Having bills to pay, mouths to feed, a tight work schedule, and other responsibilities — it can all take its toll and leave you feeling the strain in a major way. Once that stress shows up and starts to get to you, it can snowball out of control and leave you on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Make sure you read these tips if you’re dealing with stress.

If you’re feeling stressed out try exercising on a regular basis. Exercising three to five times a week is a great way for your body to burn off excess energy and to clear out the stress. While you’re exercising, your mind can focus on that task at hand and you can forget about what’s stressing you out.

In order to keep your stress level under control, try screaming into a pillow. This will do wonders for stress relief, as long as you do not do it enough to hurt your vocal chords. Screaming has a calming effect that can almost be euphoric for some people.

A good tip that can help you fight stress is to start being assertive in social situations. Being assertive insures that you’re always being true to your own wants and needs. If you’re passive all the time, you’ll feel resentment to other people and it also comes with stress.

Stress can be a vicious cycle so find small ways of breaking it up to avoid it breaking you down! Most of us have stress in our lives from one source or another and scheduling some fun or relaxation around it will stop it from taking over. If there is no way to completely avoid stress we can at least make it intermittent!

If you are very active during the course of the day, one of the things that you can do is to listen to music to calm you down. When you listen to music, your mind will be toned down, especially if the music is very fluid and soft. Listen to your favorite tune to optimize the way you feel.

When it comes to dealing with stress consider meditation. This can be a great way to not only relax your body but also clear your mind of everything that might be causing you stress. Consider buying audio tapes or books to assist you with different ways of meditation.

Since stress can come from so many different sources in our lives, it is important for you to identify the causes of your worst stress. If you find that it’s something that can be eliminated from your life, you should do so. This can really make a difference in your mood.

You never have to let the stress become too much for you to take as long as you have a way to fight back. Yes, life can get pretty hectic at times and leave you feeling a massive strain. Things can feel like they’re going to blow up at any minute. But it’s always darkest before the dawn. Use the tips you’ve learned here and you should be able to get rid of that stress.