Stress is a physical condition that can have immediate and long-term effects on your health and wellbeing. Some transient stress is OK and even healthy for you. You are under stress when you first get behind the wheel or when you are at bat at the bottom of the ninth and the winning run is on third. Life without that kind of stress would be boring. But prolonged, unrelenting stress is harmful to you. We live in a world where it’s way too common to be stuck at a job or relationship you hate, or you are never getting enough sleep or you struggle to make enough money just to survive. But even the rich and well-rested aren’t immune from stress.
Common symptoms of stress include:

• Rapid heartbeat.
• Headaches.
• Stiff or tight muscles.
• High blood pressure
• Sleeping difficulties
• Back and neck pain.
• Difficulty breathing.
• Profuse sweating and sweaty palms.
• Stomach pains

Here are five tips to find relief from stress.

Turn off the TV: Sitting in front of the TV might seem like a great way to veg out but if you are watching the news, cop shows or even medical dramas, you are experiencing stress into your body. The shows wouldn’t be any fun if you didn’t have some emotional response when you watch them but that emotional response is actually stress. When you watch a stressful TV show, you r body produces, cortisol, the same hormone as you do when you go through a stressful experience yourself.

Take a walk: Exercise is one of the best ways to reduce stress hormones is by walking. A twenty minute walk a couple times a day gives you the chance to burn off stress. Exercising also strengthens your heart, lungs and immune system which strengthen your ability to handle stress in the future.

Meditate: Taking time to quiet your mind and empty of thought is one way to give your body a break from stress. It’s is easy to learn and costs nothing to do beyond a class or book that teaches you the techniques. And you can even learn how to do it on the web. The benefits of meditation are well documented and go beyond simple stress relief.

Help somebody: Like meditation, making someone else the focus of your attention takes your mind off your own stress. Volunteer somewhere. Teach inner city kids how to read. Walk dogs at your local animal shelter. Coach your son’s little league team. Find a cause and give your time to it. You can be sure some charity or organization in your city or town is looking for your help.

Have an active social life: Happy people spend more time with their friends than unhappy people. When you are happy, you won’t feel stressed. And when you get together with your friends, don’t spend the evening bitching about how much life sucks. Have fun.

Dance: Getting yourself lost in music and movement combines the benefits of walking and meditation into one activity. Dance your heart out when nobody is watching . You could also take a dance class which would combine the benefits of meditating, walking and having an active social life.

And a bonus sixth step.

Learn EFT: This simple method can significantly reduce the amount of stress in your life as well as how you react to stress-inducing situations. For complete tapping directions as well as more ways to use EFT, read my book, Transform Your Life With EFT from Amazon.

It is also available in other formats for other ereaders from Smashwords.