With the start of another busy year at SAS you are probably feeling the need for all of the above. This interesting article reports on a survey concerning the strategies people find most effective in shaking off a bad mood, increasing energy levels and coping with stress. Reflect on your own strategies and compare them with these findings:

• Exercise: rated as the most effective for changing a bad mood, also good for raising energy and reducing tension.
• Music: rated the second most successful way to change a bad mood, and raising energy and reducing tension. This may be a surprising finding for some people.
• Social interaction: good for changing a bad mood and reducing tension although not necessarily so good for raising energy.

Apart from these main categories that were good across the board, there were other strategies that worked in a more selective fashion:

• Pep talk: this was rated as most successful for energy enhancement - above both exercise and music.
• Distractions (like shopping, reading, chores and hobbies): seen as useful for changing a bad mood.

At the other end of the scale, the things people rated as relatively less successful were:

• TV: less effective for reducing tension
• Eating: also less effective for reducing tension.
• Coffee: not that good for raising energy, relative to the other categories.

Though the article itself acknowledges that these strategies are all fairly obvious the point is to practice successful strategies and avoid those that you suspect are useless.

Comments welcome.