Stress in different travel modes: an observational study of Galvanic Skin Response measurements (GSR)

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Stress is often associated with urban living, although active travel may reduce stress compared to other modes. Earlier work, however, has relied on self-reported measures of stress, and on study designs that limit our ability to establish causation. METHODS: Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), a proxy for stress, was collected alongside confounders and travel information from 122 participants across 3 European cities during 3 weeks as part of the Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) study. Causal effects of daily travel in different modes on GSR were evaluated through propensity score matching (PSM) and linear mixed models (LMMs). Separately, cycling, then walking then motorized (public or private) travel were compared to “any other activity”. RESULTS:Cycling reduces 1-minute GSR by 7.6% [95% CI: 2.6-22%] to 10.5% [95% CI: 4.9-22.7%] compared to any other activity. Walking is also beneficial, reducing GSR by 4.3% [95% CI: 1.6-11.9%] to 6.2% [95% CI: 2.9-13.3%] compared to any other activity; motorized mode (private or public) in reverse increases GSR by up to 1.4% [95% CI: 0.6-3.2%]. CONCLUSIONS:Active travel offers a welcome way to reduce stress in urban dwellers’ daily lives. Stress can be added to the growing number of evidence based reasons for promoting active travel in cities. KEYWORDS: Built environment, walkability, causal inference