Stress Management: Approaches for Preventing and Reducing Stress

Harvard Medical School Special Health Report

by Herbert Benson, Aggie Casey

Whether it comes in the form of a pile of unpaid bills, a contentious argument with your spouse, a worrisome health problem, or a traffic jam, stress is a part of everyday life. While some stress is inevitable, when your body repeatedly encounters a set of physiological changes dubbed the stress response, trouble can brew. Stress may contribute to or exacerbate various health problems, including high blood pressure, suppression of the immune system, headaches, insomnia, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome. But it s possible to dismantle negative stress cycles. This report can help you identify your stress warning signs and learn how to better manage stressful situations. In these pages, you ll find a variety of tools you can use to accomplish that task. In addition, you ll find a handy four-page portable section that walks you through a variety of quick, easy stress relief techniques. Your job is to decide which tools fit you best and to start using them. Your efforts can reward you richly with better health, greater peace of mind, and a smoother, more joyful course through life.

47 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2008

About the author

Herbert Benson, M.D. (born 1935), is an American cardiologist and founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He graduated from Wesleyan University and Harvard Medical School.

Benson is Mind/Body Medical Institute Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute (BHI). He is the author or co-author of more than 175 scientific publications and 11 books. More than four million copies of his books have been printed in many languages.

Benson is a pioneer in mind/body medicine, one of the first Western physicians to bring spirituality and healing into medicine. In his 35+ year career, he has defined the relaxation response and continues to lead teaching and research into its efficacy in counteracting the harmful effects of stress. The recipient of numerous national and international awards, Dr. Benson lectures widely about mind/body medicine and the BHI's work. His expertise is frequently sought by national and international news media, and he appears in scores of newspapers, magazines, and television programs each year. Dr. Benson's research extends from the laboratory to the clinic to Asian field expeditions. His work serves as a bridge between medicine and religion, East and West, mind and body, and belief and science.

Benson participated in a dialogue that was held at Harvard in March 1991, as part of a conversation between scientists and Buddhists initiated by 14th Dalaï Lama, organized by the Mind and Life Institute. Book Review: MindScience.