Stress comes at us from all angles – work, school, family, and even our daily commute. Fortunately, the advice found in this selection of handpicked tips and tricks can be used to constructively assess and respond to the most common sources of stress. Keep calm, carry on, and remember these tips in your time of need.

A great tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to eliminate caffeine from your diet. Even though drinking coffee has become so popular these days, getting too much caffeine can have serious side effects. Cutting out caffeine will help you feel much less anxious.

Breaking big jobs into smaller chunks will reduce your stress in numerous ways! Most importantly this will make the job seem less overwhelming and more approachable; additionally you will be better prepared to actually complete the job in a timely manner. Failure to meet deadlines and fulfill duties is a major cause of stress so if you change your initial approach to a big job and can do it more efficiently you are one step ahead of the next one!

A great tip that can help you feel less stressed is to go back and finish something that you started. We all know the lingering feeling of leaving something unfinished. By going back and completing something that you left unfinished, your stress will go down and you’ll feel much better.

Try to get as much sleep as you possibly can during the course of the day, regardless of how much you have to work. Lack of sleep will result in increased stress levels, which can limit your productivity and hurt the way that you feel. Aim for 8 hours of sleep a night to feel your best.

A great tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to count to ten when you’re feeling really stressed out. You don’t want to act on your impulses when you’re stressed because they can lead to ugly consequences. Taking a little time out can help you regather your thoughts.

Instead of internalizing all of the stress that you have, write down on paper the things that are bothering you. This is a great way to purge your feelings so that they are not kept inside and causing more anxiety during the course of the day.

Drugs and alcohol are seductive temptations that people try to use to treat intolerable stress. This serves as an escape from all the problems in their lives. Drugs and alcohol will not help you. They are likely to make your life more complicated instead of doing any good in relieving your daily stress.

Although it may seem incredibly silly, the very act of counting to ten slowly can really help you to clear your head and allow you to move past the stress. If you think that there is no way that this could help you out, you should give it a try.

If you have a significant other, take him or her to a restaurant for a candlelight dinner. This will focus your attention on the one you love so that you can enjoy yourself for the moment and not worry about past and future events.

To deal with very stressful situations, it can really help to give yourself some distance. See if you can get away for a day or two and go somewhere calm so that you can think about the problem objectively. Being stuck in the thick of a situation makes it difficult to see what a disconnected observer might find obvious.

Try to plan your week at work or school in advance, so that you do not put pressure on yourself to do everything in one day. Procrastination is one of the worst things that you can do when trying to limit stress, as you should attempt to create equilibrium as often as possible.

Stop smoking. Smoking is often a reaction to stress. When stressed people actively seek out chemicals and activities that they perceive as providing relief. Tobacco contains nicotine and it is a powerful addictive chemical. Smoking also keeps your hands occupied, something your mind sometimes pushes you to do when you are stressed.

To help yourself relax during a long day at work, be sure to leave the office for lunch. Even if you just step outside to eat your bagged lunch in the park, getting away from your office can do wonders to decrease your stress. A 15 to 20 minute break from your environment makes a long day a whole lot easier to cope with.

So whether you are having trouble coping with a new job, passing a difficult course, or dealing with unforeseen events that make it difficult to go about one’s business with an air of calm — do not be afraid to call upon these tips to help you cope.