According to Gallup’s Global Emotions Report (2023) from the American Institute of Stress, about 49% of Americans experience significant daily stress. The Mayo Clinic advises that chronic stress puts health at risk. Stress hormones can disrupt almost all of the body’s processes. However, it is possible to lower cortisol levels for a less stressful life. Here is an easy guide anyone can follow.

Ease into the day

Many people start the morning with an alarm clock, checking emails or social media, or turning on the news. A barrage of information and stimuli can trigger an immediate spike in stress hormones. Instead of waking up and getting riled up, avoid screens or stressful information for the first half hour of the day. Replace screen-related activities with more mindful ones, such as stretching, sitting in the sun, enjoying nature, or even journaling. 

Learn breathing techniques

Stress fires up the nervous system, and slowing down breathing can help combat it. Various breathing techniques are designed to usher in calm and clarity. One of them is the 4-7-8 technique, which the Cleveland Clinic offers. With this method, you inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, and then exhale slowly for 8 seconds.

Eat the right foods

High-sugar snacks are a go-to choice when people eat to combat stress. But these snacks cause insulin to spike, followed by crashes that can mimic the feelings of anxiety. Instead, choose foods that won’t cause insulin spikes, but rather help regulate the stress response. Magnesium is known to help promote calm, according to the National Institutes of Health, and foods like spinach, almonds, and dark chocolate are rich in magnesium.

Get moving more

Exercise is a great way to metabolize excessive stress hormones that build up during a long day. The general guideline of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity movement a day will increase the heart rate enough to trigger the release of endorphins, the body’s mood-elevating feel-good chemicals.

Write things down

Stress can materialize when you feel you are going to forget something or have too much on your list. Writing tasks down gets them out of your brain, so they aren’t on a constant loop. According to Michael Scullin, director of the Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory at Baylor University, a group of people who wrote down a to-do list of tasks they had to complete fell asleep nine minutes faster than a group that did not make such a list. This “cognitive offloading” is a physical act that relieves mental load and can reduce stress.

These stress-busting tips are coping mechanisms for daily life. They don’t have to be done all at once; pick one morning habit and one evening habit to start with in the first week and progress from there as you adapt.