about my ability rather than my actual driving ability have been holding me back and putting me off. I particularly liked the quick fix section that gives you strategies to calm down just before the test!
If you would like some self-help stress management resources to help you tackle your driving anxiety and improve driving confidence then our calming kit is created by leading industry experts especially for you. Access to all the resources is online.
These plans are created specifically for drivers and learner drivers looking for online solutions to manage driving nerves and anxiety. We also have a range of group plans created for driving instructors who would like to offer support offroad to their learner drivers, you can find more details on our ADI page.
We created this podcast for drivers who want to be calm and confident on the road. Whether you are a learner driver, a new driver or have been driving for years, this podcast will help you to beat driving nerves and anxiety and build your driving confidence.
Co-hosted by Kev & Tracey Field, each Driving Confidence podcast episode offers bite-sized information and ideas that are both relatable and achievable to help you manage your driving nerves or anxiety and transform how you feel about driving.
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Take a browse around our blog for articles written to help learner drivers and driving instructors recognise the most common reasons for experiencing driving nerves and confidence issues. Each article offers strategies and suggestions that may help you.
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