How do you react to stress?Do you tend to become angry or agitated? You may respond best to relaxation techniques that quiet you down, such as meditation, deep breathing or imaginary.

Do you tend to become depressed, withdrawn or spaced out? You may respond best to relaxation techniques that are stimulating and that energise your nervous system, such as rhythmic exercise. Do you tend to freeze speeding up internally, while slowing down externally? Your challenge is toidentify relaxation techniques that provide both safety and stimulation to help you rebootyour body system. Take up activities, which make you busy like a morning walk, yoga, meditation.

Arm yourself with healthy snacks:

According to an American Psychological Association (APA) survey, more women than men (one in three)turn to comfort food such as ice-cream and cookies to ease stress. Its common for women to denythemselves favourite foods because theyre trying to lose weight. But under stress, the urge for thembecomes even stronger.In fact, researchers at Montcalm State University in New Jersey recentlyconfirmed that dieters are more likely than non-dieters to overeat when under pressure, binge on thevery same high-fat foods they normally try to avoid. The key is to not deprive yourself. Keep three orfour healthy snacks on hand that you know youll probably wantpeanuts, if you like salty; string cheese,

Speak S-L- O-W- L-Y, not that you annoy everyone by completely altering the rate at which youspeak. But if you learn to pace yourself and think what you say, youll trick your mind into a calmermood.

Stop watching the clock:

Were constantly reminded of how we are used to see the clock when there is no time left. This fuels frustration and we put ourselves under pressure to make deadlines for our work. Try to finishyour work the day you get it and limit the number of clocks in your home.

Prank It out:

Laughter is an instant cure for stress. We all know this, but we often fail to take advantage of it. Theres no limit to how much fun you can have, and people dont have enough! No ones watching and waiting to criticise you for laughing too much. So buy some water balloons. Play a prank on the kids.Inject some innocent immaturity into your family life. Its healthy.

Engage your mind:

Most people stop learning and reading after college. Mental health and longevity studies consistentlyshow that humans who engage their minds with activities like puzzles, reading, art, travel, new hobbies,and languages are happier, healthier, and live longer and are in fact away from stress and depression

.This is your one, precious life make the most of it! It doesnt matter if youre a lousy painter or canbarely catch the ball. If you like it, do it.

Be present:

Slow Down.Take 5 minutes and focus on only one behavior with awareness . Notice how the air feelson your face when youre walking and how your feet feel hitting the ground. Enjoy the texture and tasteof each bite of food. When you spend time in the moment and focus on your senses, you feel less tense.

Listen to Your Favorite Music:

This is something that works its magic almost every time it is put to use. All thats required is assemblingyour favourite music so that you can play it any time you feel stressed. Choose songs that help you torelax rather than those that get you pumped up. Many people find that separating their music basedon what they need it for works best. You can have a pre-workout list of songs at the ready -a stress buster list for at work when you still need to be alert, and relaxing list of songs for when you gethome and can chill out.

Stress is not something you banish from your life once, and youve slayed the dragon for good. It canrear its ugly head at any time. Do your best to make much of thislist a part of your life and youll find that you stress less and less.

More:

Seven simple stress relievers for good health - The Statesman