How long commutes and facing traffic snarls is affecting mental health negatively, fueling stress, burnout, and poor Work-Life Balance in cities like Bengaluru.

Every morning, millions of people set out for work expecting to arrive at their destination. What they don’t expect is to arrive mentally exhausted before the workday has even begun.

In Bengaluru, where traffic congestion has become an accepted part of everyday life, commuting is no longer just a transportation issue. It has evolved into a significant mental health challenge, quietly affecting stress levels, relationships, workplace productivity, and overall quality of life.

As featured in a recent Deccan Herald article, “Bengaluru traffic: Long commutes fuel stress and drain workplace productivity,” psychotherapist Kala Balasubramanian (Inner Dawn) explains that the emotional consequences of prolonged commuting are often underestimated. While people may accept traffic as unavoidable, the human mind and body continue to pay the price every single day.

Read the original Deccan Herald article here:
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/the-toll-of-snarls-frayed-nerves-falling-productivity-4070766

Commute Stress: The Invisible Burden We Carry Every Day

When discussing traffic, conversations usually revolve around lost hours, poor infrastructure, or delayed meetings. Rarely do we talk about what those hours are doing to our emotional wellbeing.

A long commute exposes individuals to continuous uncertainty.
Will there be another traffic jam?
Will I be late for work?
Will my manager understand?
Will I reach home in time to spend time with my family?

These questions may seem ordinary, but together they keep the body’s stress response activated for extended periods. Our nervous system is designed to help us cope with occasional challenges. It is not designed to remain in a heightened state of alert for several hours every day. Over weeks and months, this constant activation contributes to what psychologists call chronic stress, which can eventually affect both physical and mental health.

Why Bengaluru Traffic Is Becoming a Mental Health Issue

Bengaluru has earned global recognition as India’s technology capital. Unfortunately, it has also become synonymous with long travel times and unpredictable congestion. Many professionals spend two to four hours commuting each day. That is time taken away from Sleep and Relaxation, Exercise, Family Time, Hobbies, Social connections, Personal growth and more.

These activities are not luxuries. They are essential ingredients for good mental health.

When commuting consumes these opportunities consistently, people begin to experience what researchers describe as time poverty. Even if they enjoy their jobs, they have little energy left to enjoy the rest of their lives. This imbalance gradually erodes work-life balance, leaving many people feeling that life revolves entirely around work and traffic.

Why Long Commutes Affect Emotional Wellbeing and affect Mental Health?

In the Deccan Herald feature, Kala Balasubramanian highlights that the effects of long commutes extend far beyond temporary frustration.

Every stressful commute consumes emotional resources.

When people repeatedly begin and end their day in a heightened state of stress, they often have less patience, reduced emotional flexibility, and diminished resilience when facing everyday challenges.

The impact is cumulative rather than immediate.

Someone who experiences chronic commuting stress may begin to notice:

• Increased irritability
• Emotional exhaustion
• Difficulty concentrating
• Reduced motivation
• Poor decision-making
• Lower frustration tolerance
• Sleep disturbances
• More frequent conflicts at home and work

Many people assume they simply need a holiday. In reality, they may be experiencing the gradual effects of chronic stress exposure.

Recognising commuting as a legitimate contributor to mental health challenges is an important first step toward preventing more serious problems such as anxiety, burnout, and depression.

The Link Between Commute Stress and Burnout

Burnout is often blamed solely on demanding jobs. However, work begins long before employees log into their computers. Imagine spending three hours navigating aggressive traffic, worrying about delays, responding to work messages, and constantly monitoring navigation apps.

By the time the workday starts, a significant portion of mental energy has already been consumed. This is why commuting can become an overlooked contributor to burnout prevention efforts. Burnout develops when prolonged stress exceeds an individual’s capacity to recover.

Long commutes reduce recovery time while simultaneously increasing daily stress. It becomes a perfect recipe for emotional exhaustion.

Employee Wellbeing Starts Before Employees Reach the Office

Many organisations invest heavily in employee wellbeing initiatives. They provide Employee Assistance Programs, which may include counselling services, wellness programmes, preventive training to build resilience, etc.

Provide other benefits like Meditation sessions, Gym memberships, etc.  Yet many employees continue spending several hours every day in one of the most stressful parts of their routine.

Organisations that genuinely prioritise mental health are increasingly recognising the importance of:

• Flexible working hours
• Hybrid work models
• Remote work options where feasible
• Staggered office timings
• Reduced unnecessary travel
• Outcome-based performance rather than presenteeism

These strategies not only reduce stress but often improve productivity, engagement, and employee retention.  Supporting employees before they arrive at work is becoming just as important as supporting them once they are there.

The Ripple Effect on Relationships and Connections

One of the least discussed consequences of long commutes is their impact on personal relationships.

After a long day at work and a commute back, many people return home emotionally depleted.  They may have little energy left for conversations with their family members and partner. Emotional capacity for connections is depleted. They may experience annoyance when children are just being children.  Minor disagreements escalate more quickly. Personal hobbies disappear. Friendships receive less attention.

Over time, families may mistakenly believe the problem lies within the relationship itself, when the underlying issue is chronic stress and emotional fatigue.  Healthy relationships require emotional availability.

Protecting Your Mental Health Despite a Long Commute

While infrastructure improvements require policy changes and long-term planning, individuals can still take meaningful steps to reduce the emotional impact of commuting.

Create a Recovery Ritual

Instead of moving directly from traffic into work, spend five minutes resetting your nervous system. Deep breathing, mindfulness, stretching, or simply sitting quietly can help your brain transition more calmly.

Use the Commute Intentionally

Audiobooks, podcasts, calming music, or guided mindfulness exercises can transform commuting time into something restorative instead of purely stressful.

Establish Clear Boundaries

Avoid checking work emails throughout your commute unless absolutely necessary. Allow commuting to remain a transition period rather than an extension of the workday.

Prioritise Sleep

Long commutes often tempt people to sacrifice sleep. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation magnifies the effects of stress, making emotional regulation even more difficult.

Watch for Warning Signs

If you consistently experience:

• Persistent irritability
• Anxiety
• Difficulty sleeping
• Emotional numbness
• Frequent headaches
• Reduced enjoyment in daily activities

it may be worth seeking professional support before stress progresses into burnout.

What Cities and Employers Can Learn

Urban planning is often discussed in terms of economics, transportation, and environmental sustainability. Mental health deserves an equal place in that conversation.

Shorter commutes are associated with healthier, happier, and more productive communities. Similarly, organisations that recognise commuting as part of employee wellbeing can create healthier workplaces by offering greater flexibility and designing policies that acknowledge the realities of modern urban life.

Supporting mental health requires looking beyond the office walls.

The Road Ahead

• Traffic congestion is measured in kilometres.
• Mental health is measured in moments.
• The missed dinner with family.
• The shortened bedtime story.
• The cancelled evening walk.
• The conversation that never happened because there was no energy left.
• These moments quietly accumulate until stress becomes the new normal.

As Kala Balasubramanian points out in the Deccan Herald article, recognising the psychological burden of long commutes is essential if we are to build healthier individuals, stronger families, and more resilient workplaces.

The conversation about traffic should not end with infrastructure. It should include wellbeing.

Because every hour spent in traffic is also an hour spent using emotional energy that could have been invested in creativity, relationships, recovery, and living a fuller life. The next time we talk about Bengaluru’s traffic, perhaps the most important question is not, “How long did it take to get there?”

It is, “What did the journey cost you emotionally?”

About the Author

Kala Balasubramanian is a Psychotherapist, PTSTA (Psychotherapy), Trainer, Supervisor, and Founder of Inner Dawn Counselling and Training Services LLP. She works with individuals, couples, groups, and organisations to foster emotional wellbeing, healthier relationships, resilience, and psychologically safe workplaces. Her work focuses on helping people understand the impact of stress, relationships, communication patterns, and emotional health on everyday life.

The post The Hidden Mental Health Cost of Long Commutes/traffic snarls first appeared on Inner Dawn Counselling.

In today’s fast-changing social landscape, young adults are putting mental health at the heart of their relationships. This shift is especially visible among Bengaluru’s Gen-Z and young millennials, a cohort reshaping how we think about connection, commitment and emotional health. According to relationship experts, this isn’t just a trend; it’s a fundamental change in priorities and relational values.

Inner Dawn Counsellor Kala Balasubramanian’s views featured in Deccan Herald on 19-Nov-25.

Gen-Z and Emotional Literacy: Red Flags, Boundaries, and Compatibility

Five years ago, terms like toxic, gaslighting or attachment styles were mainly clinical jargon. Today, they’re part of everyday conversations among young partners and daters. This heightened emotional vocabulary reflects a generation that:

• Recognises red flags early
• Prioritises healthy boundaries
• Values self-awareness and mutual respect

Instead of suppressing discomfort, Gen-Z engages in conscious relationship building, treating emotional intelligence as a core aspect of compatibility.

Why Mental Health Now Trumps Old Relationship Norms

 Several surveys indicate that a majority of young adults in India are comfortable discussing mental health with partners and see emotional support as a key component of a strong relationship. The Gen-z views that Openness about feelings is now seen as a relationship asset, not a vulnerability. Setting emotional boundaries is seen as a form of self-care and mutual respect.

These trends suggest that today’s young adults are not afraid to pause, reflect, and recalibrate rather than rush into connections that don’t align with their well-being goals.

What This Means for Relationship Culture

Gone are the days when silence about emotional needs was considered strength. Today’s young people are willing to initiate conversations about mental health early in relationships and evaluate if the relationship is enhancing their mental health or depleting it.

For relationship professionals, therapists, and anyone involved in couples counselling, these shifts signal a broader cultural moment, one where mental wellness is inseparable from romantic bonding.

Mental health, Emotional Awareness, Emotional literacy, capacity for Empathy are emerging as relationship parameters

Mental health isn’t just a sidebar in Gen-Z relationships; it’s often the central narrative that shapes how young adults choose, sustain, or exit partnerships. As emotional awareness becomes the new green flag in dating culture, we’re witnessing a healthier, more intentional form of connection that values well-being as much as affection.

The post Mental Health Comes First for Gen-Z in Relationships first appeared on Inner Dawn Counselling.

Since the time I started my practice as a Professional Counsellor 10 years back, till now, the level of awareness towards mental health, counselling and therapy services has significantly improved in the urban areas. The stigma towards Mental Health Services also seems to have decreased at least in the urban areas. I also see an increase in awareness in people from second and third tier cities and towns as well. Awareness regarding such support services definitely seems to have percolated into tier 2 and tier 3 cities and towns as well. It is very heartening to get enquiries and clients coming from these locations too.

With the pandemic going on, online services becoming the norm, therapy and counselling services have also shifted to online counselling services now, increasing the accessibility to clients from other cities and towns as well. There is fair connectivity across locations for both voice and data and the affordable phones/smart phones/laptops gets them access.

It is a well established fact that we do have a major deficit in terms of qualified mental health professionals be it psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, therapists and there needs to be a committed, consistent, systemic change to address this deficit. We do still have quite a way to go before mental health professionals are accessible in person adequately across our population.

Many Mental Health Service professionals/providers offer a sliding scale to offer these services to clients from all economic and social backgrounds. Having said that it is also important that systems and processes be put in place where people can reach out and access these services with ease and affordability.

Inner Dawn Counsellor Kala Balasubramanian’s views featured on Capstone a publication from the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (IIJNM).

http://newsnet.iijnm.org/mental-health-service-accessibility-in-rural-area-still-a-far-fetched-dream/

The post Mental Health Services – Awareness, Accessibility and Affordability first appeared on Inner Dawn Counselling.

Here we are at the end of the year 2020. It is fair to say that this year has been difficult for most of us with the common reason being the covid-19 situation and the related changes in our lives. Given that how can you make these holidays less stressful and more enjoyable.

End of the year does bring festivals, celebrations and heralding of the New Year. It does make us look forward to positivity in the on coming days. At the same time we need to acknowledge that holidays also can be stressful in families even in normal times and with the constraints of the covid, stress and tensions within families can become aggravated.

Here are six ways of making these holidays less stressful and more enjoyable for everyone in your family.

• Have a plan:

Whether you are a couple or single or a family, have a plan of how you want to spend these holidays, be it travel or stay home. Travel can be more stressful than normal with the covid restrictions and fears.  Even if you don’t plan to go anywhere, make that an explicit plan to stay home and do certain planned activities, make it a stay-cation at home. Loneliness, frustrations and boredom can creep up on you and can be especially painful during the holiday season.

• Have realistic expectations:

Whether you are staying home on travelling in these holidays, it is good to have realistic expectations. It might be a long pending vacation or a long awaited family union. Given the current coronavirus situation there could be possible delays or last minute changes in plans.  Family meets also can get heated up if there is any pent up frustration in family members. Old issues could get stirred up and new might pile on. Expect that things may not go according to plan and have backup plans.

• Avoid over doing things:

Commit to only doing things that you can handle comfortably. Over extending yourself might aggravate things and is best avoided. Share responsibilities amongst yourselves appropriately so that not one person is overburdened by work or responsibilities. Discuss with your loved ones and plan your budget upfront and stick to it. If you are having a home get together with friends or family, and if you plan to cook, you can take it easy on yourself by planning for a potluck perhaps.

• Say NO as required:

It is OK to say no when it is required. If you already stretched, do not extend additional hospitality to more. Even within your own family it is important to say NO to your children or your partner or relatives when it is required and appropriate. Inability/difficulty to say no leads up to more stress frustration and overall dissatisfaction.

• Give yourself permission to not be perfect:

Many a times you are trying to meet other people’s expectations. But when you expect yourself to be perfect and everything else to be perfect, that can never practically be met. You are setting yourself up for failure and disappointment

• Take care of yourself:

Last but not the least is to take care of yourself.  Take a breath, give yourself a break. Identify a few things that you want to do just for yourself. And allow yourself to indulge in them. Stay in the now and practice mindfulness. Be aware of your own physical and mental wellness requirements.  Provide yourself care and support generously.

And of course – wear masks, use sanitizers and practice social distancing.

Wishing you and all of us a safe and happy holidays and wish for a bright and healthy new year 2021.

The post Six ways of making holidays less stressful and more enjoyable first appeared on Inner Dawn Counselling.

The recent incident of Suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput, and the associated complexities of the case, have been extensively covered in the media. It is important for the media to provide an objective and unbiased view on what is happening rather than on the basis of sensationalism. How is the client’s confidentiality maintained? How important is that?

Different media channels project and highlight different aspects of the case. And one of the aspects which has been significantly highlighted is the mental health issues of the late actor.

Though the topic of mental health, being discussed in the public domain, is good, it has also raised many questions regarding client-therapist confidentiality.

This also brings up a lot of questions from my existing clients and potential clients who want to enter into therapy with respect to what is confidential what is not. And it has also created more fear and hesitation amongst potential clients, whether the information that they share in therapy will be disclosed, and in what context under which circumstances.

Mental health practitioners adhere to a Code of ethics in which Confidentiality is fundamental. And practitioners will explain the terms, conditions and clauses around the topics of confidentiality to clients and will need to adhere to it.

Here are 5 questions that you can ask your therapist/counsellor regarding confidentiality.

1. What are the confidentiality clauses of your contract / working arrangement?
2. Are there situations where confidentiality can be broken?  What are they?
3. Will you discuss with me, what your plan of action is, if there is a need for a breach of confidentiality?
4. What code of ethics do you follow in your practice?
5. If you discuss my case with your supervisor/colleagues, how will I still be protected?

Having said that, in a way it is good that the mental health has become a topic of conversation and it is important that it does not remain a taboo any more.

Inner dawn counsellor Kala Balasubramanian’s views featured in Deccan Herald Metro life, dated 5^th September 2020.

https://www.deccanherald.com/metrolife/metrolife-your-bond-with-bengaluru/media-spin-raises-questions-882624.html

The post Confidentiality in mental health spaces – An important factor first appeared on Inner Dawn Counselling.