Stress Management

How do I reduce stress?

A lot of people are asking that question, especially since the global financial crisis. On this page I pull together my key posts on stress reduction, stress management and coping with stress and anxiety.

(If you don’t want to read through all the posts, and you’d rather be led through practical methods for dealing with stress in a simple, structured format, sign up for my free course, Simple Stress Management Techniques. It includes several audio tracks that I don’t make available on the blog.)

Definition of stress

Let’s start with a definition: What is stress anyway? And how do you deal with it?

Physical symptoms of stress

Your mind extends throughout your body. Here’s what stress does to your brain and what stress does to your body and brain.

Work stress (also called occupational stress) is a major component of many people’s 21st-century lives. You should be aware of how work stress affects your heart, and if you’re stressed at work or at home, you should assess your heart risk.

There’s good news for handling stress and stress symptoms, though. The relaxation response reduces the need for blood pressure drugs, and hypnotherapy works for irritable bowel syndrome. (Stress affects digestion, as I discuss in the pluses and minuses of having two brains.)

Stress relief is also one of the 7 benefits of exercise I can believe in. But you need to know the ins and outs of choosing the right exercise program for stress.

Stress treatment

A common treatment for stress (or rather, the symptoms of stress) is to prescribe drugs, as I discuss in Students head straight for the sleeping pills. But there are effective non-drug alternatives to (most of) the top 20 prescription drugs, in particular the Blue Prescription: Relax.

Stress Techniques

(These are featured in more detail in my free course, Simple Stress Management Techniques.)

You can train your mind and change your brain using techniques like anchoring, the Relaxation Response Practice, reframing and meditation.

Lately I’ve been coping with stress myself, so I’ve been following my own advice and eating my own dog food. I’ve discovered that what you see really is what you get, and how not to get swept away by emotions.

Further Stress Resources

For other good free stress reduction resources online, check out Live Your Life Well and CALM – improving your life by using your mind.

And of course, you can sign up for my Simple Stress Management Techniques online course.

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