Image by: Markus Tacker
By Kurt Garrity

Anyway you look at it, mental stress and strain is not good for the body, gentlemen. Studies show that increased stress levels or exposure to chronic stress can lead to all kinds of health ailments, including a lowering of the ability of the body to fight disease, increased anxiety, a rise in other serious psychological issues, and the development of cancer.

Also, when people are stressed, physiological responses succumb to permanent recalibration yielding a slightly different version of you. Yikes. And you thought those changes were caused by watching people fight zombies on The Walking Dead.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. Frankie Goes To Hollywood was right: Relax. Those same studies that tip us to the horrors of stress also show us that things can quickly turn to normal after a person undergoes some type of stress reduction. Meaning, you can do something about your stress and feel immediate, significant results. We like immediate.

So disengage from your busy world for a few minutes and get your health thing in order. Here are three solid, proven stress relievers which will have you feeling great as you go about your day … and about your life.

1 – Take A Mind Vacation

No, this isn’t some new high-tech treatment straight out of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. A mind vacation is just as it sounds, a trip for your thoughts away from dealing with the stresses of your day-to-day life. It’s simple and won’t cost you a thing: Take 5-10 minutes, head to an enclosed room or area and just focus on a tranquil, peaceful place.

And your peaceful place can be any paradise you’ve recently visited, a quiet moment you had alone on the beach or just a really good daydream that lifts your spirits. In the movie Billy Madison, the lead character (played by Adam Sandler) called this mental paradise his “happy place” to great comic effect – you can do the same. Bottom line: No travel agent needed, no bags to pack – just pure relaxation and lowered stress levels to follow.

2 – Smells Wonderful

Aromatherapy has been proven to significantly lower stress levels in high school girls among others, so grab your nose and something smelly and get to relaxing, jack. You can buy aromatherapy oils, or, for a double healthy dose, eat a piece fruit such as an orange and inhale the citrus aromas as you peel it. You can actually feel it working.

There, you got six slices of stress relief and a delicious snack.

3 – Clean Your Work Space

A proven source of stress is a cluttered, messy work space or office environment. That huge pile of papers, three day-old Big Gulp cup and last week’s issue of Doomsday Magazine is not certainly not helping things, so get rid of them. Now. Ahhhhh … now don’t you feel better?

You’ve melted all of that negative energy away by clearing off your desk and revealing a work area that is truly inviting and free of stress! Now, if you could only do something about those earnings reports.