Laughter physically benefits the body by strengthening the immune system and lowering stress hormones.

“The National Cancer Institute reports that regular laughter, check this out, strengthens your immune system by lowering stress hormones in your body. It also increases the number of natural killer cells and activated tea cells that you have.”

Regular meditation practices effectively reduce stress, which can lead to better sleep quality and potentially lower the total amount of sleep needed.

“By meditating, you get the healthy pattern of cortisol release, you sort of inoculate yourself somewhat against the unhealthy pattern of cortisol release, and as a consequence, either the sleep that people get is deeper and/or the total amount of sleep that they need is reduced.”

Walking in nature improves both working memory and stress-related metrics even when individuals do not personally enjoy the experience or find it particularly pleasant.

“We also had participants walk in January, 25 degrees Fahrenheit. People said, "Mark, I was freezing my butt off out there. I did not enjoy that walk." But incredibly, the people that walked in January when it was freezing cold and they didn't enjoy the walk obtained the same working memory and atten”

Hypnosis aids in stress reduction by helping individuals dissociate their somatic physical reactions from their psychological reactions.

“Hypnosis can be very helpful in dissociating somatic reaction from psychological reaction.”

Meditation serves as a powerful tool to de-excite the nervous system, allowing the body to heal itself and release accumulated stress stored in cellular memory.

“And when you de-excite something, you create order. And when you create order in your body, that is the mechanics by which the body's able to release that lifetime of accumulated stress because the body doesn't want to be stressed.”

Intentional slow nose breathing and prolonged exhalations can physically signal the brain that the body is safe, reducing stress.

“The speed of the exhalation during rest should be about one and a half to two times that of the inhalation”

Stephen Dalton advocates for accepting rest as a necessary and ordinary part of being human rather than something that requires justification.

“He realizes then that the warmth of the painting does not come from the light or the colors, but from how little is being asked of the person inside it. The woman is not smiling. She is not suffering. She is simply there. Allowed to sit with herself for a moment without interruption.”