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Stress can cause irreparable damage to the immune system which can open you up to a warehouse full of future illnesses. Stress kills! Reduce it any way that you can.

Exercise, play games, watch cartoons or comedy shows, dance around the room half naked or just go off somewhere in the woods and sing at the top of your lungs, crawl into bed with a good book, meditate or pray. Have a bubble bath ten times a day if necessary (prunes are kinda cute) just find a way to reduce the amount of stress that you allow in your life.

If you find that you have just too much to deal with then STOP LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE and deal with one issue at a time and only as you are able to. Although it is sometimes hard to put the issues out of your mind it is also sometimes very necessary to do this. Put the kettle on, brew a hot relaxing cup of tea, crawl into the bath and just vegetate for an hour. If a change in lifestyle is the only way to reduce your stress levels then make that life altering change.

Be happy. It is one of the fastest and easiest ways to relax.

Smile and smile often. When you put that silly little grin on your face your brain does a wonderful thing and it releases something known as "endorphins". These endorphins give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling of "well being" and can actually reduce feelings of physical or emotional pain. In other words, even if you are not in a relaxed mood when you start to smile, you will be when you finish smiling. Try it. The more that you smile the better you will feel.

Smiles are also contagious so pass them around. When you run into someone (even a stranger), smile, you'll be amazed how many people will smile back. Better news yet, their brains will then be releasing endorphins and, they too will be experiencing that fuzzy warm feeling of well being. It doesn't take a lot of time or energy, so do something nice for yourself and your little corner of the world, smile. The more happy people that are out there in the real world then the less stress there will be for everyone else out there.

Laugh. You may have heard the saying that, "Laughter is the best medicine". Well this may be true. Laughter is another one of those things, like smiling, that just makes you feel good. It is also, believe it or not, a great form of exercise with all the same great variety of health benefits for your body that exercise will give it. So find any reason that you can to laugh and even if your laugh is not all that whole hearted at first, don't be discouraged, just do it. The more that you practice laughing, the more often that you will suddenly find yourself bursting into a really good belly laugh, and with laughter comes that funny little grin that spreads across our faces. With that smile comes endorphins and, well you know where I am going with this one, it makes you feel good so do it.

Summary: Just in case all my rambling was just too much too absorb all in one nag.

1. Be happy
2. Smile a lot
3. Laugh a lot
4. Exercise
5. Rest
6. Pray or meditate
7. Go a little crazy every now and then
8. Don't think too much
9. Change your lifestyle
10.Deal with the issues that stress you, one at a time, don't overload yourself
11.Sit yourself down with a nice hot cup of tea

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