Stress sucks. Here are 6 ways to keep it in check.

Working in close quarters with founders of small businesses and startups, one thing I hear about often is how hard it can be to handle the challenges of living dat entrepreneur life.

Even if you’re not the boss, working for a small company that’s struggling to take off can take your stress level to nightmare levels.

In March, I was able to hear the fantastic Dr. Sherry Walling give a talk about startups and stress at MicroConf in Las Vegas.

Dr. Walling mentioned how important it is to take time when you’re feeling stressed to do some slow, deep breathing. It sounds like almost too simple a solution, but believe me, it’s a very effective way to instantly calm yourself down when you start to freak out (as I discovered when I started to get anxious before take-off on the plane ride home from the conference).

Recently, I came across an article on Greatist titled “How to Never Feel Stressed at Work Again” that had some interesting things to say about stress in the workplace. First of all, here’s a startling fact:

Chronic work stress affects at least 70 percent of Americans.

So apparently, the good news is, we’re all in this together. The bad news is, we’re all slowly killing ourselves.

The article delivers six good ways to handle stress at work. One of those ways is meditation, a word that can immediately turn off those who believe it’s a practice for people who either tuned out in the 60s or have their yoga teachers on speed dial. If it helps you feel better about it, you can just replace the word “meditation” with “chilling the hell out.” Then give it a try.

All six methods are shown in the infographic below, via the Greatist. I suggest giving the full article a read if you’ve been feeling on the stressed side lately.

Scream therapy, punching a pillow, dancing to the oldies: Lemme know in the comments what you do to combat stress.