You go I was driving home from work the same route you take every day. As soon as you leave, you meet the same woman who takes her dog out at the same time every day. She greets you as you stop to let her and her little Yorkie cross the zebra crossing. Two blocks away, you pass that apartment building you love so much. I hope you can buy it one day. I can’t wait for dinner! Unfortunately, you still have at least another 20 minutes to drive, it’s a long drive. But just when you think you’re done thinking about it, you suddenly find yourself in front of your garage. You have no idea how you got there. What’s going on? If this situation sounds familiar, don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with you. This is a phenomenon known as highway hypnosis and in principle it is not dangerous, although it is always better to avoid it.
If we drive home from work at the same time every day, there will come a point when Driving will become automatic. The same thing happens with any other family tour or when we go for one long and monotonous highway. And also when we drive while we are sleepy. The good part is that, unlike when we are circulating in our sleep, in sleep hypnosis we remain vigilantWe lose awareness of time or even the route, but our brain remains alert to external stimuli, such as a possible accident.
It is true that when we want to sleep, road hypnosis occurs more easily. That is, not only will we be less alert, but we will also lose track of time. Therefore, it is always better to avoid both phenomena. After all, arriving home without knowing what happened in the last 20 minutes is still very unpleasant.
Why does road hypnosis occur?
As the psychotherapist explained Natasha Duke In an article for the Cleveland Clinic, highway hypnosis is based on a brain process known as procedural memory. This term refers to the reason why some processes are performed automatically. For example, when we ride a bike, we don’t think about how to do it. It happens automatically. The same thing happens when we swim or when we do some household chores. As for driving, people who have been doing it for a short time do think a lot about their movements. However, with experience, these eventually they become automated.
When this happens, the brain goes into automatic mode so that we can complete the task at hand with little or no effort. Clearly, this brain phenomenon is involved in highway hypnosis. But it is not the only one. Something known as hyperfocus. This phenomenon is usually associated mainly with people with ADHD, but in certain situations it can happen to anyone. It is the ability to focus attention on a task in such a way that everything else seems to disappear.
If we combine procedural memory and hyperfocus while driving, we will do automatically, but at the same time, all our attention is still there, so that if something unexpected happens, we can react. What happens? Suddenly, everything outside the car disappears. We are no longer focused on that apartment we like so much, or on the kilometers left until home. Once we reach our destination, we don’t know how we got there.
How can this be avoided?
He reaction time In people with road hypnosis, it does not change, as it happens with drowsiness. That is, if they find, for example, that someone is driving towards them in the wrong direction, they will react the same way as in another situation. Which does not happen with drowsiness, in which the reaction time is greatly extended. The reaction takes longer.
However, to avoid the discomfort caused by not being able to remember what happened or losing attention to where we are, we can resort to certain Tricks to help you avoid road hypnosis.
The first and perhaps most obvious is to talk to our companion. But what happens if we go alone in the car?
There are several options.
Forget GPS
If you normally use GPS to navigate the same route, try trust you and turn off the device. This way, you will pay much more attention to where you are, so you know which exits you should take or which streets are suitable.
Do not use cruising speed.
Road hypnosis is common on motorways, as there are usually fewer bends and the roads are longer and smoother. In such cases, we often switch the car to cruising speed, but this is not a good idea, because another automatic factor This will not require our attention. It is better to pay attention to the changes in speed.
Try going the other way
They say all roads lead to Rome. They may not all take you home from work, but there will be some different alternatives the one you usually use. If you keep changing, your brain won’t be on autopilot.
For every 2 hours
To avoid road hypnosis; but above all to prevent drowsiness, it is advisable to stop taking it every 2 hours. If the autopilot does not allow you to know the time, you can use alarm clock so you don’t forgetDrinking caffeine also helps, but don’t try to compensate for breaks with caffeine. It’s best to take them whenever possible.
Read the signs out loud
To avoid losing sight of the here and now, try to read the signs you encounter, whether they are road signs or highway exit signs. If you say them out loud, your attention will be focused not only on the inside of the car, but also on the outside. This is what we are looking for to break out of road hypnosis.
Source: Hiper Textual
