I was recently discussing the subject of anxiety, stress, and sleep problems with a couple of my friends. All three of us had struggled with these issues and had experienced nervous breakdowns, stress leaves from work, anxiety medication and/or sleeping pills.

Today we are all living without medication, and have found our own unique ways of successfully dealing with stress and anxiety.

Our conversation made me think of how different each of us is. My friends and I all discovered methods to reduce stress and anxiety, and all three of us ultimately found success using a different routine. This shouldn't be too surprising, seeing that my friends and I all have different occupations, hobbies, family situations, body types, fitness levels, personalities, etc. Some found that intense physical exertion was helpful, where others found success with lighter aerobic exercise. Meditation and aromatherapy was seen by some as a cure, and to others as boring and pointless.

Unfortunately, the literature on stress and sleep disorders generally offers the same advice for everyone, and rarely points out that there are no blanket remedies. If you don't realize that stress and sleep remedies are individualistic, and may work better for some than fo

r others, you may cause yourself a lot of frustration and (ironically) stress.

I've found most of the stress and sleep disorder remedy advice I've read on websites and in books to be helpful. At the same time, people should realize that only a small number of these tips may actually work for them.

My advice would be to try a variety of exercises and methods for sleep and anxiety. If you find something works, stick with it, but if it is not helping, move on and try something else. Don't get frustrated if the first few methods you try don't work for you. Remember, you are unique, and many of the stress and sleep tips you find may not be for you. Keep on searching and trying different methods, you'll eventually come across a system that will work for you.

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