The word 'stressed out' is becoming a part of everyone's vocabulary these days. Once considered a problem of the Japanese workaholic or the American executive, who lived in fear of being laid off, these days not only professionals in the fast lane, but also housewives and even children require stress busters from time to time to bring back the energy and vitality required to have a meaningful life.

Your body is programmed to warn you of the crisis lurking behind the corner. It is up to you to recognize the signs and act immediately before more harm sets in, for prolonged stress can wreck havoc with the mind and body.

Lookout for the following signs, and even if one of them holds true, you need help. And the only one who can help is YOU.

1. Your stomach hurts; your head aches; you catch colds frequently.
2. You feel emotionally drained.
3. You snap at people: colleagues, your spouse, your kids.
4. People tell you they're worried about you.
5. You feel that if you take on one more task, you're going to blow.
6. You feel like quitting your job. Often.
7. You feel helpless, out of control.
8. You know that whatever you do, things are bound to go wrong.
9. You feel guilty about taking a vacation.

Now get rid of the following myths.

Myth no. 1: Stress is all in the head.

Stress is definitely not ALL in your head. Very quickly, the mind triggers a whole set of bodily responses, including production of the stress hormone cortisol, increased heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, etc. Like a rubber band, if the body's system's are stretched in this way, day after day, it loses capacity to snap back to normal and one's health is compromised.

Myth no. 2: The most stressed people are corporate executives.

Working mothers, women under 50, and low-control (non-management) workers all report higher stress than executives.

Myth no. 3: Increased pressure makes people perform better.

After a point, continued stress reduces performance…and diminishes health.

Myth no. 4: The best way to cope with stress is to take more vacations.

While vacations are great, they are too few and too late for most stressed people. If your system is drained day after day by chronic stress, you cannot bounce back in one day off or even a week at the beach. Vacations can be great, but only when combined with daily breaks that stop the stress response as it occurs…before your energy is depleted.

Now that you have identified the problem and got around the myths surrounding it, what remains is a solution. But wait, not just any solution. A solution cut out for you by you, because no two people are the same, and no one else can know you better than yourself.

One thing that most of us fail to recognize is our ability to get worked up with issues that we are not at all ours. In today's 'crisis mentality' workplace, everything is going a mile a minute, and everything seems urgent. Often, you get caught up in issues simply because everyone else is so worked up because of them. If you took a moment to think about it, you would probably realize that you don't really care about many of the issues. Breaking this habit can alleviate a lot of the stress that you feel.

Sleep is a vital resource for coping with stressful challenges. First and foremost, you need to know how much sleep you need. If you're chronically tired, odds are that you're not getting enough rest. If you have young children, you may even use their bedtime as your own.

Balancing time for yourself, family and friends is critical to reducing the impact of stress in your life, and yet it seems that there's never any time left for all that. The challenge for most people is that everything else seems so important and missing one time with friends or family doesn't seem like a big thing. You schedule your time for yourself, your friends and your family first, and then schedule everything else around that.

Investing in a good massage can do wonders in releasing the locked up tension. There are a host of different therapies available, from traditional Swedish massage through Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Shiatsu, and Reiki. You'll be amazed at how much more relaxed you feel and how much better you are at dealing with your challenges after releasing the physical tension that you have locked up in your body

Another great stress buster is to keep a journal to reflect on the day that has passed. All you need do is reflect on some of your key experiences, or some of the significant thoughts that went through your head in the day. A journal can be like that friend, when there's nobody to speak with.

Step outside your office from time to time and breathe in the fresh air, it can make an amazing difference to your productivity. Stepping outside to get some fresh air gives you some exercise (as opposed to staying scrunched over a desk), which gets things moving and flowing in your body and helps clear your head. It also takes you out of the stale, recycled air of the workplace and allows you to breathe a little more deeply.

Eat healthy. Never compromise on a good diet. If you have a well-balanced diet, including lots of carbohydrates (rice, pasta, potatoes, breads) and fiber (fruits, vegetables, grains), you shouldn't need dietary supplements. Stress does deplete or block some nutrients, and you can replenish these nutrients by good dietary habits.

Beat stress and save your life and sanity. Your efforts will help in not only increased productivity at the workplace but also your personal life will flourish.