Work is always naturally going to make you feel stressed out. It’s a fact of life. However, between the commute to work – which studies have shown can substantially increase your stress – and everything that goes along with the regular work day, this tension can quickly become overwhelming and be harmful to you. Here are some easy ways to tackle it.

1. Prepare in advance. Set everything out for your day ahead of time. If you have your clothes, work items, and lunch ready to go, you can enjoy a nice few moments in the morning and avoid road rage as you go to work.

2. Sleep well. You will feel better and be able to get up earlier. Without a proper sleep schedule, your stress will build up and you will lose the energy which you could otherwise have allotted to thinking about things and appreciating life.

3. Change up work hours. The 9-5 shift can get boring, so try taking on a different one occasionally. The change can even become permanent if it fits you better, and you’ll get the bonus of missing rush hour traffic.

4. Share your ride. Carpooling helps the environment and allows you to only have to take on the stress of driving occasionally. There can be some pain in getting things organized, but it typically pays off.

5. Relax in your car. Don’t be overwhelmed by the morning commute. If traffic is at a standstill, listen to the radio or invest in an audio book. Use the time to calm down, not get worked up.

6. Get comfortable in bed. Staying in one position as you sleep puts your spine in an uncomfortable position. Put a pillow under it and move around to help relax and reduce pain when you work out.

7. Work out after work. Instead of subjecting yourself to the tension of rush hour, take the time to do some exercise. You avoid stress and encourage relaxation while helping yourself physically as well.

8. Take a break. Take a bit of time to unwind. You can usually find a lounge somewhere in your office. Spend a few relaxing moments there doing slow, deep breathing and you can soon get back to work with renewed vigor.

9. Move your office. Ask if you can work from home from time to time or even try a position at a new office. The change, as well as the adjustment in your schedule, can both be very beneficial.

10. Change your routine. Walk or bike to work. Not only does it get you in great physical shape, but it’s better for the environment than getting in your car, and can change things up in a nice, calming way.

Emily’s doctors say she suffers from “masked depression” instead of what she thought was heart trouble. You might ask: What is that? Can it be treated? If she had a depression, she now has anxiety as well.

Smiling depression, hidden depression, depressive equivalent and masked depression all are names from a major health problem that can “hide” from both a patient and from his/her doctors. Masked depression sufferers, for the most part, are middle-to-upper class women between 40 and 60 years of age, yet many men suffer from it also.

It is one of the most common conditions seen in medical practice yet often is ignored or diagnosed as something else. According to some authorities, as many as 10 percent to 18 percent of all patients seeing physicians actually are depressed and half of them are unaware of it.

Masked depressives often appear to be suffering from some physical illness, such as pain in the joints and/or other parts of the body, heart conditions, headaches, neuralgia, constriction in the throat and chest, dry mouth, vague stomach pains, nausea, vomiting, constipation, vaginal discharge, various sex problems, bouts of sweating and frequent feelings of almost total exhaustion.

Most patients with masked depression deny any depressive feelings or blame them on the physical illness that they believe they have. Consequently, physicians may spend years trying to diagnose a masked depressive’s physical problems only to finally prove that the complaints stem from depression.

Once such diagnosis is established, highly effective treatment can be started. Most often treatment is a combination of antidepressant medicines and psycho-therapy. The best news is that all those symptoms disappear once the depression is under control.