how I beat stress: four personal strategies

© channel 4

1. Love is the drug for presenter and musician Mat Fraser
2. Headteacher Monica Galt gives a lesson in stress relief
3. Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson reveals his personal stress secrets
4. Channel 4's Jon Snow tells how he avoids getting 'snowed' under

Mat Fraser

Mat Fraser is an actor, performance artist and musician. He presented the Channel 4 programme 'Born Freak' and was previously presenter of Channel 4's alternative disability show 'Freak Out'. He was born with short arms due to his mother taking the drug thalidomide while pregnant. Here he shares his top 10 tips on dealing with stress.

1. Be in love
2. Expose yourself to your favoured form of comedy and make yourself belly laugh for as long as possible.
3. Do a physical workout that makes you sweat hard for at least an hour, preferably two. The ensuing endorphin release will make you feel much less stressed.
4. Don't eat or drink to relieve stress, but a little herbal assistance can be relaxing ... try some herbal essences in the bath.
5. Listen to music that makes you wonder at the beauty of it; the Ramones or Motorhead do it for me.
6. Get some close contact stress relief ... use some oils.
7. Help someone who is having a hard time with something. Clichéed though it may be, doing good stuff for other people relieves stress.
8. Mentally relive your happiest time, indulging in the actual feeling of the happiness experienced, not the reality of it being gone.
9. Get a full body massage: darkness, mood sounds, aromatherapy etc, with joint clicking (Thai massage is good) lasting at least a full hour.
10. Indulge in the unconditional love of an animal companion.

Monica Galt

Monica Galt is headteacher of Kings Road primary school, in Old Trafford, near Manchester. The school has 500 pupils and 21 teachers. She has been in teaching since 1971 and believes that helping her staff manage their stress levels is one way to help yourself. Here are her tips for a stress-reduced life.

1. Get up early in the morning in order to have a relaxed start to the day. Enjoy a soak in bubble bath to gather thoughts and plan for the day ahead.
2. Build good relationships with staff. Share problems – this often leads to easier solutions.
3. Talk to colleagues on a regular basis.
4. Delegate responsibilities to a strong and committed senior management team.
5. Laugh, laugh, laugh, with staff, children and parents.
6. Wine and dine with friends on a regular basis.
7. Have somebody come to clean my house and do my ironing.
8. Indulge in watercolour painting and Rachmaninov concerts played at full volume.
9. Gardening – which I love.
10. Riding and messing about with horses.

Sir Liam Donaldson

Prof Sir Liam Donaldson was appointed the government's chief medical officer for England in 1998. His job is to advise government and the public on health risks, like BSE, smoking and alcohol; and to improve the nation's health (especially reducing inequalities) and clinical performance in the NHS. This is how he relieves the pressures of his working day.

1. Always be prepared to reassess a misunderstanding with a colleague.
2. Don't let the behaviour of unreasonable people get under my skin.
3. Take one good overseas holiday a year.
4. Always keep an external focus. Thinking about how my work can help the population's health or patients – rather than becoming embroiled in the machinations of Whitehall – makes a heavy workload bearable.
5. Think ahead and try to anticipate problems as well as preparing well for particularly high pressure events.
6. Try to see the funny side of most things (some are too awful ever to be funny).
7. Don't drink, eat or shop to relieve stress.
8. Try to build a strong cohesive team at work. A successful team is likely to take pride in the results it achieves, have high morale, and individuals within it will be less liable to become stressed.
9. Make up a tape or mini-disc of favourite tracks and listen to it at times of high pressure. Candy's Room by Bruce Springsteen; Blind Willie McTell by Bob Dylan; Daylight Fading by Counting Crows; and Local Hero by Dire Straits, work for me.
10. Close my eyes and replay my memory of the 90 minute period on 20 October 1996 when Newcastle United beat Manchester United 5-0. Replay Ginola's goal twice. Note: this increases stress for Manchester United fans.

Jon Snow

Jon Snow is the main presenter of Channel 4 News. He has anchored the programme from wherever major world events occur, including Washington during the Clinton impeachment hearings and Pristina as the Serbs left Kosovo. He has grilled heads of government at home and abroad, and often does his own reporting on major stories. This is how he relieves the pressures of the day.

1. Remember it's only television ... never a matter of life or death.
2. Observe what's going on around you. Take a deep breath and pursue your own best instincts.
3. Let off steam regularly with outbursts of outrageous observation, hopefully with a humorous under or over tone.
4. Stay independent of forces you cannot control: transport being the most important. Cycle and walk wherever you can. Try never to depend on car, bus, taxi, or train. When on a plane, lie back and think of England.
5. Swim whenever you can.
6. Indulge in a Chunky Kitkat before going 'on air' and cycle it off afterwards.
7. Play tennis whenever you have downtime.
8. In long periods of de-stressing, paint... preferably with water colours as they remain so unpredictable and are utterly absorbing.
9. Fantasise plentifully... but try to avoid serious entanglement.
10. Sustain old friendships beyond work... love those who love you... and try loving those who don't... you never know what might happen!