Spine and Sports Medicine NYC

• Start writing a journal or make notes about your day
• Listen to music (classical, jazz, rhythmic, or whatever relaxes you)
• Create! (stimulate your creative flow)
• Get on an exercise schedule (at least 15 minutes/day)
• Deep breathing (take a second and listen to your breathing)
• Hang out with friends (be social, and not just online, laughing relieves stress)
• Take a 30-45 minute nap 2-4 days a week 
• Volunteer or offer to help your friends and family with a project
• Cook a meal (baking can be meditative)
• Take a warm bath or long shower 

Via Better Homes & Gardens “12 Free Ways to Stop Stress” 

1. Organize a social gathering and invite a neighbor.
2. Say hello to strangers.
3. Have family dinners and read to or with your children.
4. Call an old friend. 
5. Register to vote and vote.
6. Log off and go to the park, walk outside.
7. Support local merchants.
8. Volunteer your special skills to an organization.
9. Ask a single diner to join your table for lunch or dinner.
10. Start conversations with others on public transportation. 
11. Donate blood and invite a friend to join.
12. Start a front yard garden or a community garden.
13. Mentor someone of a different ethnic or religious group.
14. Surprise a neighbor by making them a dinner.
15. Tape record your parents earliest recollections and share them with your kids.
16. Plan a vacation with family or friends.
17. Avoid gossip.
18. Help coach little league sports.
19. Organize or participate in a sports league.
20. Attend home parties when invited, play cards with friends and neighbors.