Here are some ways to reduce stress:

1) Meditation

Many doctors recommend meditation as a way to reduce stress. After meditation, people feel more refreshed and alert. Many report that problems no longer loom so large. The Transcendental Meditation technique, the most effective meditation known for reducing anxiety, provides very deep rest in less than 20 minutes. This deep rest dissolves deep-rooted stress and fatigue. Numerous research studies demonstrate the stress-reducing benefits of the TM technique, for example, breast cancer patients experienced better mental and emotional health and meditating college students felt less stressed.

2) Exercise

Everyone knows that they need to exercise more, but do they know why? You may have heard of endorphins being secreted during exercise giving you that “runner’s high.” Scientists have discovered that the process is more complicated than that. Regular exercise helps to decrease the production of stress hormones, such as cortisol, and neurotransmitters that are secreted during the stress response. So exercise helps to reduce the damage that long term stress can have on the body.

Research has also discovered that exercise decreases depression, lowers anxiety and helps people sleep. When exercising, all of the body’s systems – cardiovascular, muscular, nervous system, etc. – have to communicate with each other more closely than usual. Thus, a workout makes the body more efficient and enhances the body’s ability to respond to stress.