8 ways to relieve stress, plus a quick stress self-check
CareOps editorial team · · 6 min read
Mental wellness information and service guidance published by CareOps.
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Read our full editorial standards →The to-do list keeps growing, your head feels foggy and small comments set you off. Even on days off, your mind does not switch off. You cannot remove stress from life, but you can learn to notice the signals your body sends and practise ways to bring the load down.
At a glance
- When stress hits, calming the body first (slow breathing, a short walk) is often an easier first step than sorting out your thoughts.
- Built-up stress leans on sleep, meals, movement and people. Rather than changing everything at once, pick one and keep it going.
- A stress self-check on the past month puts a number on how you are doing. If stress has shaken your sleep and work for weeks, reach out for support.
What happens in your body and mind under stress
Stress is the body getting ready when something demands a response. Your heart speeds up, your shoulders and jaw tighten and your attention narrows. In short bursts it helps you get things done, but when it runs on without a break, sleep gets lighter, irritability rises and aches start showing up around the body.
The US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) separates the two like this: stress is a response to something outside you, such as a deadline or a conflict, and it usually eases once that situation passes, while anxiety is worry that keeps going even without a clear threat. The two often overlap, so if worry lingers after the situation is over, read ways to cope with anxiety as well.
Stress relief you can try right now
1. Breathe slowly
Let your shoulders drop and breathe at a comfortable depth. If it feels fine, make each out-breath a little longer. There is no count to hit, and if you feel dizzy or tight, stop and breathe normally.
2. Move for a moment
Get up and fetch a glass of water, or walk outside for a few minutes. Slowly rolling stiff shoulders and neck helps too. Movement gives the tension that stress builds up somewhere to go.
3. Get it out of your head and onto paper
Write down everything that is on your mind. Once it is on paper, the feeling that all of it has to happen right now tends to shrink, and you can see what belongs to today and what can wait. If you want to write down feelings too, how to keep an emotion diary can help.
4. Choose just one next step
The more you have to do, the harder it is to know where to start. Pick the smallest action you can finish in ten minutes and begin there. Once you have started, the next step usually feels much lighter.
Everyday habits that ease built-up stress
| Support | What to try |
|---|---|
| Sleep | Keep bed and wake times similar, and check work messages less in the hour before bed |
| Meals | Try not to skip meals, and notice how much caffeine you have and when |
| Movement | Put exercise that makes you slightly out of breath, like brisk walking, into your week |
| People | Reach out first to someone who leaves you feeling lighter after you talk |
The NIMH fact sheet also suggests keeping a journal, exercising and eating regularly, looking after sleep, cutting back on caffeine and contacting people who help. It adds that what works differs from person to person, so trying a few things to find your fit is part of the process.
5. Practise mindfulness
Mindfulness means resting your attention on your breath and senses in the present moment. A meta-analysis of 29 studies (2,668 people) of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in healthy adults (Khoury and colleagues, 2015) reported a large effect on stress and moderate effects on anxiety and depression, although results varied widely because the studies used different methods. A few minutes a day is a fine place to start.
6. Question one thought
Thoughts like “if I slip up this time, it is all over” can turn stress up. Write down the evidence for that thought and the evidence against it side by side. Common thinking traps are listed in types of cognitive distortions.
7. Practise saying no or not yet
You do not have to take on every request right away. Moving the timing, as in “today is hard, but I can look at it on Thursday”, can be enough to give you room to breathe.
8. Put rest on the calendar
If rest waits until everything is finished, it never arrives. Even if it is short, write your break into the calendar first.
Stress self-check: how stressed am I?
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), published by Cohen and colleagues in 1983, asks how unpredictable, uncontrollable and overloaded life has felt over the past month. The score is not a diagnosis; it is a starting point for looking at where you are now. If you are short on time, begin with the four-item brief stress check.
Try a self-assessment without signing inPerceived stress (PSS-10)How overwhelming or hard to manage life feels. Answer the app’s questionnaire and see your result right away.Start the check →Signs to watch when stress keeps going
- For weeks you have struggled to fall asleep or kept waking up
- Things you used to enjoy feel like a chore and your motivation is low
- Small things make you angry or bring you to tears
- Physical discomfort such as headaches or indigestion keeps coming back
- You lean more and more on alcohol or your phone to get through
If work stress has left you feeling burned out, see signs of burnout, and if your motivation has hit bottom, read overcoming lethargy.
When to talk with a professional
If stress has been shaking your sleep, work or relationships for more than a few weeks, you can get support from counseling or a mental health clinician rather than holding on alone. Simply putting it into words often makes it clearer where to start.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best way to relieve stress?
- There is no single best method for everyone. Try a few ways to calm the body (breathing, walking) and a few ways to sort out the situation (writing it down, choosing a next step), then keep what suits you.
- Does a high stress self-check score mean I am ill?
- The score only shows how much stress you felt over the past month; it is not a diagnosis. If the score is high and daily life feels hard, it can be a good prompt to talk with a professional.
- How is stress different from burnout?
- Stress is your body and mind reacting busily to a lot of demands, while burnout is closer to running out of energy and pulling away from work after stress has built up for a long time.
- Are there foods that help with stress?
- Eating regularly without skipping meals matters more than any particular food. Caffeine and alcohol can affect sleep and mood, so keep an eye on how much you have and when.
Sources
- Cohen, Kamarck, Mermelstein (1983), A Global Measure of Perceived Stress, Journal of Health and Social Behavior
- Khoury et al. (2015), Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis, Journal of Psychosomatic Research
- US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), I'm So Stressed Out! Fact Sheet
- World Health Organization (WHO), Doing What Matters in Times of Stress: An Illustrated Guide
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