How to Reduce Stress: 13 Ways to Reduce Stress

Stress is the reaction your mind and body experience when faced with a challenge, responsibility, or expectation. Positive or negative situations, such as work pressure, social pressure, family life, and significant events such as the birth of a child, a promotion, loss of employment, marriage, or divorce, can activate stress.

Stress can lead to the fight-or-flight response, which keeps you alert and responsive in the face of danger. Stress forces your body to release two primary stress hormones: adrenaline (which increases your heart rate and blood pressure) and cortisol (which increases your blood sugar, alters your immune system, and spikes your energy).

Vulnerability to stress varies from person to person. Your genetics, coping style, personality, and support systems are all factors in how stressed you might become in a given situation. Over time, chronic stress can take a toll on your overall health, increasing your risk of anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heart disease, and immune system disorders.

During a stressful event, it may feel impossible to take the time to practice relaxation techniques. Paradoxically, making an effort to lower your stress hormones allows you to approach your circumstances more rationally, rather than from a place of fight-or-flight. Here are some suggestions for reducing stress:

1. 1. Get active. Any physical activity, including simply taking a walk, is an effective stress reliever. Aerobic exercise releases endorphins that increase feelings of well-being and help you maintain a positive attitude. Noncompetitive exercises such as jogging, hiking, or biking are best for stress relief. If you aren’t into traditional exercise, try any type of movement that feels good, from dancing around your bedroom to jumping on a trampoline.
2. 2. Listen to music. Listening to music is a simple way to practice stress reduction. It distracts your mind from the worries at hand, reducing muscle tension and lowering stress hormones.
3. 3. Make time for self-care. When you feel stressed, you might neglect your needs to make more time for work or care for others. Self-care involves meeting your own needs, whether that’s making time for relaxation or a favorite hobby.
4. 4. Minimize screen time. Excessive use of phones, computers, and tablets can cause increased stress and mental health problems. Too much screen time can also have a negative impact on sleep, so avoid looking at your phone or computer too close to bedtime if possible.
5. 5. Practice deep breathing. Deep breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which relaxes you. Keeping your focus on deep, slow breathing exercises lowers your heart rate and restores feelings of relaxation and peace.
6. 6. Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is the stress-reducing practice of nonjudgmental awareness. There are many mindfulness exercises you can try, from meditation to mindful physical activity such as yoga or tai chi. In meditation, you focus your mind on something simple like your breath, and practice gently letting go of each intrusive negative thought, then return your focus to your breath. Try professor Jon Kabat-Zinn’s simple meditation guide if you’re new to the practice.
7. 7. Prioritize sleep. When you’re stressed, you may find yourself sleeping less or tossing and turning during the night. A lack of quality sleep affects your mood, energy, and cognitive function, while a good night’s sleep allows your body and mind to rest, giving you a fresh start and energy to tackle all you need to do. Get neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker’s top tips for improving sleep quality.
8. 8. Reduce stressful triggers and set boundaries. Sometimes it is impossible to avoid stressful situations. Occasionally, you can use time-management skills, priority-setting, and delegating to reduce stressors. Learning how to say no is a priceless tool in managing stress. Taking on too much when you don’t have the time or energy leads to anger, resentment, and conflict. Knowing when you need to delegate or simply say no will help you do a better job with the work or activities you already have on your plate.
9. 9. Seek professional support. You don’t have to tackle stress on your own. A licensed therapist or counselor can help you identify and find solutions to your stress and teach you new coping skills.
10. 10. Set realistic goals. Being honest about what you can achieve is a healthy way to approach your day-to-day life. Accept that it’s okay not to be perfect and that many things are out of your control. Learn more about setting goals.
11. 11. Spend time in nature. Spending time in a park, forest, or any green space improves your overall well-being, reducing stress and increasing happiness. Try forest bathing, a Japanese practice of engaging in mindfulness in a natural setting.
12. 12. Spend time with friends, family members, and pets. Loving social connections can help relieve stress by providing support and distraction. Joy and laughter with loved ones can put things into perspective and help lift some weight off your shoulders. Spending time with a pet can help lower stress by releasing oxytocin, a mood-boosting hormone.
13. 13. Start journaling. Writing down your thoughts and feelings helps relieve pent-up stress and emotions and allows you to process them. It can also be a great way to reason things out and discover solutions to problems you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. Learn more about the benefits of journaling.

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