A moderate amount of stress can be motivating, but it can quickly escalate and harm your health. While you can't eliminate stress completely, controlling it and incorporating activities that reduce its impact are key to maintaining good health.

Spend Time with Animals

From petting a dog to watching fish swim in an aquarium, animals have been shown to have a calming effect on humans. It doesn't have to be your pet, visit a neighbor, or spend some time with the office cat. Research shows that as little as five minutes of interaction can lower cortisol levels, a key stress hormone. Pets have also been found to improve heart health by reducing risk factors for heart disease, such as lowering blood pressure. Time with pets has also been found to decrease depression and lower anxiety.

Meditate for Five Minutes

Meditation doesn't require a big time commitment. Simple, deep breathing and clearing your mind for a few minutes can calm you. Regular meditation has been shown to lower heart rate, promote normal blood pressure, and reduce levels of stress hormones. It also helps to clear your mind, which can lead to creativity. Set a timer, sit quietly in a distraction-free space, breathe deeply, and relax.

Think About Your Happy Place

A short meditation practice, called visualization, can distract you from a stressful situation and has been found to promote muscle relaxation, decrease blood pressure, and reduce stress hormones. Envisioning a peaceful scene in nature or picturing yourself accomplishing a goal are forms of visualization. Simply meditate on your personal happy place. If you don’t know where to start, a guided visualization on YouTube can be a helpful tool.

Laugh

Laughing is unlike other methods for reducing stress because it causes an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. As a result, an increase in breathing rate sends more oxygen to the muscles. It’s a response similar to what happens when you exercise. Once the laughing ends and your breathing and heart rate return to normal, you feel relaxed, refreshed, and energized.

Sources

• National Institutes of Health - The Power of Pets

Lori Rice, M.S., is a nutritional scientist and author with a passion for healthy cooking, exercise physiology, and food photography.