10 Effective Lifestyle Tips for Overcoming Stress

We all experience stress every day as we engage in our daily vocations. This could be through fatigue, muscle strain, or exhaustion from physical activity, and is known as physical stress. It could also be psychological stress, emotional stress, or mental stress, in which case it involves cognitive and emotional strain rather than direct physical effects.^[1]Chu B, Marwaha K, Sanvictores T, et al. Physiology, Stress Reaction. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: … Continue reading

When we are stressed, it affects almost every aspect of our lives. We may feel tired, weak, demotivated, depressed, and if left uncontrolled, might lead to more severe effects.

There is also an interplay between one form of stress and the other. Physical stress or exhaustion can induce emotional or cognitive depression, which can affect one’s energy level, a situation often described as “burnout”. Emotional or psychological stress can also make one feel physically drained. Hence, it will always be helpful to learn ways to overcome any type of stress we face in our daily lives.

Stress often stems from physical activity, negative social interactions, and unmet expectations. In like manner, the best and most readily available interventions for dealing with stress are often lifestyle and behavioral actions.

This post will explore some lifestyle and behavioral tips for overcoming physical, emotional, or psychological stress to stay healthier, happier, and more productive.

What is Stress?

Stress is an adaptive response to physical or psychological stimuli that disrupts the body’s homeostasis (a state of physiological balance). These stimuli are known as stressors; the body’s response, both at the cellular and metabolic level, is known as the stress response.

When the body is exposed to a stressor, it responds through a complex interplay of nervous, endocrine, and immune mechanisms, activating the sympatheto-adrenal-medullary (SAM), the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes, both of which are hormonal pathways, as well as the immune system. And these culminate in systemic effects affecting nearly all organ systems of the body. Cortisol is the most important stress hormone, and it is secreted mainly from the adrenal cortex.^[2]Ibid., Chu B, Marwaha K, Sanvictores T, et al. Physiology, Stress Reaction.

Stress response prepares the body to handle the ensuing disturbance or imbalance, awaiting when you have the resources or opportunity to remove the external insult or replenish what the body may have lost. This stressful state keeps your body alive but potentially drains your productivity, happiness, and both physical and mental energy.

Acute stress lasts for a short time, but if it lasts longer than a few hours or days, especially to a persistent stressor, it becomes chronic stress. Chronic stress response is often maladaptive and detrimental to normal body functions. There can be depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, organ damage, e.g, heart disease, etc. Thus, it is important to abort stress acutely.

10 Lifestyle Tips for Overcoming Stress

Some of these interventions may feel like they are commonplace but sometimes we forget to do these things. Here is a reminder of some little things or behaviors that can change the way our body handles stress and heal from the effects of physical, psychological, or environmental stressors.

1. Smile for 20 seconds

Research has shown that smiling has health benefits, including restoring normal physiology during acute stress, improved stress recovery, and reduced illness over time.^[3]Cross MP, Acevedo AM, Leger KA, Pressman SD. How and why could smiling influence physical health? A conceptual review. Health Psychol Rev. 2023 Jun;17(2):321-343. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2022.2052740. … Continue reading

Smiling reduces stress by stimulating the release of brain neuropeptides: dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin, which counteract the effects of cortisol, help relieve stress, make you feel better, and enhance recovery.

Smiling engages certain muscles of the face, and this response has been shown to stimulate the release of these neuropeptides. Thus, smiling for up to 20 seconds can help relieve stress even if you have to fake it.

2. Rest when you feel stressed

Again, this looks pretty straightforward but it’s something many people do not take into cognizance. And sometimes, when people take a break from physical activity, they also do not take a break from mental or emotional activity.

It is important to get rest when you feel stressed. This is because adequate rest can help your body recover from any stressor or from the stressful effects of the stressor. Sometimes, resting could mean taking a sit if you have been standing for long periods, or taking a stroll if you have been sitting for too long. Principle: The body abhors being static or doing the same thing for too long.

Apart from taking a break from physical activity, also take a break from mental or emotional activity. Sleeping is a great way to achieve all of these.

REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) is a behavioral intervention that systematically attenuates external sensory input to the nervous system. This reduction of sensory input to the brain has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects in people with anxiety disorders and can be a helpful way to deal with psychological and emotional stress.^[4]Garland MM, Wilson R, Adamic E, Thompson WK, Arevian AC, Stein MB, Paulus MP, Feinstein JS, Khalsa SS. Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST) in anxiety and depression: An experience … Continue reading

3. Sleep 6-9 hours at night

Getting adequate night’s sleep is beneficial for handling stress during the day. In the morning, cortisol levels begin to rise in response to the initial stress of waking up from bed. This is because you are transitioning from your calm and refreshing sleep into an unpleasant wakefulness. It also coincides with when you start feeling hungry, thus, these initial unwanted stressed raises cortisol levels significantly.

Specifically, studies have shown that relative to people without insomnia disorder, those with insomnia display elevated levels of morning cortisol, increased CARs (Cortisol Awakening Response), and increased 24-hour cortisol levels. This shows that inadequate sleep can subject you to stress while also affecting your ability to cope with stress throughout the day.^[5]Xiang-Xia Zhang, Shi-Yu Sun, Zi-Jie Ma, et al. Changed nocturnal levels of stress-related hormones couple with sleep-wake states in the patients with chronic insomnia disorder: A clinical pilot … Continue reading

Thus, sleeping well at night can help you overcome and deal with physical or psychological stress all day long.

4. Avoid skipping breakfast

While there are times when skipping breakfast would be unavoidable, it can significantly predispose you to stress during the day, particularly if you will be involved in strenuous activity. One study showed that skipping breakfast is associated with a higher risk of psychological distress.^[6]Haghighatdoost F, Feizi A, Esmaillzadeh A, Keshteli AH, Afshar H, Adibi P. Breakfast skipping increases the risk of higher scores of psychological problems profile in a large sample of Iranian … Continue reading

Fasting normally alters the body’s metabolic balance and stimulates it to generate energy via unusual sources like ketogenesis. Another reasons why cortisol levels increases in the morning is to produce glucose from glucogenic sources for energy generation. But if you are often involved in physically stressful activity, skipping breakfast can exacerbate the stress response.

In addition to the above, another study confirmed that skipping breakfast is also associated with other predisposing behaviors to physical, physiological, and metabolic stress, like inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, frequent soda intake, current binge drinking, tobacco use, gambling, etc.^[7]Pengpid S, Peltzer K. Skipping Breakfast and Its Association with Health Risk Behaviour and Mental Health Among University Students in 28 Countries. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2020 Aug … Continue reading

5. Identify your peak hours

Another way to avoid and overcome acute physical stress is by identifying your peak productivity hours, which are periods of the day when you are most productive and energetic. For some, they are most productive in the early hours of the morning. For others, their peak period is at night.

Understanding your peak hour can help you overcome physical and mental stress when you schedule your most energy-demanding and exhausting tasks into your peak hours, and get rest or schedule less-demanding ones at other times. This ensures that you are not always working against the tides.

Think of it this way: you expend more energy when you swim against the tide, and less when you swim downstream. Working when you are mentally or physically tired or less energetic is like swimming against the tide.

6. Surround yourself with supportive people

Psychological stress or emotional trauma can present as acute stress. This could be a result of acute grief, loss, or accumulation of negative daily experiences. In such situations, surrounding yourself with supportive people might help.

In cases where you have had accumulated negative experiences during the day, getting back with those who support you is a way of doing emotional detox.

7. Get help

Physical stress and burnout often result from expending physical energy or doing the same thing for too long. When you try to do everything by yourself, despite having people who can assist you, you predispose yourself to severe stress.

The problem here is that many people think that getting help from other people and tools is a sign of weakness but it is not. If you have to do everything by yourself, you would put a serious strain on your body, physically and mentally.

8. Engage in a hobby

Statistics show that individuals who engaged frequently in their hobbies had better psychological and physical functioning, reported greater positive affect, life satisfaction, social support, reduced stress, etc. Total cortisol levels were also reported to be lower over 2 days following an enjoyable leisure activity.^[8]Pressman SD, Matthews KA, Cohen S, Martire LM, Scheier M, Baum A, Schulz R. Association of enjoyable leisure activities with psychological and physical well-being. Psychosom Med. 2009 … Continue reading

Thus, engaging in a hobby or enjoyable leisure is a great way to overcome stress, live happier, healthier, and more productively.

9. Engage in moderate exercise

Several sources have shown that 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 150 minutes of the same per week is a great way to relieve and manage stress. This is because they stimulate the release of endorphins, improve mood, and reduce cortisol levels. Vigorous-intensity exercises often do the opposite as they increase cortisol levels, lead to physical exhaustion, and worsen stress.

Moderate exercises you can aim for include brisk walking, yoga, biking, or swimming. Light physical activity can help you manage stress without unnecessary strain.

10. Do something else

Burnout, which is a manifestation of chronic stress at work, results from an overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. Unfortunately, all of these come about when you do a job for too long.^[9]Maslach C, Leiter MP. Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry. 2016 Jun;15(2):103-11. doi: 10.1002/wps.20311. PMID: 27265691; … Continue reading

Whether you are gainfully employed or not, it is recommended that you get engaged in other vocations, even if they are personal jobs. This way, you will always get a sense of personal accomplishment and something that can break you out of the routine.

Benefits of Handling Stress Effectively

Managing stress effectively is beneficial to you and those around you. Stress affects your body in ways that can affect your physical and mental well-being. Some of these can affect how you act towards people around you.

Here are just a few of the benefits of handling stress effectively.

1. Prevents depression

Acute stress management using the above lifestyle tips can prevent progression to chronic stress, anxiety, and depression. One common example is workplace-associated chronic stress (burnout), which can predispose to depression. Effective stress management is thus a multifaceted solution to several other sequelae of stress.

2. Motivates others around you

When people see how you handle stress effectively, they are motivated to do the same. This gives them strength and hope that their lives won’t end when they are faced with various stressors, and this makes them feel even better.

3. Enables you to succeed

Resilience is one key to achieving success, but it doesn’t come without understanding a few key tips. Managing stress helps you achieve resilience by helping you find ways to diffuse the effects of stress on your body to achieve success.

4. Keeps you healthy

Stress can affect your health and longevity. Managing stress effectively can keep you healthier and stronger.

5. Enhances your productivity

Managing stress effectively can boost your productivity. Stress dampens your motivation and productivity, and it is logical to say that managing stress can enhance one’s productivity.

Final words

Stress, whether physical or psychological, is something we all experience regularly. It affects our health, productivity, and sense of well-being in significant ways. Thus, finding ways to effectively deal with stress can come with immense benefits.

This post showed you some effective lifestyle tips to overcome stress and live better, happier, and healthier.