The person that created the saying – “There’s only a few things to be sure of in life; death and taxes” needs to add traffic to it.   With roads filling up more and more, traveling to and from work can be really stressful. Many of us need some sort of stress relief just to cope.

Being late, feeling claustrophobic, or simply frustrated being stuck in traffic means some of us aren’t the most polite people to be around.  Have you ever been guilty of cursing at another person, cutting someone off or making impolite gestures? From impolite behavior right up to physical aggression, road rage works at several different levels which result in stress, anxiety and often poses a significant threat to the health and safety of everyone on the road. 

If you’re driving to work in the morning and you experience road rage on your way it can have an impact on your work and cause unnecessary stress at work.  If you experience road rage on the way home you may end up taking it out on your family and create a stressful environment in your home.

It may surprise many people but if you use effective relaxation techniques you can overcome the road rage associated with stress and anxiety which will help you to become a more polite and defensive driver.

Here are a few relaxation techniques to help make that drive bearable:

—> Listen to a Stress Relief CD – Listening to a good stress relief CD everyday will help you to stay calm and focused when you would normally feel quite stressed.  It will help you to release your stress in a safe manner.

—> Listen to Music, audio books or talk back radio – This helps you to take your mind off the congestion and frustration of traffic and makes it a little more bearable

—> Relaxation Breathing Techniques – This will help you to become more focused and centered when you are experiencing stress or frustration in traffic.

—> Time Management – If you find one of the reasons you’re experiencing frustration in traffic is because you’re late then focus on methods to improve time management

It’s important to find stress management techniques that provide natural stress relief before, during and after your stressful drive in traffic. You can do this by investing about 20 minutes a day to release and de-stress. After all, with our ever increasing population, traffic is here to stay.  How you handle it is up to you. As I said in the beginning – “There’s only a few things to be sure of in life; death, taxes and traffic.”

Yes a pretty simple title and, yes it’s true … In a world of constant change and innovation we’re putting too much pressure on ourselves and our colleagues to perform. A lunch break may not seem too important, but this form of Natural Stress Relief can ensure you take a break to rejuvenate and come back focused on the task at hand. 

Why should I take a break?  Stress at work and work related stress are on the rise.  The numbers of people experiencing stress because of the length of hours they work is going up.  For instance take a look at this article on Japanese workers.  The article showed that 355 workers became so sick from overworking they dropped dead. This is an increase of 30% over the last year. Now I understand this is an extreme example yet it shows the importance of taking a break.

What do I mean when I say take a break?  Well for starters, it doesn’t mean sitting at your desk eating your lunch while working or even surfing the net.  You have to sit somewhere other than where you work.

Here are a few suggestions on what you could do in your lunch break:

1.      Go for a walk

2.      Talk with some friends

3.      Listen to a stress relief CD

4.      Complete a puzzle

5.      Read a Magazine or book

6.      Go to the Gym for a quick workout

7.      Listen to some music

These are just a few of many things you could do.  I enjoy playing a game of table tennis, or going out for lunch with friends.  For some this may seem insignificant but these stress management techniques are an excellent way of taking a break. By the way, a break does not include going to the pub

The key here is to allow your mind and body to relax and rejuvenate.  After your break you will come back focused and ready to tackle the task at hand.  This combined with other stress relaxation techniques will guarantee a more happy and healthy YOU!

Is your child stressed out? Some people think only adults experience stress, but it affects our children too. Helping your child to get through the tough times is easier when you have some targeted stress management tips to fall back on.

We often view our kids as happy-go-lucky beings without a care. But children can also experience stress with no idea of how to get immediate stress relief . Not only do they get anxious about things in their own young world– school, friends, peer pressure–but they also can be deeply affected by outside factors such as war, natural disasters and other unsettling world events.

In fact, the list of contributors to childhood stress can be quite long. Many stressors are the result of family problems, like divorce, a death or a parent's job loss but there are also less obvious triggers such as moving to a new city or the birth of a new sibling.

More on 5 Easy Stress Management Tips for Children

Easy Stress Management for Couples 

Imagine how your life might be if you knew how to finally stop the stress in relationships that saps your strength, drains your energy and ruins your productivity! 

Until you have released the need for judgment, you will always have it reflected back to you in your relationships. This is one of the main causes of stress. All too often we assume that we know what others mean by what they say or do without bothering to gain a clear understanding of what’s really going on. Inevitably this leads to a breakdown in communication and conflict.  

Stress management techniques for relationships 

The biggest secret to stress free relationships is to master the skill of being agreeable! If you think about it just for a moment this makes a lot of sense. How did you feel the last time someone disagreed with what you though, said or did?  

Did you thank them, give them a big hug and then ask for more disapproval? Probably not! The bottom line is that people don’t like being disagreed with. This is what leads to arguments and conflict.  

You have a choice every time you relate with another person. You can either be agreeable in nature or you can be disagreeable. The first choice will cause people to be more relaxed and enjoy your company. The second creates stress and frustration.  

It costs nothing to agree with someone else’s point of view even if you think it’s ridiculous. Who are we to judge how another person views their life and the world around them. Conflict always arises from disagreement’s which then leads to power struggles.  

This means that either one or all parties are trying to prove that they are right and someone else is wrong. This is a no win scenario because if one person is made wrong, then the outcome is tension and resentment.  

So what do you do if you disagree with what someone is saying? Ask if it’s ok to share your opinion. If the answer is no then to keep your relationships stress free keep your mouth shut. Changes topics if you need to or go do something fun together but let it go and move on.  

The next secret to effective stress management in relationships is to master the skill of understanding. 

The key here is to learn to be a good listener. Can you remember a time recently when you were talking with someone and they either interrupted you before you finished talking and started talking about themselves or completely ignored what you said and talked about something totally unrelated?  

I know that’s happened to me thousands of times. Well guess what, if you didn’t like it I can guarantee you that others won’t like it if you do it to them. 

By listening attentively to what others say and not interrupting you will prevent the possibility of causing stress and tension in your relationships because the people you are communicating with will feel seen and heard.  

This builds trust and respect which are two of the most important ingredients of a happy, healthy and productive relationship.  

Here are 4 stress management tips to master the skill of understanding: 

1.       Don’t interrupt unless you have something urgent to attend to. Then excuse yourself politely and make a time to meet with them that you can give your undivided attention. 

2.       Look them in the eye and keep your body language open 

3.       Only ask questions that are relevant to the topic. This lets the person who is talking know that you are really listening to them. 

4.       Never assume you know what someone means, always ask for clarity before sharing you’re opinion. Don’t be afraid to keep asking questions until you are 100% sure about what is being said.  

The best time to seek to be understood is only after you have taken the time to first understand them. Then they are more receptive to what you have to say.  

This skill is one of the most important in building good bonds between people that are stress free. There is nothing more powerful than letting others know that they matter.  

Happy, healthy and stress free relationships are no accident they are skillfully developed over time by people who care about people.  

These stress management tips will only work if you apply them. The more you apply them, the less stress you’ll have in relationships. I know this for a fact because they have been working for me for more than 15 years. 

To Your Great Life and Health,

If you’ve ever experienced an Anxiety Attack or Stress Attack you’ll understand how down and out they can make you feel.  Although Anxiety Attack symptoms vary from person to person the end result is still the same.  It’s important to find some method of relaxation techniques for anxiety  to overcome any long term effect your anxiety attacks may cause. 

But at times it can all seem too much. I mean you want to fix the issue, yet the goal posts can seem so far away from where you are right now.  This is where the baby steps principle comes in handy.  When you step back and you look at where you would like to be then you can break it down into smaller, easier to achieve tasks.  Rather than focussing on the huge task of making it to the end, you only need to focus on the next step, which makes it less daunting. 

For example – If you had a fear of flying and you wanted to feel calm instead of experiencing an anxiety attack every time you even visited an airport you could begin by practicing relaxation breathing techniques and visualization techniques for relaxation for 10 mins everyday.  During this time you would meditate on the thought of flying and use other stress management techniques to address the issue of flying.  Then after 1 week, visit an airport and watch the planes.  Note: you are not going there to fly; you are simply watching the majestic planes flying overhead.  Once you master the first small step then move onto the next step and so on.

Remember: To overcome the fear, break the fear down into smaller pieces, handle each smaller piece and complete the overall task by putting all the pieces back together again.

I am a solid supporter of many great relaxation techniques and stress relief techniques.  A good Relaxation Technique can go a long way to repair any damage caused by long term stress.  But you can imagine how amazed I was when I discovered of all things Chocolate actually helps in lowering stress in the body.

Further more, chocolate has received some bum reviews in the past about its effects on things like acne and tooth decay.  But scientists are now discovering although Chocolate does contain sugar it also contains properties that work against the sugars tendency to produce tooth decay.  It has also been proven that chocolate neither causes or worsens acne.

But wait there’s more! Why does chocolate taste so good?  There are a lot of chemical reactions going on in your brain every time you pop some choc in your gob.  Chocolate contains endorphins and polypeptides, which bind the neuro-receptors in the brain to give relief from pain. Chocolate also contains several vitamins – B1, B2, D, E and is high in magnesium and potassium. 

Just like anything you eat that tastes damn good there are a few conditions.  Although Chocolate is a form of Natural Stress Relief the benefits are more noticeable in dark chocolate, and you must enjoy chocolate in moderation.  In other words, don’t go to the shop and buy a 1kg block of chocolate, go home and devour it all expecting to feel complete stress relief.  If anything, it will have a negative impact on your waistline.

Ok, here comes the party pooper!  Why not try combining some chocolate with a well balanced exercise program, a few stress management techniques or even a few relaxation breathing techniques. 

I can imagine some of you visualizing your relaxation breathing technique combined with chocolate … breath in gently and hold 1,2,3 … breath out slowly 1,2,3 … take a piece of chocolate 1,2,3 and EAT!  Remember, Moderation.

So for all you fans out there who feel the need for a little Stress Relief, crack open a bar of chocolate (dark chocolate preferably) and celebrate with me in a toast to, Chocolate.

The society we live in today is all about the quick fix, and there are always many different quick fixes available for many different illnesses, especially Stress Relief.  Which is better; Natural Stress Relief or the Medical Treatment?  I would never say one is better than the other (even though I have a strong opinion on the subject) as that would suggest this post is favouring one side, and that’s not the point of it. 

You see, one of the best ways you can gain an understanding of the best Stress Relief Techniques is by discovery through knowledge.  Using this method you’ll normally learn the best method for you. 

Also, keep an open mind when seeking Stress Relaxation Techniques.  There may a technique or method you may be unfamiliar with and you may shut your mind off to it.  By keeping and open mind you will be presented with a greater number of choices and you will understand why one method is more effective than the other.  As a supporter of Stress Relief, Relaxation Techniques and Stress Management I believe finding the right method will be the difference to experiencing true Relaxation or loosing hope after trying something that wasn’t right for you in the first place.  This will give you a solid foundation to understanding the best Stress Management Techniques and will help you to answer if Natural Stress Relief is really a better option for you.

An article published by The Gold Coast Bulletin showed some really disturbing facts about Japanese workers.  These statistics showed that 355 workers in the year to the end of March became so sick from over working that they dropped dead.  When I read this I thought these guys seriously need to learn some good solid Relaxation Techniques or they’re going to keep dropping like flies. To add more salt to the wound the number of workers in their 30s dropping dead on the job has shot up by 30 percent.

If this isn’t a real indication that stress at work is on the increase.  So why are we all experiencing work stress nowadays where very few instances of stress were recorded before?  Well, think of all the factors that contribute to work stress; longer hours working, competition to keep a good job, longer drives on more congested roads, and the pressure this places on home life,  and this is compounding.  Imagine all the people you work with all experiencing the same thing as you day in, day out.  This all adds up to a more stressful workplace.

So what can one do to experience some form of Stress Relief?  One of the highest recommended Stress Relief Techniques is to avoid over working.  How many hours do you work in a week?  Are you paid for those hours and are you neglecting anyone around you by working this many hours.  So, take a break if you’re working too many hours.  Secondly find a structured Stress Management program that contains heaps of really useful Stress Management Tips and activities.  This will ensure what ever damage was done before will be fixed and will help you and others to work in a happier workplace.  If you to take one thing away from this it should be … we work to live, we don’t live to work.  Remember that when you’re feeling so stressed at work that you start to feel the symptoms of an anxiety attack kicking in, and do something about it before you work so hard that you drop dead too!

The first question so many people have when they read this title is … What’s a Jelly Head, and how can it possibly be related to Stress Management? Well the Jelly Head is lingo that has been around for as long as I have been alive and it usually is the result of years of built up pressure and stress. At some point if a person takes on too much pressure without ever using any Stress Management Activities they will eventually go … SNAP!

I’m, not talking death or serious physical injury, it’s that point when they just can’t handle stressful situations anymore. It takes a different period of time for different people to experience Jelly Head, but eventually when it does happen they find it hard to handle situations that would normally be a breeze.

The down side is this type of person is normally swept under the rug and tried to be forgotten about. So what can you do to stop yourself or someone you know from becoming a Jelly Head? The first step would be to explore different types of Stress Management Techniques.

You can do this by reading Stress Management Articles or by finding a Stress Management Program. There are many Stress Management Programs available ranging from face-to-face, by DVDs, audios, or following a step by step self paced program. Even it means leaving early once a week and going for a long walk in the forest.

What ever method you choose the most important thing if you are feeling stresses is to do something about it before it’s too late and you become a Jelly Head.

Now that’s one bold statement. Stress Management and Funky are rarely shared in the same sentence together. But why not? Stress is really uncool. It’s like a relative that keeps visiting when your busy … You want them to leave, but they just keep hangin around. Enter Exhibit A – Stress Management Techniques.

These little creatures will successfully ward off the Stress Intruder, and if used effectively, will keep it away forever.

Now here’s an added (and unexpected) bonus. By using Stress Management Techniques you’ll develop new Stress Management Skills you can share with others. You’ll be fully blinged with your new skills, walkin around, sharing your Stress Management Tips with all your friends.

You’ll gain new respect, writing Stress Management Articles, Stress Management Books. The world will be your oyster. It is yours for the taking.

All you need to do is Chill, get control of that Stress, and you will be a Relaxation Superstar!