Stress can be caused by a feeling of being overwhelmed, nervousness, frustration and/or anger. When you feel stress, you may tend to focus on it and dwell upon it. This causes your stress levels to skyrocket. Follow the advice here to help you relieve stress.

Use visualization to overcome feelings of stress and being overwhelmed. You can envision yourself in a body of water or bath and imagine the water whisking your stress away. Another thing to try is to close your eyes, control your breathing and begin to imagine a scene that is calming to you, like a meadow or the beach.

Everyone needs positive thoughts in their life. Create your own by coming up with a positive, short phrase called an affirmation that you can use daily. Say your affirmation over and over when you’re feeling stress or anxiety ,and it can help to quiet the self-critical voices in your head. Remind yourself whatever may come, you can handle it. Repeat to yourself that you are in control of your reactions. Choose an affirmation that responds to the voices that are bothering you.

The company of animals can be very comforting. Even just spending a few minutes a day petting Fido or Kitty can lower your stress level.

Many people find relief in alcohol and drugs when they can’t handle stress. These people use these as ways of coping and getting over their stresses temporarily. However, chemical substances, which do encompass alcohol, are rarely effective in reducing stress. In fact, the momentary stress relief they offer will be heavily outweighed by the long-term, stress-inducing complications they add to your life.

Let people know that your stressful reactions have nothing to do with them. Often family members, especially children, can feel like it is something they have done that has upset you. You should own your stress. It’s your condition and you need to make sure that the people in your life who you love and care about don’t have to suffer along with you unnecessarily.

Take inventory of your current coping skills and see if you can deal with stress more effectively. Keep a record for a few weeks that logs what causes you stress, and your reactions. Examining your response pattern over time makes it easy to determine if you are reacting to stress in a good way. If you don’t think you handled things well, think of new and better ways to approach the same situation.

Sometimes, all it takes to beat stress is a heart-to-heart talk with someone you can trust. Releasing your anxieties and revealing emotions in confidence can help you feel much better, almost instantaneously. Find a loved one that you can get in touch with to talk.

If you are dating someone, it is good to go out on a candlelit dinner with that person. This will put you in a situation you enjoy, which will relax you and alleviate your stress.

An easy way to let your stress go is to take a few minutes to daydream. Use these moments to imagine yourself in another place and time. Taking such a little mental vacation can really improve your overall ability to cope with stress.

You can eliminate some stress by making lifestyle changes. If you improve your diet and exercise routine, for example, your body will be better equipped to combat stress. In addition to that, taking care of your health will help you feel better about yourself, allowing you to relax during otherwise stressful situations.

Music is a wonderful stress reduction tool. Music therapy has proven benefits such as raising your spirits and reducing the stress that you feel. It is important to pick the right music for you specifically. What works for someone else may not prove an effective tool for reducing your stress. Music causes people to breath deeply which allows our brains to produce serotonin.

Enlist the help of a tutor if you are struggling in school. A tutor will be there to help you understand the material better so you don’t feel stressed when you have to take an exam. Preparedness is extremely important when it comes to reducing anxiety.

An excellent method of calming down when you have a stressful day is to do a special act for another person. If you have a significant other buy them flowers, or make a special dessert for your son or daughter. Focusing on someone else is a great way to distract from stressful situations, and seeing the people you love smile is a wonderful way to improve your mood on a bad day.

Music is good to help you relax. When you are stressed, listen to your favorite song, and then sit back, relax and get in tune with the music. This gives your mind the chance to unwind from all of the stressful things you’ve been thinking about.

Learning to manage your time well can greatly reduce your stress levels. Always being rushed and cramped for time is very stressful. You can eliminate this problem by learning to better manage your time. If you plan ahead, you can keep from getting stressed out.

Sip on orange juice or snack on citrus fruits whenever you’re feeling stressed out. Also, Vitamin C combats stress-induced sicknesses, like a cold or cough.

Love a pet. Simply sitting down and scratching your animal friend behind the ears can ease the tension of a long, stressful day. Try to mirror the carefree and lighthearted lifestyle that animals live by. Having a pet or two can soothe and relax you so you are better able to cope with stressors.

Stress causes more stress and in the end this makes a cycle that is hard to be broken. The good thing is that once you start implementing ways to reduce stress, you will find it becomes even easier to keep reducing stress.