Work related tensions, personal issues and abnormal lifestyles are the causes for mental stress and strain. These disorders if not taken care of in time, can have adverse impact on the health and fitness of an individual. Here are few tips to cope with stress and strain. These tips take the premise that idleness causes our thoughts drift towards sad events, work tension, family issues etc. Therefore we have to find ways and means to keep ourselves occupied with stress relieving activities, a few of which are given below.

1. Practice yoga after initial training under an expert. Yoga has a dual benefit of exercise and meditation.

2. Listen to classical Indian music, which have soothing compositions called ragas for different periods of a day, such music suitable for morning time, afternoon time, evening time and nighttime. Compositions also exist for different seasons.

3. Cultivate a hobby like gardening, bird watching, etc.

4. Get interested in some burning topic of the world and keep tracking the related issues around the world daily.

5. Involve yourself in interacting with under privileged people like orphans, disabled and try to help them in possible ways. This can make you feel that conditions are not that bad for you.

6. Rear a pet, and take care of it with love. Pets can be good friends with positive emotional attachment for you. It can distance your loneliness.

7. Try to avoid late nights and abnormal food habits.

The author Holds a Masters degree in Agricultural Sciences and is cofounder of an organization involved in Nature conservation and sustainable development. The author can be reached at uravikumar@yahoo.com