Release stress tips

Get moving

A sure way to reduce stress levels is to exercise. Aim for at least 30 minutes’ activity a day. Fit people are more resilient to stress, require greater stimulus to invoke the stress response, and return to normal more quickly following stressful incidents.

Act like a woman

Women have ways of coping with stress that reduce negative health consequences. They use “tend and befriend” strategies while men tend to withdraw, act hostile, or resort to alcohol or drugs. This may be why women outlive men by an average of seven and a half years.

Count your hours of sleep

On less than six hours’ sleep, the brain seems to release stress hormones. During stressful periods, seek extra sleep in the form of daytime naps.

Relax in the bath

Soaking in warm water sedates the nervous system; effects are greater if you add a relaxing essential oil

Learn to meditate

Meditation can return stress hormone levels to normal, relax muscles, and slow a racing heart. If you can’t meditate on a daily basis, try to approach everyday activities in a state of mindfulness.

Herbs for stamina

Stress engages the “fight or flight” mechanism or adrenaline response; over time this exhausts the adrenal glands. The herb borage (Borago officinalis), traditionally given to soldiers before battle to engender courage, is a known adrenal stimulant. On a stressful day take 20–30 drops of the tincture in water to restore emotional stamina.

Try flower essences

Australian Bush Flower Essence combination Calm & Clear suits those who rush around trying to do too much and consequently achieve little. It contains essences to aid concentration, calm a busy mind, and promote mental focus.

Begin chanting

Chanting a mantra seems to help reduce stress, research reveals. Seek out a meditation class based on an Eastern tradition to learn how, or try Sivananda or Kundalini yoga, which teach the techniques.

Learn to pray

Sit or kneel comfortably upright. Adopt your regular prayer position with your hands. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. On an out-breath repeat a prayer or holy word’s that have meaning for you. Repeat the invocation with every out-breath; let it melt away awareness of the body. As you utter the holy words, bring them into your heart, giving up any thoughts or emotions you are holding on to. Let the holy word ignite the spark of divine within.

Keep a diary

If you’ve always got too much to do and too little time to finish everything, plan out your week in a diary. Build in space for leisure, relationships and downtime.

Ditch the overtime

People who work long hours are at increased risk of suffering injuries and sickness that trigger time off work. If you feel trapped in an overwork culture, consider jobsharing, working part-time, or freelancing, if that is an option. If not, could you consider a careerswitch, sabbatical, or retraining?

Declare war on noise

Noise pollution—leaking iPods, tantrumming toddlers, wailing sirens—evokes an especially rapid stress response and women seem to have lowest tolerance levels. At home, turn off phones, TV, and radio. Whenever possible, retreat to locations where wind and birdsong are the loudest audible events.

Attend a concert

Listening to live music can lower stress levels, reducing blood pressure and feelings of depression and anxiety, shows one study.

We need bread and roses

Build treats into difficult days. The heart needs constant nourishment from art and beauty, just as the body requires its daily bread. Spend lunchtime in a gallery, go to the ballet, place a bunch of organically grown roses on your desk.

Turn off the TV

Working long hours and watching TV are closely linked in studies. See how much less stressed you feel if you have non-TV evenings. Does this give you time to talk to your partner, finish chores, take a bath, or simply go to bed earlier?

Keep a diary

Keep a stressors and triggers diary. Buy a notebook and rule each page into three columns. In the first column log each time you become angry. In the second column cite the stressor. In the third column write down what you could do, either by avoiding the stress factor or by reacting differently to it.

Tense and release

Lie on your back, arms and legs gently apart. Working from the toes up, tense every part of your body in turn, holding the tension before releasing on an out-breath. Include your feet, calves, thighs and buttocks, abdomen and chest, hands and arms, shoulders and neck, face and scalp. Feel how good relaxation is when compared with tension.

Productive jams

Make sure you always allow enough travel time. If you have to sit in traffic jams regularly, make them productive: learn a language from a CD, listen to audio books, lighten up with a radio comedy, or chill with a relaxation tape.

Bathe in white light

When everything is overwhelming, close your eyes and imagine a shower of bright white light beating down on the crown of your head. Feel it cleansing your body and washing away negative energy. Then imagine breathing in the pure white light, allowing it to seep into every organ and enter your bloodstream, bringing peace and purity. Finally, exhale the white light, letting it sit around your body like a force-field.