Stress is a factor in obesity, diabetes, high-blood pressure, heart disease, low-sex drive, and cancer. It hurts your family life and job performance and makes life less satisfying, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by stress. So here’s some help. Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, authors of You: Staying Young, offer tips for beating stress.

• One Step At A Time: Divide your workload into tasks to get a sense of accomplishment.
• Get Organized: Putting your worries on paper and out of your head lets you track responsibilities and feel less overwhelmed.
• Don’t Retire From Life: Stay physically and mentally active. Force yourself to walk or run daily.
• See Friends: Play poker, hit the spa, or go out with friends. Such activities provide vital mental medicine, as can activities at your house of worship.
• Get Zen: Breathe deeply, do pushups, or escape to a place with calming music.
• Don’t Become Complacent: Stress makes you fat and lazy, and that feeds on itself to make you lazier and fatter. Ski, swim, go camping or do something fun and different to break the pattern.
• Be Money Smart: Financial problems are a major stressor. Creating a financial plan with a professional you trust is good way?to tackle financial-related stress.