Background

Stress is one of many ailments associated with urban living, with daily travel a potential major source. Active travel, nevertheless, has been associated with lower levels of stress compared to other modes. Earlier work has relied on self-reported measures of stress, and on study designs that limit our ability to establish causation.

Objectives

To evaluate effects of daily travel in different modes on an objective proxy measure of stress, the galvanic skin response (GSR).

Methods

We collected data from 122 participants across 3 European cities as part of the Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) study, including: GSR measured every minute alongside confounders (physical activity, near-body temperature) during three separate weeks covering 3 seasons; sociodemographic and travel information through questionnaires. Causal relationships between travel in different modes (the “treatment”) and stress were established by using a propensity score matching (PSM) approach to adjust for potential confounding and estimating linear mixed models (LMM) with individuals as random effects to account for repeated measurements. In three separate analyses, we compared GSR while cycling to not cycling, then walking to not walking then motorized (public or private) travel to any activity other than motorized travel.

Results

Depending on LMM formulations used, cycling reduces 1-minute GSR by 5.7% [95% CI: 2.0–16.9%] to 11.1% [95% CI: 5.0–24.4%] compared to any other activity. Repeating the analysis for other modes we find that: walking is also beneficial, reducing GSR by 3.9% [95% CI: 1.4–10.7%] to 5.7% [95% CI: 2.6–12.3%] compared to any other activity; motorized mode (private or public) in reverse increases GSR by up to 1.1% [95% CI: 0.5–2.9%].

Discussion

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.

中文翻译：

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以不同交通方式旅行对作为压力衡量标准的皮肤电反应 (GSR) 的影响：一项观察性研究

背景

压力是与城市生活相关的众多疾病之一，日常旅行是潜在的主要来源。然而，与其他模式相比，主动旅行与较低的压力水平相关。早期的工作依赖于自我报告的压力测量，以及限制我们建立因果关系能力的研究设计。

目标

评估不同模式下的日常旅行对压力的客观代理测量值、皮肤电反应 (GSR) 的影响。

方法

我们收集了来自 3 个欧洲城市的 122 名参与者的数据，作为通过可持续交通方式进行体育活动 (PASTA) 研究的一部分，包括： 在涵盖 3 个季节的三个独立星期内，每分钟测量 GSR 与混杂因素（体育活动、接近体温）；通过问卷调查获得社会人口统计和旅游信息。通过使用倾向评分匹配 (PSM) 方法来调整潜在混杂和估计线性混合模型 (LMM)，以个人作为随机效应，以解释重复测量，从而建立了不同模式的旅行（“治疗”）与压力之间的因果关系. 在三个单独的分析中，我们比较了骑自行车与不骑自行车时的 GSR，然后步行到不步行，然后机动（公共或私人）旅行与机动旅行以外的任何活动。

结果

根据使用的 LMM 配方，与任何其他活动相比，骑自行车可将 1 分钟 GSR 降低 5.7% [95% CI：2.0-16.9%] 至 11.1% [95% CI：5.0-24.4%]。对其他模式重复分析，我们发现：步行也是有益的，与任何其他活动相比，将 GSR 降低 3.9% [95% CI: 1.4–10.7%] 至 5.7% [95% CI: 2.6–12.3%]；机动模式（私人或公共）反向增加 GSR 高达 1.1% [95% CI：0.5-2.9%]。

讨论

积极的旅行是减轻城市居民日常生活压力的一种受欢迎的方式。越来越多的循证理由促进城市中的积极旅行，这也增加了压力。