Problem/emotion focused

Psychologists suggested two broad types of coping strategies: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. The singular goal of both strategy is to control one's stress level. In problem-focused coping, people attempt to short-circuit negative emotions by taking some action to modify, avoid, or minimize the threatening situation. They change their behavior to deal with the stressful situation. In emotion-focused coping, people try to directly moderate or eliminate unpleasant emotions, its can be achieved through fantasies and adjusting the mind to generate happiness.

Consider the example of a consider a widowed company marketer with set target from the company and left with the responsibility of feeding and catering for the whole family. Its already the third quarter of her marketing period and she knows that in order to retain her job and cope with providing for the family she has to meet with the company's target using all marketing skills she's got. This situation is a potential source of stress. To cope, she could review her marketing strategies, develop newer concept and ideas for marketing and most importantly, adopts new style to meet with her target (problem-focused coping). Or she could decide that she needs to relax and collect herself for an hour or so (emotion-focused coping) before proceeding with an action plan (problem-focused coping). She might also decide to go to the cinemas for some days on end to prevent having to think about the target she has to meet (emotion-focused coping).

In general, problem-focused coping is the most effective coping strategy when people have realistic opportunities to change aspects of their situation and reduce stress. Emotion-focused coping is most useful as a short-term strategy. It can help reduce one's arousal level before engaging in problem-solving and taking action, and it can help people deal with stressful situations in which there are few problem-focused coping options.

Relaxation

Two other major methods of relaxation are progressive muscular relaxation and meditation. Progressive muscular relaxation involves organised tensing and then relaxing different groups of skeletal (voluntary) muscles, while directing one's attention toward the contrasting sensations produced by the two procedures. After practicing progressive muscular relaxation, individuals become increasingly sensitive to rising tension levels and can produce the relaxation response during everyday activities (often by repeating a cue word, such as calm, to themselves).

Meditation

Meditation helps us to achieve subjective goals such as contemplation, wisdom, and altered states of consciousness. Some forms have a religious and spiritual heritage based in Zen Buddhism and yoga. Other varieties emphasize a particular lifestyle for practitioners. One of the most common forms of meditation, Transcendental Meditation, involves focusing attention on and repeating a mantra, which is a word, sound, or phrase thought to have particularly calming properties.

Both progressive muscle relaxation and meditation reliably reduce stress-related arousal. They have been used successfully to treat a range of stress-related disorders, including hypertension, migraine and tension headaches, and chronic pain.

Diet and lifestyle

Take a break and go on vacation once in a while. Consider taking sleep when you are down don't strain yourself for so long.

Lastly one good secret of keeping good mind is eating balance diets, always try to supply necessary nutrients to enable your system function properly, that means once in a while you try to take fruits and other food items which aren't on your routine, try to get most of the nutrients into your system. Remember your health is your wealth.

Social support

Support from friends, family members, and relatives goes a long way in helping stress victims to get by in times of trouble. Social support systems provide people with emotional sustenance, tangible resources and aid, and information when we are in need.

A research has linked social support to good health and a superior ability to cope with stress. For example, one long-term study of several thousand California (USA) residents found that people with extensive social ties lived longer than those with few close social contacts. Another study found that heart-attack victims who lived alone were nearly twice as likely to have another heart attack as those who lived with someone. Even the perception of social support can help people cope with stress, as to knowing that there is always someone to "lean on". Studies have found that people's appraisal of the availability of social support is more closely related to how well they deal with stressors than the actual amount of support they receive or the size of their social network.

Research also suggests that the companionship of animals can help lower stress. For example, one study found that in times of stress, people with pet dogs made fewer visits to the doctor than those without pets.