Taking frequent effective exercise is one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques available. Exercise not only improves your health and reduces stress caused by unfitness, it also relaxes tense muscles and helps you to sleep.

Exercise has a number of other positive benefits you may not be aware of:

• It improves blood flow to your brain,
  bringing additional sugars and oxygen
  that may be needed when you are thinking
  intensely.
  
• When you think hard, the neurons of
  your brain function more intensely. As
  they do this, they can build up toxic
  waste products that can cause foggy thinking
  (you may have experienced the feeling
  that your brain has "turned to cotton
  wool"). By exercising, you speed
  the flow of blood through your brain,
  moving these waste products faster.
  
• Exercise can cause release of chemicals
  called endorphins into your blood stream.
  These give you a feeling of happiness
  and positively affect your overall sense
  of well-being.
  

There is also good evidence that physically fit people have less extreme physiological responses when under pressure than those who are not. This means that fit people are more able to handle the long- term effects of stress, without suffering ill health or burnout.

There are many wrong approaches to exercise. Some traditionally recommended forms of exercise actually damage your body over the medium- or long-term. Your doctor is a good starting point for recommending good forms of exercise.

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