How to reduce stress naturally: 5 habits that hold up

Stress is the body's alarm system: a surge of adrenaline and cortisol that sharpens you for a short emergency. The trouble is modern life keeps the alarm ringing. Weeks of it show up as poor sleep, a tight jaw, a short fuse, and a stomach that complains; months of it push blood pressure, blood sugar and the immune system the wrong way. Most of what's written about "natural stress relief" is a list of 16 things you'll never do. This is a shorter list, built on the 5 things I actually do, with the research that backs each one.

What stress does to the body

Short-term, the stress response is useful: heart rate and breathing go up, blood sugar rises, digestion and immunity are put on hold, because none of them matter in an emergency. The problem is when "on hold" becomes the default. Long-running cortisol disturbs sleep, raises appetite for sugar and fat, dampens the immune response, and sensitises the gut, which is why stress so often arrives as heartburn or an unsettled stomach. It's a stressful period that brought on my own acid reflux, which I wrote about in our acid reflux article. The reflux got better when the stress did, not before.

1. Move, every day

Exercise is the best-evidenced stress treatment there is, and it doesn't need to be a gym. A 2018 systematic review of 15 trials found that exercise reduced anxiety symptoms, with higher-intensity sessions working better than gentle ones, and the broader "exercise as medicine" literature puts physical activity on the treatment list for anxiety and depression alongside medication. Mechanically, it burns off the adrenaline the alarm released, lowers resting cortisol over time, and is the most reliable sleep aid short of a prescription.

What works in practice: 30 minutes of something that raises your breathing, most days. A brisk walk counts. If you can do it outdoors, better (see 3). If you can do it in the morning, better still, because it sets up the night's sleep. The rule is "every day", not "hard"; a walk you take beats a run you skip.

2. Breathe, slowly

This is the one people dismiss, and it's the one with the clearest physiology. Slow breathing, around 6 breaths a minute, directly stimulates the vagus nerve, which is the brake on the stress response. A 2018 systematic review found that slow-breathing practices increase heart-rate variability (a marker of a calm nervous system), reduce anxiety and anger, and improve mood, and the effect starts within minutes.

The simplest version: breathe in through the nose for a count of 4, out through the nose or mouth for a count of 6, for 5 minutes. The long out-breath is what matters. Do it in the car before you go in, in the queue, before a difficult call. Nobody can see you doing it, and it costs nothing.

3. Quiet time, preferably outside

By quiet time I mean 15 to 20 minutes with no screen, no task and no input: sitting in the garden, walking without a podcast, a cup of tea on the stoep. Two findings make the case. A 2014 analysis of 47 trials of meditation programmes found moderate evidence that mindfulness practice reduces anxiety, depression and pain, about as much as medication does in some comparisons. And you don't have to call it meditation: a 2019 study that had people spend time in urban green space found that 20 to 30 minutes of nature contact produced the biggest drop in salivary cortisol, and a 2015 experiment found a 90-minute walk in nature reduced rumination (the loop of worrying thoughts) where the same walk along a busy road didn't.

So: 20 minutes, outside if you can manage it, with the phone left behind. If your mind races, go back to the breathing. That's the whole practice.

4. Be kind, including to yourself

Social connection is the oldest stress buffer humans have. Time with people who make you feel safe lowers cortisol and raises oxytocin, and people with the fewest connections are the most likely to end up anxious or depressed. The practical part is small: a phone call instead of a text, a meal with a friend, a kind word to a stranger. Kindness turns out to be good for the person giving it.

The other half is self-talk. The harshest voice most people hear all day is their own. Treating a bad day the way you'd treat a friend's bad day ("that was hard, you did what you could") is not soft; it's the difference between stress that passes and stress that compounds.

5. Keep it simple

A lot of stress is self-generated by a list that's too long. 3 habits help more than any supplement:

• Say no to one thing a week that you'd normally take on. The world adjusts.
• Write it down. A to-do list on paper, in priority order, empties the part of the mind that otherwise rehearses it at 3 am. Add 3 things you're grateful for at the bottom; it sounds trite, and it works.
• Cut the caffeine after lunch. Caffeine mimics the stress response (it raises adrenaline and heart rate) and in sensitive people tips worry into anxiety. If you're jittery or sleeping badly, this is the first thing to try, before anything in a bottle.

What about supplements and essential oils?

Older versions of this article listed lemon balm, ashwagandha, valerian, kava and a shelf of essential oils. The honest position is this: the evidence for most is small and short-term, some (kava especially) carry real safety concerns, and none has the track record of the 5 habits above. Lavender oil on a pillow is pleasant and harmless. Anything you swallow for stress, discuss with a pharmacist or doctor first, particularly if you take other medicines. If sleep is the problem, our sleep article is the place to start.

When it's more than stress

Stress that lifts when the pressure lifts is normal. Worry you can't switch off, panic, a low mood that lasts for weeks, or thoughts of harming yourself are not something to walk off, and a GP is the right first call. In South Africa, SADAG runs a 24-hour mental health helpline on 0800 456 789 (SMS 31393) and the Suicide Crisis Helpline on 0800 567 567.

Frequently asked questions

What's the fastest way to calm down?
Slow breathing with a long out-breath, for 2 minutes. It works on the nervous system directly and needs nothing.

How much exercise reduces stress?
Around 30 minutes most days of anything that raises your breathing. Consistency matters more than intensity, though harder sessions appear to help anxiety more.

Does stress cause acid reflux?
It doesn't make more acid, but it makes you feel it more, slows digestion, and pushes you towards the habits (late eating, coffee, wine) that trigger it. See our acid reflux article.

Does magnesium help with stress?
If you're short of it, possibly; many people are. The evidence for magnesium as a stress treatment in people who aren't deficient is weak. Pumpkin seeds, leafy greens and legumes cover most people's needs.

The sources

• Aylett E, Small N, Bower P (2018). Exercise in the treatment of clinical anxiety in general practice: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Health Services Research 18:559. 15 trials. View →
• Pedersen BK, Saltin B (2015). Exercise as medicine: evidence for prescribing exercise as therapy in 26 different chronic diseases. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 25(Suppl 3):1–72. View →
• Zaccaro A et al. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: a systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 12:353. View →
• Goyal M et al. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine 174:357–368. 47 trials, 3,515 participants. View →
• Hunter MR, Gillespie BW, Chen SY (2019). Urban nature experiences reduce stress in the context of daily life based on salivary biomarkers. Frontiers in Psychology 10:722. View →
• Bratman GN et al. (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. PNAS 112:8567–8572. View →

Find out more

• How sleep improves your health
• What to drink for acid reflux: 5 drinks that help, and what to avoid
• Foods that support your immune system: what the research says
• Our story

This article is general information, not medical advice. If stress is affecting your sleep, mood or health for more than a few weeks, see your doctor.

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