13 easy ways to reduce your stress each day

Stress seems like a horrible fact of modern life. However, a lot of it stems from things we do every day but might not really think much about. Here are 13 easy ways to reduce your stress each day.

Canadians are obsessed with multi-tasking, but when you split your attention nothing has your full focus. The result? You wind up all frazzled and dissatisfied.

• Try doing just one thing instead, especially during your down time, and see how it feels.

Boycott all news for one day a week. If something really important happens, you'll hear about it, but you won't inflict the daily stress that reading about the crimes and catastrophes happening in every corner of the world unleashes on your body.

Some forward-thinking companies have "quiet rooms" where employees can escape the whir of printers, telephones, meetings and conference calls, if only for a few minutes.

• Make sure there is somewhere quiet at home, too, a place that you can go to gather your thoughts when everything gets to be too much. It's surprising how effective just sitting silently for 30 seconds can be to help ease stress.

Classic meditation, which involves sitting silently for 10 to 20 minutes while repeating a word like "Om," is scientifically proven to reduce stress, but few Canadians actually practice it.

• A more practical alternative is mindful meditation, which you can do while walking down the road or cleaning the car. It essentially involves focusing fully on the present moment

A vacation is a time to get away from the routine, from the job and the stresses of life. Yet surprisingly, four in ten employed Canadians don't actually use all of their vacation days. Even more shocking is that 76 per cent of those Canadians who don't use all of their vacation time have up to 14 days of vacation left over at the end of the year.

• If you're entitled to vacation time through your company, use it to your advantage to recharge your physical and emotional self.

Before you embark on any stressful project, first mentally rehearse it. As top athletes are frequently told, "When you visualize a task, you're mentally programming yourself to act it through. Then when you begin, it's second nature."

Pet ownership helps people to stay healthy.

• Research in Australia and Germany shows that pet owners make fewer visits to their doctor each year, suffer fewer sleeping difficulties and are less likely to be taking medicine for a heart condition.

In a stressful situation, stop and take four or five deep breaths, inhaling so that your stomach expands.

• A team of European researchers has shown that deep breathing counteracts the physical effects of stress. It also helps oxygenate your brain for clearer thinking and alertness.

In one Hong Kong study, patients who listened to their choice of music during minor surgery while under local anaesthetic were found to have lower anxiety levels, lower heart rates and lower blood pressure than those who did not listen to music.

Stress makes your muscles tense, which reduces circulation and thus the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the heart. Massage loosens your muscles.

• For a simple self-massage, hold a tennis ball in the palm of your hand and roll it in a circular motion anywhere you feel tension — around your neck and shoulders; along your thighs and calves, even over the soles of your feet.

Stress is only your response to external events, not to the events themselves. You may not be able to control what is happening, but with practice you can control your reaction.

Excess fatigue makes us less able to cope with stressful situations.

• When you are well rested, you are more resilient and better able to handle daily life. Aim for eight hours a night.

Have you ever noticed how much better you feel after a good cry? That's because tears flush out harmful chemicals produced during stress and release pent-up negative energy.

Put these thirteen ways to reduce your stress into practice to help you relax and live a calmer life.