I think my commute causes stress. I have two basic routes. The longer one sucks, and the shorter one sucks more. I live in a third world country (New Orleans) where most surface street drivers are illiterate and probably drunk, stoned, high and/or talking on their phones. Basically, there are three reasons I bike to work:

1. I don't like spending money on cars. I don't even like the idea of internal combustion for convenience sake. Wasteful in so many ways.

2. Parking Downtown. Impossible or very expensive.

3. I save some time. Traffic here is a total ratf*** during rush hour. I don't see how people can sit in a car and watch the same light go red to green to red five times before queuing up for the light one block away. In that sense...stress relief.