Stress Awareness Month: Stress release tips from Martha Beck

With April 1 being “All Fool’s Day” and our taxes due on April 15, it is no wonder that the month of April was designated as Stress Awareness Month. Speaking of that oh-so-stressful time of tax season, the official Stress Awareness Day is April 16. Perfect timing! With a month dedicated to stress awareness, now is a good opportunity to learn what effect that stress can have on our bodies and tips to alleviate stress.

Regarding the effects of stress, earlier this year Secret Deodorant commissioned HealthyWomen to conduct a study on women’s stresses. One finding of the study was a correlation between stressors and sweat … this is called stress sweat, which actually smells worse then regular sweat. The scientists over at Secret created New Secret Clinical Strength Stress Response with BCD technology, which actually traps stress sweat odor with odor-neutralizing molecules that neutralize smelly stress sweat odor. Yay, one less issue to worry about during tax season!

As for controlling, or rather coping with stress, Oprah's Lifeclass Curriculum Contributor and Life Coach, Martha Beck, shared a few tips specifically for Women’s Issues readers, so that you can best navigate tax season-related stress and keep that stress sweat to a minimum.

Martha Beck advises the following:

• Tax Perspective – Rather than grumble over the money you’re “losing” to taxes, feel appreciation and gratitude for everything your taxes help buy: well-kept roads, running water, free public schools, and so on. You’re actually getting a lot for your money, and paying taxes with gratitude and appreciation brings you into the energy of stress-free abundance.
• Taxing Taxes - Help make your next tax season and reason to stress less. Depositing half of your earned cash into a new account will help paying taxes from feeling too harsh come tax time. The deposited funds that you use to pay taxes won’t feel like so much of a sacrifice, because you won’t really view it as yours.
• Team Taxing – Some people are better than others at the detail work that comes with taxes. If the very thought of doing your taxes brings on stress sweat, an accountant may save you anxiety and enough money to come out ahead. Or you can ask a tax-savvy friend for help in exchange something you’re good at.
• Taxes and Tea - To make paying taxes less stressful, add small creature comforts. Sip your favorite tea latte, wear soft slippers and a bathrobe, play your favorite music. You’ll be surprised how these physical comforts balance the mental work and emotional stress of getting those forms sent off by tax time.

Secret has partnered with Oprah’s Lifeclass to support women in stress management and to offer tips and tools about a plethora of issues, including stress sweat. For more information, please visit Oprah.com/Secret.

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