Stress Relief Tips:
Tripod members share their favorite stress relief tips: have sex, pretend to be jello, build a fort, and more.

Interview with the Author:
Rebecca Donatelle shares some stress management tips. Hear it in Real Audio!

Herbs Aren't For Nerds: Herbs to Cure Stress
Herbal remedies for the stress monster.

Stress Busters:
Tips for reducing stress in the workplace.

The Stress Space:
A rare stress site: he's not trying to sell you anything.

Strescape: World Wide Stress Relief:
Holistic cures for stress, from massage to handwriting analysis.

Usenet - alt.backrubs

Backrubs FAQ

Therapeutic Massage:
Massage your way to health and fitness

Migraine Boy:
And you thought you were stressed.

Taking Mental Action:
Stress management calls for mental action in two areas. First, positive self-esteem, which can help you cope with stressful situations comes from learned habits. Successful stress management involves mentally developing and practicing self-esteem skills.

Second, because you can't always anticipate what the next distressor will be, you need to develop the mental skills necessary to manage your reactions to stresses after they have occurred. The ability to think about and react quickly to stress comes with time, practice, experience with a variety of stressful situations, and patience. Most of all, you must strive to become more aware of potential threats to your stress levels and act quickly to avoid or to deal with potential stressors. Rather than seeing stressors as adversaries, learn to view them as exercises in life.

Changing the Way You Think: Once you realize that some of your thoughts may be irrational or overreactive, making a conscious effort to reframe or change the way you've been thinking and focus on more positive ways of thinking is a key element of stress management. Here are some specific actions you can take to develop these mental skills:

• Worry constructively: Don't waste time and energy worrying about things you can't change or things that may never happen.
• Look at life as being fluid: If you accept that change is a natural part of living and growing, the jolt of changes may hold much less stress for you.
• Consider alternatives: Remember that there is seldom only one appropriate action. Anticipating options will help you plan for change and adjust more rapidly.
• Moderate expectations: Aim high, but be realistic about your circumstances and motivation.
• Weed out trivia: Don't sweat the small stuff, and remember that most of it is small stuff.
• Don't rush into action. Think before you act.

Exercise:
Exercise is a significant contributor to stress management. Exercise reduces stress by raising levels of endorphins -- mood-elevating, pain-killing hormones -- in the bloodstream. As a result, exercise often increases energy, reduces hostility, and improves mental alertness.

Most of us have experienced relief from distress at one time or another by engaging in some aggressive physical activity: chopping wood when you're angry is one example. Exercise performed as part of an immediate response to a distressor can help alleviate stress symptoms. However, a regular exercise program usually has more substantial stress management benefits than does exercise performed as an immediate reaction to a distressor. Engaging in 25 minutes of aerobic exercise three or four times a week is the most beneficial plan of action. But even simply walking up stairs, parking farther away from your destination or standing rather than sitting helps to conserve and replenish your adaptive energy stores. Plan walking breaks with friends. Stretch after prolonged periods of sitting at your desk studying. A short period of physical exercise may provide the stress break you really need.

Relaxation:
Like exercise, relaxation can help you to cope with stressful feelings, to preserve adaptation energy stores, and to dissipate the excess hormones associated with the way your body reacts to stress. Relaxation also helps you to refocus your energies and should be practiced daily until it becomes a habit. You may find that you even actually enjoy it. Some useful and easy relaxation techniques are demonstrated here. [link to graphic, facial stretches etc.)

Once you have learned some relaxation techniques, you can use them at any time. If you're facing a tough exam, for example, you may choose to relax before it or at intervals during it. You can also use relaxation techniques when you face stressful confrontations or assignments. When you begin to feel your body respond to distress, make time to relax, both to give yourself added strength and to help alleviate the negative physical effects of stress. As your body relaxes, your heart rate slows, your blood pressure and metabolic rate decrease, and many other body-calming effects occur, allowing you to channel energy appropriately.

Eating Right:
Have you ever sat down with a glass of warm milk or a cup of hot chocolate to try to relax? Have you ever been told, "Eat -- you'll feel better"? Is food really a de-stressor? Whether foods can calm us and nourish our psyches is a controversial question. Much of what has been published about hyperactivity and it relation to the consumption of candy and other sweets has been shown to be scientifically invalid. High-potency stress-tabs that are supposed to provide you with resistance against stress-related ailments are nothing more than gimmicks. But what is clear is that eating a balanced, healthful diet will help provide you with the stamina needed to get through problems and may stress-proof you in ways that are not fully understood. It is also known that undereating, overeating, and eating the wrong kinds of foods can create distress in your body.

Time Management:
Time. Everybody needs more of it, especially students trying to balance the demands of classes, social life, earning money for school, family obligations, and time needed for relaxation. The following tips regarding time management should become a part of your stress management program:

• Clean off your desk. According to Jeffrey Mayer, author of "Winning the Fight Between You and Your Desk," most of us spend many stressful minutes each day looking for things that are lost on our desks or in our homes. Go through the things on your desk, toss the unnecessary papers, and put papers for tasks that you must do in folders.
• Never handle papers more than once. When bills and other papers come in, take care of them immediately. Write out a check and hold it for mailing. Get rid of the envelopes. Read your mail and file it or toss it. IF you haven't looked at something in over a year, toss it.
• Prioritize your tasks. Make a daily "to do" list and try to stick to it. Categorize the things you must do today, the things you have to do but not immediately, and the things that it would be nice to do. Prioritize the Must Do Now and Have to Do Later items and put deadlines next to each. Only consider the Nice to Do items if you finish the others or if the Nice to Do list includes something fun for you. Give yourself a reward as you finish each task.
• Avoid interruptions. When you've got a project that requires your total concentration, schedule uninterrupted time. Unplug the phone or let your answering machine get it. Close your door and post a Do Not Disturb sign. Go to a quiet room in the library or student union where no one will find you. Guard your time and don't weaken.
• Reward yourself for being efficient. If you've planned to take a certain amount of time to finish a task and you finish early, take some time for yourself. Have a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Go for a walk. Start reading something you've wanted to read but haven't had time for. Differentiate between rest breaks and work breaks. Work breaks simply mean that you switch tasks for a while. Rest breaks get you away for yourself.
• Reduce your awareness of time. Try to ignore the clock rather than be a slave to it. Get rid of your watch, and try to listen more to your body when deciding whether you need to eat, sleep and so on. When you feel awake, do something productive. When you are too tired to work, take time out to sleep or to relax to try to energize yourself.
• Become aware of your own time patterns. For many of us, minutes and hours drift by without us even noticing them. Chart your daily schedule, hour by hour, for one week. Note the time that was wasted and the time spent in productive work or restorative pleasures. Assess how you could be more productive and make more time for yourself.