forever young naturally lifestyle

If you've always got too much to do and too little time to finish everything, plan out your week in a diary. Build in space for leisure, relationships and downtime.

People who work long hours are at increased risk of suffering injuries and sickness that trigger time off work. If you feel trapped in an overwork culture, consider jobsharing, working part-time, or freelancing, if that is an option. If not, could you consider a careerswitch, sabbatical, or retraining?

Noise pollution—leaking iPods, tantrumming toddlers, wailing sirens—evokes an especially rapid stress response and women seem to have lowest tolerance levels. At home, turn off phones, TV, and radio. Whenever possible, retreat to locations where wind and birdsong are the loudest audible events.

Listening to live music can lower stress levels, reducing blood pressure and feelings of depression and anxiety, shows one study.

Build treats into difficult days. The heart needs constant nourishment from art and beauty, just as the body requires its daily bread. Spend lunchtime in a gallery, go to the ballet, place a bunch of organically grown roses on your desk.

Working long hours and watching TV are closely linked in studies. See how much less stressed you feel if you have non-TV evenings. Does this give you time to talk to your partner, finish chores, take a bath, or simply go to bed earlier?

Keep a stressors and triggers diary. Buy a notebook and rule each page into three columns. In the first column log each time you become angry. In the second column cite the stressor. In the third column write down what you could do, either by avoiding the stress factor or by reacting differently to it.

Lie on your back, arms and legs gently apart. Working from the toes up, tense every part of your body in turn, holding the tension before releasing on an out-breath. Include your feet, calves, thighs and buttocks, abdomen and chest, hands and arms, shoulders and neck, face and scalp. Feel how good relaxation is when compared with tension.

Make sure you always allow enough travel time. If you have to sit in traffic jams regularly, make them productive: learn a language from a CD, listen to audio books, lighten up with a radio comedy, or chill with a relaxation tape.

When everything is overwhelming, close your eyes and imagine a shower of bright white light beating down on the crown of your head. Feel it cleansing your body and washing away negative energy. Then imagine breathing in the pure white light, allowing it to seep into every organ and enter your bloodstream, bringing peace and purity. Finally, exhale the white light, letting it sit around your body like a force-field.