The 13 scientifically proven ways to reduce stress

Feeling tense or anxious? Sleep and yoga not working? Here are some novel strategies – backed up by scientific evidence – that could help you keep calm

We all need strategies to brighten our day and our mood from time to time.

We all know that if we feel stressed the best solutions are plenty of sleep, getting outside for gentle exercise, and maybe trying yoga and meditation. But if you have tried those and they’re not working, there are some lesser-known strategies – backed up by scientific evidence – that could help.

 

1. Look at fractal shapes in nature

Being exposed to nature has long been associated with a reduction in stress and anxiety levels and researchers now think the potent effect is partly down to the soothing benefits of fractal shapes, patterns that repeat at increasingly fine magnifications.

“Fractal patterns are everywhere in nature – you can see them in the veins of a leaf, in the spreading canopy of a tree and in the spiralling form of a cactus,” says the psychologist Katie Cooper, the author of Plant Therapy. “The human eye seems to be particularly attuned to them and research has shown they induce alpha brainwaves when we study them, evoking a more relaxed state of mind.”

In collaboration with a team of psychologists and neuroscientists, Richard Taylor, a professor of physics at the University of Oregon, used EEG and skin conductance techniques, a measure of emotional response, to assess people’s reaction to fractals in nature. Taylor’s results showed that looking at fractal patterns was accompanied by a stress reduction of up to 60 per cent for some people.

 

2. Chew gum for 10 minutes

Chewing gum has been shown to have calming effects, with a review in the journal Stress and Health showing it may be a simple way of reducing stress. One group of researchers from Tokyo Dental College found continuous chewing for more than 10 minutes decreased levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, while other studies have suggested it also alleviates jaw muscle tension, a side effect of stress, and helps to bolster a positive mood.

 

3. Change your facial expression – and smile

Smiling, even when you don’t want to, can change how stressed you feel. Researchers reporting in the journal Psychological Science showed how those who smiled had lower heart rates and faster recovery after being asked to perform various stressful laboratory tasks. According to the team of psychologists at the University of Kansas, the effect was strongest among the participants who smiled their way through the tests with a Duchenne smile – involving the eyes and mouth. You can actually train yourself to smile when stressed. Runners who did this for a study by Ulster University and Swansea University researchers stayed more relaxed and less tense even when they were fatigued.

 

4. Force a yawn

Stress and anxiety have been found to actually raise the temperature of the brain but studies have shown that yawning has a “brain cooling” effect that offsets this response. The average duration of a yawn is five seconds and even forcing a yawn can help you to de-stress.

“The gaping of mouth and deep inhalation of cool air during a yawn alters the temperature of blood going from the lungs to the brain,” suggested researchers in the International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research.

They add that the contraction and relaxation of facial muscles during a yawn increases facial blood flow, dissipating heat and further helping you to feel calmer.

 

5. Look at photos of nature

Sometimes your mind just needs a break from day-to-day stress, and taking a “mental escape” by looking at nature photographs – such as a forest or lush lawn – for five minutes can have a calming effect on the brain. Researchers at Vrije University Medical Centre in the Netherlands found that looking at still images of nature provided enough “natural” stimulus to lower the stress levels of participants in their study. Even when shown nature images that were purposely kept plain and drab, such as uninspiring patches of lawn, or a single tree, the researchers found the parasympathetic nervous system of participants, which controls rest and relaxation, was activated.

“Viewing green nature scenes may thus be particularly effective in supporting relaxation and recovery after experiencing a stressful period,” they wrote, “and thereby could serve as a promising tool in preventing chronic stress and stress-related diseases.”

 

6. Use positive words

Our choice of words has a powerful impact on our stress levels and those of others, and negative words and phrases – “I’m disappointed” or “That’s not what I had hoped for” – whether spoken, heard or thought, have been shown to increase short-term stress and long-term anxiety.

In one experiment scientists measured brain responses to negative words and found that hearing or using painful or negative words increased activity of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, part of the brain that controls sadness, triggering the release of stress and anxiety-inducing hormones such as cortisol. The more we use positive and optimistic words – peace, hope, love, can and will – the less stressed we will feel.

 

7. Smell your partner’s clothes

The scent of a romantic partner’s clothing – even sleeping on their side of the bed when they are away – can help to lower stress levels, according to psychologists.

“Our findings suggest that a partner’s scent alone, even without their physical presence, can be a powerful tool to help reduce stress,” suggested the psychologist Marlise Hofer of the University of British Columbia, the lead author of the paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

In the trial, women who smelt their partner’s T-shirt felt less stressed both before and after a stress test. However, when asked to smell a stranger’s scent the women displayed higher cortisol levels throughout. Evolutionary factors could be at play. Hofer suspects a strange male scent triggers the “fight or flight” response that leads to elevated stress levels.

 

8. Clap your hands for 10 seconds

According to Sukanya Biswas, a researcher at Pune University in India, clapping can help to reduce stress and anxiety and is “a very easy-to-do exercise that costs actually nothing”. There are more than 30 acupressure points in your hands – pressure points that, according to traditional Chinese medicine, lie along channels or meridians in the body through which energy flows – which are activated when you start clapping.

Olympic track athletes often clap before competing and the reason, says the sports psychologist Josephine Perry, the author of I Can, is because it helps to snap them out of stressful thinking. “A physical action like clapping can help to focus attention away from the negative,” Perry says.

 

9. Hold a mug of warm tea in your hands

It’s not just because it contains the amino acid L-theanine, which promotes relaxation, that tea is good at helping you to de-stress. It has been shown that the actual tea-making ritual, whether for yourself or someone else, is relaxing in itself – and that holding a mug of warm tea in your hands can reduce stress levels.

A team from Tilburg University in the Netherlands asked a group of volunteers to play an online ball game, which left some study participants feeling stressed and socially excluded. However, holding a hot mug of tea in their hands prevented these feelings of sadness and stress, which researchers put down to the release of natural opioids in response to the warmth of the drink. Hugging a hot-water bottle has been shown to have a similar effect.

 

10. Buy some flowers

Flowers are guaranteed to brighten your day and your mood. A study at Rutgers University showed that participants given flowers experienced immediate happiness on receiving them and were less agitated and stressed for days afterwards. What’s more, Japanese scientists showed how inhaling the scent of perfumed flowers can intensify the response by altering gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that reduce stress levels.

 

11. Have a regular sauna

With their national love of saunas, the Finns are definitely on to something. Research has proved that they are good for mental wellbeing. In a review published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Eastern Finland reported how brief, dry sauna bathing in temperatures of 80C-100C produces feelings of relaxation, which may be linked to the increased levels of circulating feelgood hormones such as endorphins. “Saunas are an enjoyable and relaxing activity which can bring a host of wellbeing benefits,” says Setor Kunutsor from Bristol University’s medical school and one of the researchers.

 

12. Have cold water therapy every day

Cold-water swimming has purported benefits for stress relief, but if you can’t bring yourself to take the plunge completely, try a 30 to 60-second blast of cold water in the shower every morning.

Researchers have shown that brief exposure to cold water triggers the sympathetic nervous system to elevate levels of beta-endorphin and noradrenaline, a feelgood chemical cocktail, and also to raise levels of other beneficial hormones such as dopamine, which contributes to positive feelings, by up to 250 per cent. At the same time, levels of the stress hormone cortisol decrease after a cold shower.

Make sure your face is splashed with the cold water as scientists think this activates the “diving reflex” we share with other mammals – it slows the heart rate and redirects blood from the body’s peripheries, which reduces anxiety. Regular cold-water dips have also been shown to increase your resilience to stress.

 

13. Listen to soothing music

Playing the right kind of music has been shown to alleviate stress. Trials by the psychologist David Lewis, the founder of Mindlab International at the University of Sussex, suggest that listening to music with soothing harmonies, rhythms and bass lines – Someone Like You by Adele and Coldplay’s Strawberry Swing were included in the study – can be more relaxing for some people than taking a walk or playing online games.

Costas Karageorghis, the head of Brunel University London’s Sound and Vision Innovations group, says music affects deep parts of the brain influencing our emotions.

“Many of our bodily rhythms, including heart rate and brainwaves, lock into music to boost our mood,” he says. “We have shown that with slow, sedative tracks, cortisol levels in participants dropped and emotional state improved.”

His studies have shown that top de-stressing tracks include Waterfalls by TLC, Come Away with Me by Norah Jones, and Hildegard von Bingen’s O Euchari in Leta Via by Laura Wright.

The Times