Stress Management

• Caregiving: Take Care of Yourself Too

  Learn tips for managing the stress of caregiving and how getting support can help.

• Stress Management: Progressive Muscle Relaxation

  Learn how to reduce stress by tensing and relaxing your muscles.

• COVID-19: Managing Anxiety

  It's normal to feel worried during times of stress. Many people struggle with anxiety in the best of times. Here are some steps you can take to manage anxiety and lower your stress. Get the facts. Go to trusted sources. Check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website at cdc.gov...

• Staying Active at Home During the Pandemic

  Learn ways to exercise at home during the pandemic.

• Managing Relationship Stress for Couples

  This article helps you learn how to handle stress in your relationship.

• Managing relationship stress for families

  Learn some ways to manage family stress.

• Managing Parenting Stress During the Pandemic

  This article helps parents learn how to lower stress during the pandemic.

• Reducing Financial Stress With Better Money Management

  Learn how to manage your money to reduce your financial stress.

• Stress Relief and Relaxation

  Guides you through ways to relieve stress. Covers tips to relax your muscle groups such as hands, arms, head, neck, and upper and lower body. Looks at roll breathing to relieve stress. Includes slideshow of roll breathing.

• Calming Your Mind With Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

  Learn how to use mindfulness to cope with illness, pain, or stress.

• Taking Steps Toward a Less Stressed Life

  Learn tips for coping better with stress and finding balance in your life.

• Change Your Outlook to Lower Your Stress

  Learn how changing the way you think about stress can influence how you feel.

• Rethink How You Respond to Stress

  This article helps you prepare for responding to stress before stress hits.

• Stress Management: Managing Your Time

  Discusses using time management to help reduce stress. Covers prioritizing tasks, controlling procrastination, and managing commitments. Offers interactive tool to help test what you've learned. Provides links to more info on stress management.

• Quick Tips: Reducing Holiday Stress

  The holidays can be a joyful time, offering a chance to reconnect with friends and family. But they can also be stressful. You may feel pressure to buy and give gifts. Maybe you are worried about money. The holidays can also be hectic. There never seems to be enough time to get things done. Think about the kinds of...

• Quick Tips: Reducing the Stress of Caregiving

  Caring for a family member or friend who has a disability or a chronic illness can be rewarding. But it's also demanding. One of the keys to being a successful caregiver is to manage stress by seeking support and taking care of yourself. Managing stress is especially important for a caregiver, because stress can weaken...

• Ways To Reduce Stress

  In addition to meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, and breathing exercises, you might try these other ways to relieve stress. Mindfulness-based stress reduction can calm your mind and body to help you cope with illness, pain, and stress....

• COVID-19: Coping With Cabin Fever

  This is a very stressful time. You may be worried about getting COVID-19 or afraid that someone you care about will get it. If you've lost your job, you may be anxious about your finances. On top of that, you're probably stuck at home. Cabin fever can set in. You may feel trapped, bored, and irritable. Cabin fever...

• Tips to Help You Cope When Things Feel Out of Control

  Learn about strategies for how to cope during stressful times.

• PTSD: Having a Plan

  Learn how to plan ahead for coping with stress and symptoms at home.

• What Is Mindfulness?

  Learn what mindfulness is and how it can help reduce stress.

• Mindfulness: Breathing Practice

  Practice mindfulness to help reduce stress.

• Stress and Coping: Mindfulness Can Help

  Learn how two people practice mindfulness to help them cope with stress or a health problem.

• Cancer: Dealing With Stress

  Learn ways to cope with the stress of having cancer.

• Stress Management: Relaxing Your Muscles

  Follow along to learn progressive muscle relaxation to reduce stress.

• Stress Management: Using Yoga to Relax

  Learn two simple yoga poses that can help reduce stress.

• Relaxation Exercise: Guided Imagery

  Learn how to take your mind to a calming beach where stress melts away.

• Cancer Support: Managing Stress

  "I always considered myself quite good at handling stress, but cancer was a whole different story. It's the kind of stress nothing can prepare you for. My doctor suggested I see a counselor to learn some stress management skills. I wasn't sure at first, but I'm glad I stuck with it because these skills have really...

• Stress Management: Roll Breathing

  Learn to relax by using a deep-breathing exercise called roll breathing.

• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

  MBSR is a program that helps you learn to calm your mind and body to help you cope with illness, pain, and stress. MBSR teaches "mindfulness," which is a focus only on things happening in the present moment. Mindfulness is not a time to "zone out"...

• Cathy's Story: Dealing With Stress

  It was a week to forget. Cathy was working hard and training a new employee. She was enduring long meetings. She and her husband had just moved into a new house. And they were set for a trip to Italy in 2 weeks. "I had too much to do and too little time," Cathy says. "That means stress. And when I start stressing, my...

• Stress Management

  What happens when you are stressed? Stress is what you feel when you have to handle more than you are used to. When you are stressed, your body responds as though you are in danger. It makes hormones that speed up your heart, make you breathe faster, and give you a burst of energy. This is called the fight-or-flight...

• Progressive Muscle Relaxation

  The body responds to stress with muscle tension, which can cause pain or discomfort. In turn, tense muscles relay to the body that it's stressed, which keeps the stress–muscle-tension cycle going. Progressive muscle relaxation helps break this cycle by reducing muscle tension and general mental anxiety. Progressive...

• Examining Your Beliefs to Manage Stress

  When your beliefs conflict with the way you are living your life, stress may result. It may be helpful to examine your belief systems so you can better manage your stress. World view Your world view is your basic beliefs about human nature, how the world works, and what life is about. Your views about religion make...

• Common Coping Responses for Stress

  We all find ways of coping with stress. Some coping strategies are not as helpful as others. For example, negative coping responses often make your stress worse, because they wear you down over time or are temporary distractions. On the other hand, positive coping responses keep you in the present moment and give you...

• Stress Management: Imagery Exercises

  The methods described here help you relax, relieve stress, and feel better. Imagery for releasing muscle tension Close your eyes and imagine one of the following: Wax softening and melting. A tight, twisted rope slowly unwinding. Tension swirling out of your body and down the drain. You holding a remote control...

• Managing Job Stress

  Covers major sources of job stress that can lead to burnout. Includes stressors such as lack of control or job insecurity. Looks at reducing stress by talking with your supervisor, managing time, unplugging from the office, and knowing when to quit.

• Headaches: Managing a Headache

  Guides you through ways to reduce the severity of a headache and prevent it from coming back. Looks at combining stress management with medicines. Includes things you can do every day to help prevent headaches.

• Interactive Tool: How Well Do You Bounce Back?

  Interactive tool measures your ability to bounce back from stressful situations. Discusses what your score means from being very resilient to not very resilient. Includes next steps and a link to more information on stress management.

• Manage Stress for Your Heart

  Why is it important to manage stress? Stress is the way we all react to change. It includes our mental, emotional, and physical responses to the pressures of everyday life. Because change is a natural and normal part of life, everyone has some stress. But stress can be bad for your heart. If you have heart...

• Jerry's Story: Reducing Stress to Stop Tension Headaches

  Jerry, 32, works in customer service at a call center. So he's hunched over a computer for most of his work day. "I love my job, but it can be stressful. I hold my stress in my shoulders and neck. My shoulders are always up around my ears. A lot of times, I leave at the end of the day with a big headache." Jerry...

• Stress Management: Breathing Exercises

  The way you breathe affects your whole body. Full, deep breathing is a good way to reduce tension, feel relaxed, and reduce stress. Roll breathing (also called abdominal breathing) The object of roll breathing is to develop full use of your lungs and get in touch with the rhythm of your breathing. It can be...

• Problem Solving to Manage Stress

  Problem solving helps you overcome complex stressful events. Identify all aspects of a stressful event, including behavior, thoughts, and feelings. For example, if you have just been laid off from your job, you need to identify: Behaviors, such as the need to look for another job, earn money for your...

• Stress Management: Relaxing Your Mind and Body

  Looks at how relaxing your mind and body can relieve stress, anxiety, or depression. Offers how-to tips, including practicing mindful meditation, using guided imagery, yoga, or massage. Includes interactive tool to test what you've learned.

• Stress Management: Doing Progressive Muscle Relaxation

  Explains what progressive muscle relaxation is and how it can help reduce stress and anxiety. Walks you through doing relaxation exercises on various muscle groups. Links to info on other relaxation methods, including meditation, guided imagery, and yoga.

• Stress Management: Doing Meditation

  Discusses the use of mindful meditation to manage stress. Explains what mindful meditation is and reasons people meditate. Offers tips for successful meditation. Includes step-by-step instructions for meditation.

• Stress Management: Breathing Exercises for Relaxation

  Looks at how breathing exercises can help with stress relief. Includes step-by-step instructions for exercises like belly breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, and morning breathing. Offers links to more info on managing stress with guided imagery and meditation.

• Stress Management: Doing Guided Imagery to Relax

  Looks at how guided imagery can help to manage stress. Explains what guided imagery is and its uses in healing, creativity, and reducing stress. Lists step-by-step instructions for guided imagery.

• Stress Management: Practicing Yoga to Relax

  Yoga is a mind and body practice that involves movement, breathing exercises, and a focus on thoughts and feelings as they happen (mindfulness). It began in ancient India as a spiritual practice, based on the idea that the mind and body are one. But today, more people practice yoga for overall health, including...

• Interactive Tool: What Is Your Stress Level?

  Interactive tool gauges your stress level based on the number of life changes you have had recently. Discusses what your score means from low to high stress. Includes next steps and links to more information on managing stress.