Stress: Ways to Manage and Reduce It

12/02/2026 Email Marketing

When we’re stressed, it’s easy to give in to our racing thoughts and start trying to fix everything. Repeat this deep breathing technique until you find yourself feeling grounded again. If you’re experiencing a moment of stress or overwhelm right now, you might not know where to start. Alfreda McCray is an educator, coach, and researcher with over 20 years of experience in project management, organizational change, IT services delivery, and management consulting. Know how much you can take on and respect your body’s ability to take on the stress of daily tasks, and don’t overdo it.

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Once you’ve identified your stress triggers, think about strategies for dealing with them. But daily hassles and demands, such as waiting in a long line or being late to a meeting, also contribute to your stress level. Recently many people have had to deal with issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic as well.

Doctors don’t yet know exactly why, but people who exercise more tend to get better deep “slow wave” sleep that helps renew the brain and body. Physical activity can help improve your sleep, and better sleep means better stress management. No matter which approaches you use, Radin says stress management gets easier over time as you work on it. “Acknowledging your thoughts and feelings and accepting rather than pushing away is one big facet of stress management,” Radin says. The first step to learning how to manage that public speaking event, test, or any other stressor in your life better is awareness about what’s happening in your body. Our body’s natural stress response is meant to protect us in a world where you may be faced with a predator or other life-and-death threat.

• That’s because stress can make you feel paralyzed, preventing you from taking the steps you need to manage your stress.
• Laughter releases endorphins — or “happy hormones” — that improve mood and decrease levels of cortisol and adrenaline, another stress hormone.
• If you support students to manage their stress, these strategies may be a good place to start.

Engage in Regular Physical Activity

A 2021 review of literature points out that several studies have linked excessive smartphone use with increased stress levels. The CDC recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, as well as two days of muscle-strengthening activity. Then, when you face stressful situations, you can tap into those feelings of peace and satisfaction to help you self-regulate and keep your emotions under your control. You then consider the consequences of possible responses, and consciously choose those that can lead to a more positive outcome. Some of the healthy behaviors connected with self-regulation include being physically active, having a good diet, and not smoking. When confronted with distressing or challenging situations, people with a strong ability to self-regulate can maintain a measured outlook and respond with thoughtfulness and maturity.

Taking small steps in your daily life to manage stress can have a big impact. Learning to cope in a healthy way can help reduce your stress. Feeling stress can be a normal coping response and can forge a healthy sense of our ability to solve problems. Start small, and gradually build these habits into your routine for a more balanced, stress-free life.

Consider formal social support groups

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others develop emotional intelligence, this collection contains 17 validated EI tools for practitioners. The Body Keeps the Score is a gem that transforms our understanding of trauma and offers insights into the body’s role in emotional regulation and healing. Women tend to be more likely to express emotions, while men may use more suppression techniques to control emotional expression, particularly negative emotions like fear or sadness (Collignon et al., 2010). We know that emotion regulation is important for mental health (Inwood & Ferrari, 2018). Developmental factors such as brain development and childhood experiences have been shown to strongly shape our emotional regulation abilities (Thompson, 1991).

So listen closely Spela utan spelpaus säkert online to what you’re thinking or saying when you’re stressed out. You need to plan on some real downtime to give your mind time off from stress. Modern life is so busy, and sometimes we just need to slow down and chill out.