The document provides 52 tips to help reduce stress organized into four categories: heart-healthy ideas, fun-filled ideas, relaxation ideas, and organization ideas. Some of the tips include getting enough sleep, deep breathing exercises, spending time with family and friends, pet therapy, regular exercise, and taking short breaks during the day for activities like meditation, yoga, or deep breathing. The tips are intended to help trainers supplement stress management training sessions or have "lunch and learn" discussions on stress reduction techniques.

1. 52 Tips to Help You Stress Less and Be Your Best

2. 52 Stress Tips We developed these stress tip cards to help trainers. Use these to supplement your stress training or to do a “lunch and learn” discussion on stress reduction techniques. Three Ways to use the Stress Cards: Set up four teams of participants. Give each team one portion of the cards (heart-healthy ideas, fun-filled ideas, relaxation ideas, or organization ideas). Have each team review the cards and discuss which tips they use. Task each team with teaching the other teams about their set of ideas. Allow each team 15-20 minutes to prepare their presentation and 10 minutes to present. Pass out one idea from each of the idea groups to each participant. Allow time for the participants to read their four tips. Ask that each participant explain their four to the others. Discuss. Post the tips around the room using double-sided tape. Have participants mill around and discuss them in small groups.

3. Heart-Healthy Ideas Fun-Filled Ideas Relaxation Ideas Organization Ideas LOL

5. Sleep Soothes the Soul Most Americans are sleep deprived running on 6 hours or less per night. When you are sleep deprived, you are tired, grumpy, fuzzy-headed and crabby. Look at ways to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night to help you bust your stress and be less cranky.

6. Massage Magic Massages have great medicinal benefits. Treat yourself to a reflexology or hot rock massage. Don’t forget to drink lots of water afterwards so you flush the toxins a massage releases from your system.

7. Water Works Drinking 8 glasses of water a day is a good way to flush toxins from your system. If you don’t like the taste of plain water, add a touch of lemon or lime juice.

8. Protein Packs a Punch Go for snacks that are higher in protein, not sugar. The sugar makes you feel better for a short time, but then you crash. Almonds are a great afternoon snack.

9. Physical Fitness Take care of your body and it will take care of you. Flossing your teeth every night keeps your gums and your heart healthy. Do monthly self checks, get an annual physical and take care of issues as they arise. The faster you get medical problems fixed, the easier and less stressful.

10. Bid Bad Habits Bye-Bye Limit caffeine to mornings or go caffeine-free since increased caffeine intake only gets you feeling stressed. Work to go smoke-free since cigarettes add to health woes and to your budget. Start a sensible eating and exercise program to shed those extra pounds. Obesity is America’s number one health threat and adds to your stress levels.

11. Yoga Yoga is excellent for both exercise and relaxation techniques. It combines exercise and music with deep breathing and meditation for an amazing overall experience.

12. Deep Breathing Breath deeply while counting to six. Hold it while counting to six. Then slowly release the breath while counting to six. Repeat several times. We often don’t breath deeply enough to get oxygen into our system and demolish built-up stress hormones.

13. Aromatherapy Smells can be used to help you relax or re-energize. Peppermint reinvigorates you while lavender and vanilla relaxes you. Keep candles or scented potpourri around to change your mood.

14. Power Naps A 20-minute afternoon nap can jump-start your afternoon or evening so you can go for hours. Give yourself a break between work and home with a short nap. Ask your family for that time to make the transition.

15. Dark Chocolate Delivers Need an excuse to eat chocolate? Dark chocolate has naturally occurring anti-depressants. Milk chocolate has some and white chocolate has none. So when depressed, reach for the dark chocolate.

16. Breakfast Builds a Better Body A good breakfast is an excellent way to start the day. The brain needs fuel to function and without breakfast you can’t function your best. A heart-healthy cereal or oatmeal is an excellent way to start the day.

17. Tea Time Totally Transforms You A cup of herbal tea can soothe your spirit and add antioxidants to your system. Taking time to enjoy it while meditating or listening to soothing music adds an extra plus. It gives a much needed 5 -10 minute break to rest and re-energize.

18. Family Time Allow time to spend with your family. Have dinner together. Pick one night a week for game night. Take your teens out to dinner with their friends once a month or double date with them. Take a vacation together and visit older family members. LOL

19. Hobby Time Helps Take time for whatever hobby you enjoy. When you are stressed, take time out for your favorite activity whether it is gardening, walking, horseback riding, painting, playing touch football, or a drive in the country. LOL

20. Commune with Nature Take time out to enjoy the world around you. Take a walk, sit and listen to the trees rustle in the wind, let the sun shine on your face. Take your lunch outside and eat. Go to the park on Saturdays and watch the children play. LOL

21. Cook Up Fun Cook up some fun with your children and allow them to help. Make a “dirt cake” and use gummy worms or make s’mores over a fire in the backyard. Look for ways to have fun in the kitchen with your children or friends. LOL

22. Play Time Take time out to joke and play. Play with your teammates at work, play with your family, play with strangers standing in line. Look for ways to make others laugh and smile. You’ll laugh and smile with them. It’s a win-win. LOL

23. Laughter Livens Life Take time to laugh. Play with children, chat with friends, read the funnies, watch comedies, or just force yourself to laugh about nothing. Whatever makes you laugh is a good thing. It gets oxygen into your system and energizes you. LOL

24. Bubble Baths Bathe You in Bliss Take time for a bubble bath and a long soak. Add music and candles for aromatherapy and you will have a spa experience that can transport you. Allow yourself to mentally go on vacation while your body relaxes for the total experience. LOL

25. Friends Foster Fun Take time for a get-together with friends. Make it a potluck or have everyone meet at a restaurant; just meet. It doesn’t require a clean house or a lot of prep work to get together. LOL

26. Lunch Lightens the Load You may think working through lunch is the best idea, but it adds to your stress. Taking even 15 minutes to relax and eat lunch is a needed break. Allow yourself that time. If it’s a pretty day, go outside and eat while getting a little natural Vitamin D from the sun. LOL

27. Pet Your Pet Just owning a pet is great for adding love and laughter to your life. For unconditional love, get a dog. For a more complicated relationship, get a cat. Petting your dog or cat actually can reduce your blood pressure. So go home and pet your pet. They will enjoy it, and so will you. If you don’t have a pet, volunteer at the rescue shelter. LOL

28. Treat Yourself What do you consider a true treat - a facial, going rock climbing, a pedicure, or going to a casino? Whatever you consider a treat, do it once in a while. Consider your budget as you don’t want to add stress by blowing your budget. There are budget-friendly versions such as using cosmetology schools for your facials or hosting a casino-night in your basement. LOL

29. Creativity Inspires Creating something new and fun will release your inner artist and make you feel inspired. Paint a room or a painting, make a piece of furniture, do a flower arrangement or design new software. Just do something creative. LOL

30. Reward Your Hard Work Look on your to-do list for the most fun task. Then use it as a reward (or bribe) for finishing the tasks you must do but know you aren’t looking forward to doing. LOL

31. Evenings in Earnest Get yourself organized the night before for less stress in the morning. For example: lay out your clothes and the children’s clothes, fix and pack lunches, put everything in your car that needs to go. This also allows you to rest easier knowing it’s all done.

32. Start Slowly for Less Stress Set your alarm early enough to give yourself time to eat breakfast and linger over a cup of coffee or tea while you read the funnies. Giving yourself enough time to piddle and not rush gets your whole day off to a relaxed start.

33. Calendar Calm Just use one calendar for both work and home. One, it will keep you from over-booking. But more importantly, on hectic days at work, it allows you to see that you have some fun time planned. That keeps it all in perspective.

34. Worry Woes Be Gone 70% of what you worry about will never happen. Prove it to yourself. Write down everything you are worried about happening in the next month. Put the list away for a month then pull it out to see how much of it actually did happen. When you start to worry, ask yourself how likely it is that the worry is real. If it IS likely, then DO something to prevent or lessen it. Taking action makes you feel in control.

35. A Three-Minute Vacation When a real vacation isn’t possible, take a three-minute vacation. Put a vacation kit together with photos of your favorite spot and music. Take three minutes to focus on your photos and listen to a song. Allow yourself to be transported and relax.

36. Music Mellows The Mood Select some CDs that have mellow music for those stressed-out days. To mellow out, play classical music, jazz, or a mix of nature and classical music as background music while you work. Keep it low for cubicle courtesy. Use Mozart if you are working on mathematical problems as it has been shown to improve math prowess.

37. Colors Can Calm or Create Energy Use color to help set your mood. Oranges, reds and yellows make you feel more energetic. Blues and greens are soothing. Purples and pinks are creative.

38. De-stress Any Activity Look at any activity you hate doing and brainstorm ways to de-stress it. Hate paying bills? Then add music and candles to de-stress the experience. Hate cooking? Purchase pre-made entrees to spiff up the meals. Hate mowing the lawn? Get an iPod and download your favorite tunes to mow by.

39. Curl Up with a Good Book Read a good book to relax. You can go to a land far away, on adventures, solve murder mysteries, or learn about famous people. Add a cup of tea, light a fire or play soft music in the background and really enjoy the experience.

40. Meditation and Prayer Meditation has been shown to alter brain waves and reduce stress. Turning your worries or problems over to a higher power can be freeing. Practicing either meditation or prayer on a daily basis can be an excellent stress reduction and prevention technique.

41. Forgiveness Figures In Practicing regular forgiveness is very freeing. Often the person you are angry with doesn't even know they “wronged you.” Only you hold the anger. And holding onto that anger hurts your body. By forgiving the person, you release the anger.

42. Attitude Adjustments Readjust how you think of a task to make it less stressful. If you think of weeding as torture, it is. If instead you think of it as your personal time to commune with nature and enjoy time alone, it becomes a stress-busting activity. Start calling those gruesome tasks playtime and it’ll change your perspective.

43. Make Mornings Marvelous Spend the last hour of the workday setting yourself up for success the next morning. Clear off the clutter and file away today’s work that is done. Neaten the space and pull up your appointments and calls you need to make the next day. Pull anything you need for those and get them ready to go.

44. Conquer Your Commute Alter your commute into an educational or musical experience. Practice forgiveness with other drivers. Consider alternatives for enhanced calm. Carpooling can transform your commute into a social experience. Public transportation eliminates driving stress plus helps the environment. Bicycle or walk and turn shorter commutes into exercise time.

45. Venting Lets the Pressure Off When you are frustrated or angry, talking it out can be very therapeutic. Just be careful at work not to vent in front of customers or with people who will use it against you later.

46. Prioritizing Puts You in Pretty Review your to-do list and highlight the items that must get done that day. Use a colored marker so you can easily see them when you look at the list. Focus on getting those top items done.

47. Tons of Thank Yous Write a thank you note to a colleague or friend every day. Watch it lessen their stress and yours at the same time. You’ll cultivate an attitude of gratitude and develop great relationships.

48. Divvy Up the Duties Children need to learn chores and responsibility. Teach them and divvy up the duties around the house so they don’t fall to you. Then look for ways to make it fun. Rev up the music and rock out while you clean.

49. Organize and “Ommm” It is stressful when you can’t find what you need when you need it. Take time to get yourself organized to work more efficiently. Set your desktop up for easy access to what you need most often. Set your hard files and computer files up for easy access.

50. Delegate Look at the tasks on your to-do list that are repetitive and determine who could be trained to take over these tasks. Then train them and delegate these tasks permanently. Delegate tasks to groom staff and develop their talents.

51. Scheduling Success Guard your schedule at work and home to keep it from becoming too tight. Work to allow 10-15 minutes between meetings so if one runs late you can still make the next on time. Leave 1 hour a day for actual tasks. When you book meetings solid, you feel overwhelmed at the end of the day since you don’t have time to actually do any of the tasks you get assigned at the meetings .

52. Volunteer One of the ways to put your issues into perspective is to look around at others who are worse off. Volunteering allows you to help others and make a positive difference. Choose an organization that resonates with you and get active.

53. Swap Shop If you have an assignment you don’t enjoy, find a colleague who does and swap assignments. For example, you can run their numbers if they write your proposal. It can be a win-win and less stress for both of you.

54. Partner for Progress Find a partner to help you zap your stress. You want someone at both work and at home. This person can remind you to take a break, eat right and exercise, and hold you accountable. You are more likely to do what you need to do when others are counting on you.

55. Exercise Energizes Exercise is the number one way to bust stress as it reduces the adrenaline released in a stress event. Adding even small amounts of exercise can be beneficial. Take a flight of stairs, park further away from the building and walk, use 10 minutes of your lunch time to walk around the building, or walk up and down every aisle in the grocery store. Any or all of these little things add up to great ways to add to your exercise.

56. Potluck Lunches Have everyone bring something fun to share and have a potluck luncheon at work or with your neighbors. Allow yourself to enjoy the company of others and share food and fun together.