This concise and easy-to-read book contains a full toolbox of stress management techniques. Throughout the book, numerous real-life stories are employed to illustrate how stress management techniques can be used in practical, meaningful ways. Famous quotations also illustrate important points and help to make Stress Management Made Simple an enjoyable and easy read. More specifically, in Stress Management Made Simple, readers will learn and practice how to relax for specified periods of time, how to use newfound relaxation skills to decrease tension and increase enjoyment throughout the day, and how to recognize their own thought processes and alter them to markedly decrease the internal effects of stress. Subsequent chapters present a framework for keeping things in perspective, managing anger and frustration, taking the stress out of decision making, and improving sleep. Since much of stress typically centers around relationships (both at work and at home), Stress Management Made Simple includes an in-depth discussion of effective communication skills. It also includes a medical discussion to help alert readers as to when their problems might represent more that "just stress" and, in these cases, provides a preliminary discussion of what to do about it. As one reviewer has said, Stress Management Made Simple "provides thoughtful and pragmatic 'one-stop shopping' for those readers who wish to better manage stress and to improve the quality of their lives."

About the double CD set

More than any single stress management book available, the included two CD set renders the Stress Management Made Simple package effective in helping users to learn and incorporate essential stress management skills. Upon completion of the book and two CD set, your ability to manage stress will markedly improve. The CDs are not a duplication of the book. They contain exercises that complement the written material and enhance the learning experience. The CD exercises build one upon another. The first CD exercise teaches relaxation techniques that can be used whenever a few free minutes are available. In the next exercise, listeners will learn and practice how to relax throughout the day (even when a few free minutes are not available). A subsequent exercise teaches listeners how to recognize non-productive thought patterns and change these thoughts to better deal with stress. Further exercises provide information and practice in how to make eating, walking, and stretching more relaxing and useful as tools to decrease daily stress. The final CD exercise provides effective tools and techniques for improving sleep and relief for stress-related insomnia.