Have you ever pulled into the driveway of your home or a parking lot spot and just ... stayed there?
Maybe it’s a few minutes, or half an hour. You might be scrolling on your phone, belting out a favorite song or just staring into the distance.
Scroll through TikTok and you’ll find countless videos of people wondering aloud why they're doing the same thing: arriving at work, home, the gym, and then just sitting in their car. Some get there early on purpose. Others stay long after they’ve parked.
The behavior is so common it’s become its own kind of ritual, one people are increasingly recognizing and sharing online.
It turns out, science has a few ideas for why people do this. Whether in a car, on a sidewalk or just outside a door, that temporary pause can act as a buffer between one part of the day and the next. And while there isn't an extensive body of research to back it up, experts say this can be good for you — if you keep a few things in mind.
“A lot of times we’re just going 100 miles an hour,” said Jenny Taitz, a clinical psychologist who runs her own practice in Beverly Hills. “But if we can literally stop, like slow down, take a step back, observe, proceed mindfully, maybe like a few minutes to reset between activities, it kind of gives you an ability to be intentional.”
Brief moments alone can help reset emotions when moving from one thing to another — like leaving work stress behind before coming home.
“By taking a brief little break, you can at least take a moment to relax and prepare before moving forward,” said psychologist Anthony Vaccaro with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Vaccaro sits in his parked car for a few minutes after arriving home from work, turning up the speakers to listen to just one more song.
People seek out these breaks to process, recalibrate and shake off the gloom. And doing it in a car make sense because “it's an in-between space,” according to psychologist Thuy-vy Nguyen with Durham University in England and founder of Solitude Lab, which studies how being alone affects and rejuvenates us.
The car is an environment people can have total control over, from the temperature to the music.
Scientists say taking brief moments to decompress during the workday and after can improve mood, sharpen focus and boost energy levels.
When it comes to breaks in the car, though, whether that pause helps — or hurts — depends on how the time is spent.
“If you’re in your car scrolling and thinking about something that’s upsetting to you or ruminating, you know, in your head spiraling, the parked car is not a reset. It’s the stressor,” said Taitz.
Scrolling on your phone can pull your attention toward what’s happening on the screen, which can in turn make it harder to decompress.
If sitting in a parked car has become a habit, be mindful of how you're spending the time. Take a few moments to slow your breathing, listen to a familiar song or make a simple plan for how you want to show up next — whether that's feeling calmer, more patient or more focused. Even a short pause can shift your state.
“You could change your blood pressure in five minutes,” Taitz said, referring to simple techniques like slowing your breathing or relaxing your body.
There’s a difference between a helpful reset and avoidance. If the parked car breaks are making you late for important meetings or dinner with friends, or it feels difficult to get out of the car and confront the rest of the day, they may do more harm than good — or indicate that something more serious is going on.
“It’s really about why you’re doing it, and whether it’s interfering with other aspects of your life. That’s really what’s going to determine whether this is a good or bad behavior for you,” Vaccaro said.
Decompressing in a car can be about more than just shaking off stress. The sheer volume of information people take in every day can make a quiet pause even more essential and rewarding.
“We’re always juggling so much, not taking a lot of time to slow things down,” Taitz said. “Trying to find those moments can allow for things to be happier and more joyful and fulfilling.”
Think of it less like stalling, and more like refueling.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - A driver sits in his car in an empty parking lot in Calama, Chile, Friday, April 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
Iran, the United States and Israel agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, an 11th-hour deal that headed off U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash a bombing campaign that would destroy Iranian civilization. Hours after the announcement, Iran and Gulf Arab countries reported new attacks Wednesday, though it was not clear if the strikes would scuttle the deal.
All sides have presented vastly different versions of the terms. Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that.
Pakistan and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, which Israel has invaded to fight Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Wednesday that the deal doesn’t cover fighting against Hezbollah. Israeli strikes hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut Wednesday afternoon without warning, killing dozens and wounding hundreds of people.
The ceasefire may formalize a system of charging fees in the Strait of Hormuz that Iran instituted — and give it a new source of revenue. Iranian attacks and threats deterred many commercial ships from passing through the waterway, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas passes in peacetime.
Here is the latest:
The vice president’s office gave the update Wednesday as Vance was wrapping up a trip in Budapest.
His office did not offer any details about his planned trip to Islamabad to lead the U.S. negotiating team that included Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The president earlier this month said that he was considering withdrawing the U.S. from NATO as he grumbled about the lack of support from members of the alliance in his war of choice against Iran.
The criticism from Trump follows years of complaining that the alliance’s member countries aren’t paying enough for their own defense. Trump is set to host Secretary-General Mark Rutte for talks at the White House later this afternoon.
“It’s something the president has discussed, and I think it’s something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary General Rutte,” said Leavitt, when asked if Trump is still considering leaving the 32-member alliance.
The United States demanded Wednesday that Iran immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the Islamic Republic closed the waterway in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. Iran’s move cast doubt over whether an already precarious ceasefire to end more than a month of war would hold.
The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Israel also intensified its attacks in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 112 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of the deadliest days in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
The fresh violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice President JD Vance called a “fragile” deal.
Asked about Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended it as a “very strong threat that led to results.”
“I think it was a very, very strong threat from the president of the United States that led the Iranian regime to cave to their knees and ask for a ceasefire and agree to reopening the Strait of Hormuz,” Leavitt said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
She said any suggestion that Iran had the moral high ground was “insulting.”
Before a ceasefire was announced, Trump had threatened destruction in Iran if it did not reopen the strait, saying “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
Leavitt was asked about NATO allies offering to contribute to keeping the strait open, but said the alliance hasn’t done enough to support U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran.
“They were tested and they failed,” Levitt said, reading from a past Trump quote on NATO.
She added: “NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks.”
Those comments came as Trump was meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House later Wednesday.
Israel’s main airport will resume full operations as of midnight on Wednesday, after the Iran war stranded tens of thousands of people, including both Israelis abroad and tourists inside Israel.
Israel’s airspace has been open but severely limited during the war, limiting flights to once an hour and just 50 people per flight. Israel joins several other countries in the region in reopening its airspace as the ceasefire with Iran appeared to hold.
“His very tough rhetoric and his tough negotiating style is what has led to the result that you are all witnessing today,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, adding that Iran said they wanted a ceasefire because “they no longer could tolerate being bombed.”
Trump’s threats against Iran escalated over the past weeks, culminating in his Tuesday warning that a “whole civilization” could “die” in the lead up to an 8 p.m. deadline, which was later suspended after an agreement was reached.
“The world should take his word very seriously,” Leavitt said.
The White House confirmed that U.S. Vice President JD Vance will lead the U.S. negotiating team in talks with Iran aimed at finding a permanent end to war.
Vance will lead the delegation, which is also expected to include special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, for the talks that are expected to begin Friday in Islamabad, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Vice President Vance has played a very significant and a key role in this since the very beginning,” Leavitt told reporters during a White House press briefing. “Of course, he’s the president’s right hand man. He is the vice president of the United States. He’s been involved in all of these discussions.”
Bahrain said it is reopening its airspace, the state news agency reported Wednesday evening, citing the country’s civil aviation authority.
Bahrain International Airport has begun gradually resuming flights, the agency said.
“We are ready to return to fighting at any time, our finger is on the trigger,” Netanyahu said in his first address to the country since the start of the ceasefire.
“Iran is weaker than ever, and Israel is stronger than it has ever been,” adding that the “deep friendship with the US has changed the face of the Middle East.”
He said the two wars with Iran in the past year have kept Iran from developing a nuclear weapon program and destroyed both existing missiles as well as Iran’s ability to produce missiles.
Netanyahu said he insisted any ceasefire with Iran not include Hezbollah, and cited Israel’s massive strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday for being the biggest attacks against the militant group since the beeper operation in 2024, when Israel engineered exploding pagers that injured hundreds of Hezbollah leaders.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the Iranians originally put forward a 10-point plan that was fundamentally unserious, unacceptable and completely discarded,” and that it was “literally thrown in the garbage by Trump.”
But, she said, Iranian authorities on Tuesday presented a new plan that will become a workable basis for negotiations to bring the Iran war to an end.
Leavitt said the new version of the Iranian plan can now “align with our own, 15-point proposal” for peace.
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again Wednesday in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, casting doubt over whether an already precarious ceasefire to end more than a month of war will hold.
The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Israel also intensified its attacks in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 112 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of the deadliest days in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
The fresh violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice President JD Vance called a “fragile” deal.
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Abbas Araghchi said in message to the United States that Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon must end as part of ceasefire agreement
Araghchi called insists it is part of the ceasefire agreement with the United States, contrary to what Israel has said.
“The world sees the massacres in Lebanon,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”
Israel’s military announced an easing of the guidelines for civilians, including a resumption of school in most of the country starting Thursday.
It will be the first time in more than a month that schools resume in most of Israel. Large gatherings are still limited in northern Israel and areas under threat from Hezbollah.
The United Nations urges all sides to abide by the two-week ceasefire announced by the United States and Iran and halt military action in Lebanon, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Wednesday.
“Now is the time to pursue talks to resolve outstanding differences and work towards a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution to the conflict,” he said. “There is no military solution to the conflict.”
Haq said U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel continue to be impacted by the fighting.
He noted an exchange of rocket and artillery fire near Al Tiri on Tuesday that injured six peacekeepers, damaged U.N. vehicles and left five soldiers with “acoustic trauma” to their hearing.
Netanyahu said Israel has achieved “tremendous results.”
“Iran is weaker than ever. Israel is stronger than ever,” Netanyahu said said. He said Israel struck Iran’s missile program and nuclear targets and set back Iran by many years.
The address comes at a time of public criticism over the inconclusive results of the war.
“Many shipowners will remain extremely cautious, fearing a sudden resumption of hostilities,” Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, said in a Wednesday note.
He stressed that future escalation cannot be ruled out, “given the significant differences in the parties’ positions.” It could take months for the Strait of Hormuz to resume operations at full capacity, he said, which will continue to keep oil prices high.
Karin Ström, vice president of logistics and supply chain work at Proxima, reiterated that the “fragile political landscape has the potential to change within a matter of hours” and that many vessels may not choose to return immediately, as they seek “greater reassurances about the safety of their cargo and crews.”
Iranians who have been hoping for the Islamic Republic’s overthrow are expressing mixed feelings about the ceasefire, say several Tehran area residents contacted by The Associated Press, who spoke anonymously for their security.
Security forces shot thousands of anti-government protesters in January, prompting Trump’s initial promise to “help” Iranians.
A social media influencer in her forties said she felt “rage, despair” following the ceasefire. “This means that the blood of all those who were killed for freedom will be trampled on,” she said.
Iran’s spiraling economic problems have stoked growing calls for political change. “Everyone is still dissatisfied and prices are rising rapidly, and everyone knows this is because of the Islamic Republic,” said a resident of Karaj, just outside the capital.
—- Amir Hussein-Radjy
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Wednesday he received a “warm and most cordial” phone call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who praised Pakistan’s efforts aimed at ending the conflict in the region.
According to a statement from Sharif’s office, the two sides agreed to continue to work in pursuit of lasting peace in the region.
Sharif did not provide further details.
Turkey is among the regional countries that have played a role in securing a ceasefire between the United States and Iran and other parties.
The latest count for Wednesday includes widespread strikes across central Beirut that came without warning, also wounding at least 837, one of the deadliest days in this latest war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. It is not the final count.
More than 1,500 people have been killed in Lebanon during the past month, and over 1 million others have been displaced.
Hezbollah in a statement condemned Israel’s widespread attacks across the country, including neighborhoods in central Beirut without warning, and said it reserved its “natural and legal right to resist occupation and respond to its attacks.”
The militant group did not claim any attacks on Israel Wednesday after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire went into effect.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported on the potential ceasefire pullout by Tehran, citing what it described as an informed source.
The source said Iran is reviewing the possibility of exiting the ceasefire framework, noting that a halt to fighting on all fronts — including against Lebanon’s “Islamic resistance” — had been accepted by the United States as part of a two-week truce proposal. The source added that, alongside this review, Iran’s armed forces are identifying targets in response to what were described as Israeli attacks on Lebanon earlier Wednesday.
Since this morning, Israel has carried out what the source described as “clear violations of the ceasefire” with attacks on Lebanon.
The source also said that if the United States is unable to restrain its “rabid dog” in the region, Iran would “exceptionally help it do so — by force,” Tasnim reported.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on X that Lebanon’s leadership had failed to disarm Hezbollah or prevent attacks on Israel, accusing them of criticizing Israeli strikes instead of taking action.
The ministry said Lebanese authorities had not enforced commitments to demilitarize southern Lebanon and warned Israel would act to remove the threat if they do not.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun earlier called Israel’s attacks in central Beirut that killed dozens “barbaric.”
The country’s interior ministry said in a post on the social platform X that these strikes targeted oil facilities, three power and water desalination plants, resulting in “significant” material damage to generators, distilleries and fuel tanks.
Several fires also broke out at some locations, according to the ministry, which made no mention of whether there were casualties, but said that measures were taken to ensure the safety of workers and secure sites.
Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit condemned Israeli assaults on Lebanon, accusing Israel of “persistently seeking to sabotage” the ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran.
Aboul Gheit said in a statement posted on the social platform X that the “barbaric” Israeli military’s attacks on Lebanon violate international law, adding that Israel “continues to play an obstructive role to any understandings that may contribute to restoring stability” in the region.
He also called for the international community to pressure Israel to immediately halt its attacks on Lebanon.
The president told The New York Post in a brief interview that in-person talks about the Iran ceasefire would happen “very soon,” but he did not appear to offer or confirm details about when and where.
Pakistan is expected to host talks.
“We’ll have Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, JD —maybe JD, I don’t know. There’s a question of safety, security,” Trump said.
Vance’s office has not commented on whether he would participate in talks.
Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, called the simultaneous attacks on Beirut and other areas “barbaric,” accusing Israel of committing a new massacre in the country.
In a message Wednesday, Aoun said Israel holds full responsibility, saying the continued pursuit of aggressive policies “will only lead to further tension and instability at a time when everyone is most in need of de-escalation.”
Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes during rush hour Wednesday that hit multiple residential areas in Beirut and other parts of the country.
Entire buildings were destroyed in neighborhoods in Beirut, while in other parts of the city dust and debris covered entire residential areas. Hours after the strikes, rescue workers continued combing through debris looking for survivors while hospitals were overwhelmed with the wounded, appealing for blood donations.
Pro-government demonstrators chant slogans as they hold Iranian flags and a poster of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a gathering after announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the war with the United States and Israel, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution, Square, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Mourners carry the flag-draped bodies of three members of the Gershovich family, killed when an Iranian missile struck their building, during their funeral in Haifa, Israel, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Men carry the coffins with the bodies of Pierre Mouawad, an official with the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces party, and his wife during their funeral in Yahshush, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Iranian pro-government demonstrators burn the U.S. and Israeli flags during a gathering after announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the war with the United States and Israel, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution, Square, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
