Moonduck, you are going to think I am insane. I'm not ... well, I am normally insane!

BUT, long ago, when I was in the throes of some serious anger issues, a therapist suggested I throw ice at a brick wall. It sounds like breaking glass, "feels" good both because of the throwing and the suond therapy, and waters the grass. Beyond the anger issues, I have used it since simply as a form of stress relief. I have even made ice in baking pans so as to have bigger, more "breakable" stuff than just ice cubes. If you try it, make it thin, but thick enough to make noise. UM...and the neighbors might think you are a bit crazy. But, that is pretty ok with me anyway. We have a good time with it.

Several folks who have taken this suggestion, it has worked for them for stress/depression relief.

Another that works pretty well is making things out of play-doh that represent the stress and then beating the heck out of them. This can be done less ... publicly! :D Others have taken this idea from me too and have found it relaxing.

Me, I prefer the ice ... or racquetball ... or hammering something. ...

+Peace!
~BS

Oh and carving rubber really works for me, I have found. I am not sure what I am gonna do with all these stamps. But, hey, I feel better! hmmmmm thinking over the stamps box, and realizing I must be having a lot of stress lately. ... :D ~BS

To gain weight, I get up in the morning.

For real, this confuses me (I understand there might be sarcasm involved)?

Just a little. Some of us gain weight just watching other people eat. It takes no effort at all.
S

Years ago a friend gave me a "Dammit Doll". It was a small rag doll with long legs that you held it by as you beat it on the wall, couch, etc. while yelling "Dammit, Dammit!" Sounds crazy, but released a lot of stress. You could try slamming a pillow around and yelling.
Crying is also very cathartic.
As for gaining weight, I vote for the nutrition shakes.
Good luck! I hope it helps to know so many people here support you and care,
JBanana

The number one thing that works for me is to take a walk in the woods. Often, when I am feeling anxious, I walk in the Arboretum. It's not far from me (it's still in the city), but it is enough nature to have a feeling of peacefulness and for me to be alone with my thoughts in a good way. It only takes about 20 minutes before I'm feeling better.

You may think you can't take the time out, but you're much more productive if you're not feeling so stressed out.

dewberry

A good cry can be very cathartic, especially if you are keeping stuff bottled up. I have several movies in my DVD collection that I keep just for a good cry. There is one movie that I can guarantee I will cry for the last 15 minutes! Even if I am in a HAPPY mood!! :-) Sometimes it helps to take your mind off your own problems and see a movie where things are so much worse (Schindlers List, Hotel Rwanda etc unless that is going to make you even more sad!!) On the other hand, a movie that will make you laugh can also be a great stress relief...Blades of Glory is a recent movie that made me smile!

For Stress Relief: When I would be all wound up in college, my friends would take me to a bookstore. For some reason this always calmed me down and made me happy. It still works for me. I just love to browse around bookstores and I can do it for hours. ---You need to find some place (it can be in your mind like meditation or a real place) that makes you happy and then just go there. (Like dewberry said about taking a walk)

-Amanda from Seattle

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For Stress Relief: When I would be all wound up in college, my friends would take me to a bookstore.

oooh, bookstores are good too. And as odd as it may seem, there's something very calming for me when I go to stores like Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma (not when they're packed full of people). All those gleaming shelves of high-priced cookware are very soothing. I usually don't buy anything, but I think I like the order of those places when my world is feeling a little chaotic.

dewberry

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You need to find some place (it can be in your mind like meditation or a real place) that makes you happy and then just go there.

Seattle is this place for me. Which is the number one reason that I live here. Just being here at home relieves all kinds of stress for me. I can actually feel my blood pressure lowering as we make the approach to fly in! Before I moved here, I visited as often as I could just to have that calming feeling of being here.

-Amanda from Seattle

I'm so glad I have read this board! There are some really constructive and healthy ways of deling with stress here! LOVE the walk in the woods. Esp. if you go alone (not s'posed ta be safe...but having someone else there keeps you from getting 'lost' in thought.) When I was in HS, I used to turn on Led Zepplin and dim the lights and just lay on my bed and daydream with the music in the background....NO I wasn't having any sort of 'enhanced' daydreaming.

I also knit. It is relaxing and fun.

The crying thing really works too. I hate the way I look in the morning after having had a really good cry, but it's worth it in the long run. I went through a year of depression my first year in college and really learned to appreciate how much better I felt after a cry.

I also read myself to sleep. Juvenile fantasy/fic works best....none of that adult lit stuff for me!

I suffer from migraines, many of which stem from stress, and my migraine specialist actually prescribed walks. I MUST take a 15 minute walk around lunchtime at work every day, rain or shine. And believe me, when I'm really pissed/stressed, my walking pace is super-fast and it helps SO much. Also, deep breathing, but pay attention to HOW you are breathing. Again, my migraine specialist recommends diaphragmatic breathing. This is done by breathing in and pushing out your belly. Your chest shouldn't move and your shoulders shouldn't raise at all. When you can do that, it actually is proven to trigger the relaxation response (which regular deep breathing does not). For me to learn how to do that was a HUGE help. Regular deep breathing does nothing for me, but diaphragmatic breathing works!

And also, and I totally don't endorse doing this every night, but every so often, after an extremely rough day, I'll have a rusty nail (scotch and drambuie sp?). Again, not every day, for me it's probably once every couple of months, but sometimes it's JUST what I need. :D

-gollygee

Also, any suggestions as to how to gain weight?

Drink Nestle Carnation Instant Breakfast twice a day. I know it sounds silly and some people say you are supposed to loose weight with them, but for my family it does the opposite. I wasn't gaining weight with my first pregnancy (I was loosing it actually, I gained only 7 lbs at 6 mos) anyway, so I drank them twice a day and BINGO! After a month I gained another 7 lbs. My sister, who is 13, is also having trouble gaining weight. She eats and everything, not annorexic at all. So her doctor told her to drink those twice a day as well. She too gained weight, about 5 lbs in a month. It may seem like a small amount, but when you are really tiny/skinny, it makes a big difference. And just think, they are nutritional too! Added Bonus!

Good Luck!

♥ Lady Lilac

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Okay folks, what do you all do to help when you're stressed?!

I've read some of the responses. Pretty good. Another option for both stress relief and gaining weight would be vitamins and supplements.

Good luck, hope you destress yourself,

Janet, Blooming Flowers

I lay on the bed and pet my cat. After 2 minutes I am much better. Very simple but it works.

Sex always works for me! Just when you think that would be the LAST Thing you need or want, you get all the happy endorphins and all is again well in the world. :)

Sex always works for me

I second that remedy for stress! one really good O make even the worst day better.

sex always works for me

I don't get the 'i have a headache complaint. Sex actually helps a headache, too.

Yippy! I finally did it! I offically LIKE wiki! I am 'slower than mollasses runnin' uphill in January.' But i finally got it! :)

But what if the headache was caused by the person wanting the "favors"? ;-)

one really good O...

Even while reading? Just wondering about the trail name. (heehee. Devilish laugh)

Just wondering about the trail name

What's to wonder????

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Sex actually helps a headache, too.

Headache, yes. Migraine, no. :D The last thing you need when you have a pounding migraine is more... pounding. :D But if you can manage to have sex right when the migraine is starting, before it's an all-out rager, that can actually help! :)

-gollygee

Yeah, that is one of the things that I can do to head off a migrane, if I catch it soon enough.

Ki
SS

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Headache, yes. Migraine, no.

I totally agree! Would you please tell my husband this?

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Yeah, that is one of the things that I can do to head off a migrane, if I catch it soon enough.

DON'T tell my husband THAT! I get WAY too many migraines for him to know that little detail.

DON'T tell my husband THAT! I get WAY too many migraines for him to know that little detail.

Well don't let him see this then
http://www.merb.ca/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-14993.html

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and for the emails too. It actually helped a lot and I'm going grocery shopping tonight to get some of these things as well (Carnation Instant Breakfast was suggested often). And I'm going to the library tonight, I love the library and can lose myself in there and I do need something to read. And I did some of the other things last night even, but I'm not telling which! ; )

By the time I got home from work yesterday I was bawling (a 5 minute drive too!) and my man met me at my car and just brought me in and held me and let me cry, none of that why are you crying crap from him.... then I discovered we had company and they were hiding for a few to give me some space ; ) I was so embarrassed about some of the things I'd unknowingly talked about in front of them (2 men) but they just started telling some horror stories too and not stupid jokes that aren't helpful but real stories with "how they got thru it" endings.... and it just made things a lot more bearable.

Then my man made me sit and play a video game while HE made dinner and cleaned up instead of sharing the responsibility like usual.... and then later I took a hot bath and had some sleepytime tea and some chocolate and he made me take a sleeping pill (he said he could still see my gears turning and it wasn't good--and they were and it wasn't, lol) and rubbed my back until I fell asleep.

I don't quite feel better, I still feel tense and tired but I do feel like I can get through this, I just needed a different strategy b/c the old one wasn't working. I have faith again that things will be okay. And I know I have a rock of a man.... he was going to learn how to make a wedding cake in the next three weeks just so I had someone I knew I could count on! I told him that was silly and we'll just buy one, lol! That wasn't my big worry, but it was the icing on the cake after a weekend of disappointments, ha ha.

Thanks again everyone and I do hope this helped some others too! Stress is a terrible thing!
moonduck

Thanks, Oread. That's just great.

It's a good thing I wasn't drinking my mocha when I opened that up. I'd hate for a $4 coffee to go flying out my nose.

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Well don't let him see this then

HA!!! Somehow I don't think I'll be rushing for that to prevent breast cancer anytime soon. :D And I'd put money that the funding for that stupid study came from a man. I mean really. :D

-gollygee

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And I'd put money that the funding for that stupid study came from a man. I mean really. :D

I was pretty entertained and astounded reading that article. Then I looked below for responses to it.

More than one person knew it was a bogus article, purposely written as bogus. The author was even quoted as saying it was false but get out there and get all the . . . . . you can.

There was no scientific study at all. Sure is entertaining though.

Now, here's the study that was a lot of fun to read. It truly did find that ingredients in beer & pizza were good for the prostate — if you ate four large pizzas and drank 17 beers A DAY.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13289882/

What's fun is that the research came from one of my alma maters, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.

KuKu

I was pretty entertained and astounded reading that article. Then I looked below for responses to it.

The title wasn't the first tip off that it wasn't a true study????