Speaking on the benefits of stress management, psychologist Robert
Epstein states that “My study shows that (1) people who have had
training in stress management are better at it than people who have
not and that (2) the greater the number of training hours, the better the
skills.” But he adds that “On a 100-point scale, people scored 55.3 on
average on a test of simple, basic stress management techniques. If you think of that as a score on an exam at school, that means that on
average, people get a grade F when it comes to managing the inevitable stress they face in their lives.” (Epstein, 2011, p. 35)

This section will discuss a variety of methods for managing your stress that will help you better handle the stressful situations that come your way. No one particular stress management technique works for everyone, and many people find their own combination of the most effective tactics through trial and error. But we would strongly recommend you try as many as possible, and remember that you often have to practice something a number of times and stick with it before you start to see a significant benefit.
Stress management technique #1:
Break apart a large problem and chunk it into manageable tasks

Whenever dealing with a personal crisis or other challenges in life,
we often feel overwhelmed in the face of what seems like an insur-
mountable problem. This creates feelings of helplessness, which lead
to more stress. One helpful stress management technique that works
for just about everyone is to take your problem and break it apart into
chunks, creating a list of several smaller things you might do to
improve your situation. Then focus on these individually. Even if
your small tasks collectively don’t entirely solve the big problem at
hand, it will help you cope.

Perhaps you’re out of work and struggling to find a job. Create a list
of many small things you can do each day to work towards this goal
of employment, and then check off each one. Perhaps you’re recently
divorced and are trying to rebuild your life. Sit down and think about
everything you require to feel whole again, and then break each of
those points down into smaller tasks that work towards this goal.

Stress management technique #2:
Smile like you mean it, even if you don’t

A study published in the November 2012 issue of the journal Psychological Science found that people who smiled after engaging in stress-inducing tasks showed a greater reduction in heart rate than people who maintained a neutral facial expression. The study was cleverly designed so that people were made to smile unknowingly without even realizing they were doing it by placing chopsticks in a subject’s mouth in 3 particular ways. One forced people to maintain a neutral expression, another a polite smile and a third forced a full smile that used all the muscles around the mouth and eyes. (Reddy, 2-26-2013)

“We saw a steeper decline in heart rate and a faster physiological stress recovery when they were smiling,” says Sarah Pressman, a psychologist who coauthored the study. A full smile was slightly better than a partial smile, though the difference was not statistically significant and both reduced stress over the neutral expression.

The reason this works is because the brain and body are always communicating with each other. When we’re happy our brain sends messages that tell us to smile, and when we smile, even if we don’t mean it, the signals from our facial muscles send information back to the brain, impacting the emotions we feel. Smiling can also change your attitude towards stress almost instantly, so that you view it in a challenging or even slightly humorous way. Try consciously doing this for a week, consistently smiling when your tendency would otherwise be to get annoyed or scream. I guarantee you’ll notice a difference. Another positive side effect: Smiling like this makes others see you as both more friendly and attractive.