Stress: What can You Do?

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Stress. You hear about it all the time and you probably have been stressed at one point or another in your life, but what is stress? Why do we feel it and what can we do about it?

Let's begin with just the definition of stress. It is a natural physical reaction everyone experiences in their lives. It's the feeling when your heart is pounding or when you have those butterflies in your stomach, and it comes in three types: Acute stress, Episodic stress, and Chronic stress.

Acute stress is just regular short term stress, that comes and goes, and it can be good or bad. Episodic acute stress is when you experience acute stress repeatedly and often, and you don't have time to relax. Lastly, there is Chronic stress, which is stress that you don’t calm down from for weeks or months, and that can lead to health problems, and these problems are only getting worse according to the American psychiatric association. "In 2022, people report having more stress now than they did five years ago," (American Psychiatric Association).  But I am not here only to offer doom and gloom, but offer some healthy methods to deal with stress.

But there is stuff we can do, while it may sound cliche, taking deep breath is shown to help people calm down from stress, according to the Yale School of Medicine, the best way to do deep breathing is to either sit up or lie down in comfortable clothes but of course, deep breathing works in any conditions with Karyn Bailey (the author) stating to "choose whatever is comfortable and/or accessible in a given moment,” and also saying that “some people find it helpful to count their inhale and then double the count for their exhale as an aide to smoothen and lengthen their breathing,” however, they note that it is unnecessary  (Bailey). This article highlights the benefits of deep breathing as its free, you can do it any time and it has the potential to help.

The next method that is often recommended is meditation meditation is defined by the Cleveland Clinic as “a practice that involves focusing or clearing your mind using a combination of mental and physical techniques,” and in my experience, if you want to find tutorials they are incredibly easy to find online especially on YouTube. Its benefits are widespread including a sense of calm and balance that contributes to your overall well being and reduces information overload that contributes to stress. But it is more intense than simply breathing, but if still isn't enough for you there is more that can be done (Mayo clinic).

Exercise is the most extreme option available to relieve stress but it does do more than simply relieve stress, according to Harvard health publishing, exercise helps you brain your heart, your metabolism and much more. "But crucially for today's topic of discussion it is clinically proven to help with stress, by reducing the number of stress hormones in your body, it also prompts the production of endorphins or your feel good chemicals," (Harvard Health Publishing). This is the most significant time commitment out of the three options for dealing with stress that I have laid out, but it comes with significant benefits as well.

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Works Cited

American Psychiatric Association. “Stress in America 2022: Concerned for the future, beset by inflation.” American Psychological Association, 2022, https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2022/concerned-future-inflation. Accessed 30 January 2026.

Bailey, Karyn. “The Power of the Breath | Yale School of Medicine.” Yale School of Medicine, 1 April 2024, https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/the-power-of-the-breath/. Accessed 30 January 2026.

Cleveland Clinic. “Meditation: What It Is, Benefits & Types.” Cleveland Clinic, 2022, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17906-meditation. Accessed 30 January 2026.

Cleveland Clinic. “Stress: What It Is, Symptoms, Management & Prevention.” Cleveland Clinic, 15 May 2024, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11874-stress. Accessed 30 January 2026.

Harvard Health Publishing. “Exercising to Relax - Harvard Health Publishing - Harvard.” Harvard Health, 7 July 2020, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax. Accessed 30 January 2026.

Mayo clinic. “Meditation: Take a stress-reduction break wherever you are.” Mayo Clinic, 14 December 2023, https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858. Accessed 30 January 2026.