A certain amount of stress can benefit us, helping us focus while aiding performance. However, chronic stress is intimately linked with mood disorders, and a slew of attendant health issues. Taking inventory of our requirements and personal limits will help us better cope with stress. There are also a few tips that can help you manage the stress you encounter and avoid its detrimental effects on your health.

A Positive Attitude
One kind of stress or another will always be there. The trick is to turn a negative stress into a potentially positive one. But for some of us, cultivating a cheerful attitude is much easier said than done. Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps you pinpoint unhelpful thinking patterns, and replace them with more positive perspectives.

Activate the Laugh Track
Humor is linked to good self-esteem, composure, and an overall sense of well being. Besides, laughter fosters one's immunity to diseases, which may well boost one's response to treatment for myriad health problems, including HIV and cancer. Laughter can lower blood pressure levels, raises one's tolerance to pain and enhance creativity.

Exercise
Exercise is known to ease anxiety and depression and foster healing of wounds. Lung cancer patients, for example, have reported to feeling a sense of hope after exercising; elderly patients see their wounds heal faster after workout routines. Moderate tai chi, for example, encourages healthy heart and lung function, affects posture and balance, and is suitable for people of all ages and conditions.

Cultivate Relationships
Those who are socially active face much brighter health prospects. Loneliness may adversely affect your health after heart failure or a stroke. An increase in blood pressure is also attributed to women without a social network. Cancer patients receive a boost to the immune system, and report a higher quality of life when surrounded by friends and/or family. Furthermore, socially active seniors are at a lower risk for developing Alzheimer's or dementia.

Music
Playing music has been shown to reduce pain, anxiety and depression for sufferers of chronic back pain. Playing drums in a group has a positive effect on one's immune system. Music therapy is linked to lifting mood, lowering heart rate and blood pressure, and positively influencing the immune system of cancer patients, as well as decreasing symptoms of fatigue and fostering self acceptance in multiple sclerosis patients. Overall, music helps manage stress related to medical procedures, easing pre-surgery anxiety and lessening post-surgery pain.