Stress-Proof Your Life: 52 Brilliant Ideas for Taking Control(52 Brilliant Ideas)

"Let's face it, if you're the type of person who enjoys lighting lavender candles and spending an hour in the bath every night 'chilling out', then you're probably not the type that's going to get that stressed to begin with. Stress-proof your life is for the people who struggle to find time for a shower much less a bath. It's for the ones who are still clicking their mouse or ironing a shirt at 11.30pm. The ones who don't take their annual leave and worry that stress is affecting their health and relationships. Or they would worry if they weren't so knackered and that report wasn't due in at 9am. It's going to take a lot more than a candle-lit bubble bath to sort them out..." Elisabeth Wilson. Stress is not a generic thing although it's always treated that way. Some people are really good at avoiding some stresses without realising that they are slaves to another kind. Elisabeth looks at the sources - occupational, genetic and environmental - and reveals 52 clever techniques and ideas that focus on the causes rather than simply telling people how to deal with the symptoms. Here are just some of the chapters to be discovered: Admit your addiction! The power of positive stress; Give a little, get a lot - why volunteering could be the best decision you've ever made; Too stressed to sleep? - it happens, here's what to do if it happens to you (Strictly no lavender candles); and The 'stop and collapse' effect - if you're fed up with getting sick on the very first day of your holiday, here's how to prevent it. With the "52 Brilliant Ideas" series readers can enhance their existing skills with negligible investment of time or money and will substantially improve their performance over the course of a year. Each of the 52 chapters tackles a single aspect of the subject in an entertaining and lively way. At the end of each chapter is a "how did it go?" feature which allows readers to reflect on the lesson in a classical experiential learning pattern. The tone of each book is personal and informal; readers will feel as thought they are having a one-to-one with their favourite coach.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Let's get positive So you're stressed? Be grateful. Stress makes life a lot sweeter when you learn to manage it right. 2. Find an hour a day to play No seriously, is that too much to ask? 3. Cure yourself of the 'disease to please' Make 'just say no' your new mantra. 4. Never procrastinate again Procrastination is stress's best friend. It's not big, it's not clever but for most of us, it's a way of life. 5. Never lose your keys again Often you can't remember where you left the car keys. Sometimes you can't remember where you left the car. 6. What's your Plan B? Take the insecurity out of your life. All you need is a Plan B. 7. On your bike? Only one thing gets you down, and hence stressed, more than work. Not working. 8. A zone of your own Imagine a place with no phone, no noise, no hassle, no problems. 9. Relaxation - what we can learn from the cavemen There's nothing wrong with stress. We're designed to get stressed. It's how we deal with it that's the problem. 10. Leave the office on time Reduce interruptions. Reclaim your evenings. 11. Speed parenting (better than stressed parenting) Children pick up adult stress like a dry sponge soaks up water. 12. Lost your mojo? When you're bored, dull, lacklustre, you're as stressed as it gets. 13. Achieve the life-work balance in ten minutes I refuse to call it work-life. It should be life-work. And that's what achieving it entails - a life-work. 14. The perfection trap Your need to 'get it perfect' isn't about perfection. It's about staying in control. 15. A shortcut to coping with obstacles For every behaviour or action, there's a payback. When you work out the payback you often drain away a lot of stress from a situation. 16. Stress is other people Here's how to deal with the energy black holes. 17. Watch out for that iceberg! Like the Titanic, you're beetling along coping like a trooper and then, kerboom!, You're scuppered. You can't get out of bed. 18. How to make everyone love you Take the moral high ground. You'll like the view. 19. Grumpy old git - or really, really sick? If you're a man and you're angry, could it be your hormones that are to blame? 20. Eat the stress-free way Let your diet support you in your battle to destress. Lose weight, think clearly, sleep better. All this can be yours with food combining. 21. Stress proof your Xmas Season of goodwill and cheer? Yes, if you're not worn down by the constant partying, endless entertaining, relentless cooking - and let's not start on the shopping. 22. Are you too stressed to be happy? Stress saps energy and eventually our enjoyment of life. Stress makes us unhappy without us even realising it. 23. Blitz your home in a weekend Decluttering. Space clearing. Majorly destressing. 24. The stress clinic is open You know you're stressed and you know it's affecting your health. Here's what to do about it. 25. Hug your home It's hard to feel unstressed when your home is filthy. And even if it's clean, keeping it that way is often a major cause of stress. 26. Restoration day When you're suffering from chronic, long-term stress. When your batteries are blown. When burnout is imminent, here is your emergency plan. 27. Crisis management Facing the week from hell? Here's how to survive it. 28. Turning Japanese Learn from zen. The Japanese bath and tea ceremonies were as much about refreshing the mind and spirit as nourishing and cleansing the body. 29. Make like Tigger - learn to bounce Everyone gets stressed. Everyone gets disappointed. But how come some people are better at dealing with it than others? 30. Blitz those piles No, not those kind of piles. We're talking about the avalanche of paper, magazines, unpaid bills, flyers for pizza houses - the general detritus of 21st-century life that threatens to overwhelm you. 31. Standing tall If your stomach hangs so low there's a chance of it keeping your knees warm, it's time for the Alexander technique. 32. Is stress making you fat? Any sort of stress can lead to weight gain. 33. Embrace the dark side Reckon you're not an angry person? 34. Love your money And it will love you right back. When that happens life gets a lot less stressful. 35. End 'stop and collapse' syndrome You take holidays. You know how important this is if you want to be stress-free. 36. Too stressed to sleep? Facts: The most predictable predictor of depression is insomnia. Sleeping less than six hours a night is linked to increased obesity. Sleeping less than seven hours a night is linked to increased mortality. 37. Ditch the debt Live on less than you earn. Hey, radical concept. 38. Have a holiday at your desk Imbue the old nine-to-five with a certain glamour and you'll be amazed at how much tension seeps out of your life. 39. You're not paranoid...they are out to get you Are you ready for a journey to the weirder, wilder side? 40. How to love the job you've got Sometimes you can't have the one you want. So you have to love the one you've got. 41. Stop acting on impulse Focus, concentration, sticking to what you've started. That will cut your stress levels instantly. 42. Take the stress out of your love life Too stressed to talk? Remember divorce is pretty stressful too. 43. Perfect moments The ability to create perfect moments is possibly the most valuable life skill you'll ever learn. 44. Out of your head A way of handling stress that could improve your sex life too. Result. 45. Aromatherapy master class Think that aromatherapy is just for wimps? Wrong. Aromatherapy has attitude. Aromatherapy kicks ass. Aromatherapy actually works. 46. Tame your 'to-do' list The problem with 'to-do' lists is that it takes seconds to scribble yet another entry - and a whole lot longer to get round to doing it. 47. Cherish yourself Surveys show that we know exactly what we ought to do in order to relax. We just can't be bothered. 48. Reach out Touchy-feely behaviour is the best stress buster of all. Time to give love and, hopefully, get some back. 49. Supplementary benefits Managing stress is simply a matter of managing your body's chemistry. There is a whole battery of supplements that can help you do this. 50. Burned out? What is burn out? It's when a relationship - either work or personal - has got so bad that you just can't stand it any longer. 51. Runaway, runaway Or to give it the grown-up name, retreat. 52. Make life easy for yourself Give up coffee, don't smoke, take exercise - we're always being told that unless we do our stress will become worse. The End

About the Author :
Elisabeth Wilson trained as a doctor before becoming a journalist. She's written books for the medical trade press, including Breast News and Psychiatry in Practice, before moving into consumer journalism. She has written widely for the national press including the Mirror and Mail, and was Health and Wellbeing editor at SHE magazine. Elisabeth is also author of Re-energise your sex life, also in the series.