A good night's sleep Medical research confirms what the overworked have always known – the more you sleep, the less stressed you feel. Eighty years ago, the UK slept nine hours a night, but since then it's fallen by 90 minutes. So lie back and snooze like it's the 1920s.

A healthy diet A common response to stress

is to consume as much alcohol, caffeine and nicotine as possible. Booze, fags and coffee might offer short-term comfort, but filling your body with noxious chemicals makes matters worse in the long run. Try bingeing on fresh fruit and veg instead.

Get some exercise A good workout burns up adrenalin – the stuff that makes you stressed in the first place. Exercise also produces endorphin, which is a natural opiate. So a trip to the gym, a swim in the pool or a jog in the park is good for your mind as well as your body.

Talk about it If you express your frustrations you're already half way to resolving them.

Stress does much less damage when it's out in the open than it does when it's bottled up inside. And by talking about your problems, you might well find solutions.

Yoga in cyberspace Thanks to the wonders of the internet, you no longer need to make a pilgrimage to California to enjoy interactive yoga classes. Just type in www.yogaclass.com and you'll find yourself in an online ashram, where you can learn all about deep breathing, spinal flattening and other stress-busting techniques.