City life today is a bag of stress. Commuting long distances, heavy traffic, tight work schedules, noise of traffic, beep of mobile phones and other electronic items, all these add to stress levels and are unavoidable.

The result of this constant exposure to stress is increase in prevalence of non communicable diseases like hypertension, heart diseases and diabetes globally.

With increasing development and urbanisation, these factors are entering the lives of people living in small towns also. Therefore, it is important that a person should learn to avoid stress and relax, while living and working in modern urban circumstances.

The most important thing for relaxation is the mental attitude of a person. Once an individual considers their work schedule as hectic, they would automatically get stressed. It is important to accept this routine mentally as a normal one and take things in their stride as they come.

People tend to give undue importance to mundane things which tends to cause and augment stress. But it should be remembered that nothing is more important than life. Therefore, if something does not affect life, it should be dealt with lightly.

Positive thinking helps in keeping mind relaxed and happy. Some persons give way to negative thoughts. Even in face of smooth circumstances, they worry unnecessarily, by thinking negative things like, hope  nothing goes  wrong, hope I haven’t forgotten important documents, among others. Thus in this way, they always remain tense. Prayers and meditation aid a person to relax mentally and also help in improving positive thinking of the mind.  One should try to avoid negative feelings like jealousy, frustration and anger as these also rob the mind of mental peace and cause mental stress.

Deep breathing helps in relaxing   the mind. When feeling stressed out try taking deep breaths while counting from 10 to 100 mentally. Immediately you will feel relaxed. One can do deep breathing to relax, before an important meeting or examination to avoid mental tension for that event.

Another important way to relax mentally is counting mentally. You can count forward from one to 100 or reverse from 100 to one. If that seems difficult, just try going in tens like 10, 20, 30 and so on. Within seconds, the mind will get totally relaxed.

It is important to be organised to avoid getting stressed up. One should spend at least 15 minutes every evening for organising the next day’s work. Similarly, getting ready at least five minutes before moving out also keeps an individual relaxed.

Good nutrition and regular physical activity keep both the body and mind healthy. A healthy mind is always stronger than a weak mind and can cope with any amount of stress. Therefore, it is necessary for an individual to try to keep the body healthy. Alcohol and other addicting substances should be avoided.

Breathing exercises of yoga have proved to be beneficial in avoiding mental stress and promoting mental relaxation. By following these simple tips, an individual can remain stress free, and free from the health hazards of mental stress. Work is important for living. But it should not become a cause for mental stress and its resultant problems.

Dr Rachna Pande is a specialist in internal medicine at Ruhengeri Hospital.