Whether you're caring for a loved one who's ill, coping with the loss of a job, or recovering from an abusive relationship, it's a good bet that you're experiencing some level of stress.

Even crawling through bumper-to-bumper traffic each morning is enough to cause some people to lose their cool.

Being exposed to these stressful situations day-after-day, year-after-year can be mentally and emotionally draining -- sometimes to the point of breakdown. And the physical toll is huge. Stress can put you at risk for high blood pressure and heart disease, trigger headaches and asthma attacks, and exacerbate other medical conditions.

Some psychologists say stressed-out Americans are an increasingly common breed.

1. Take a deep breath and hold it for several seconds. Then, as you very slowly let your breath out, repeat your focus word or phrase or prayer.
2. Put your right hand just under your navel. Focus on breathing down into your stomach, not breathing up into your chest. Your hand should rise as you breathe in and fall as you breathe out. Now, as you inhale, say the number "ten" to yourself. Exhale. With the next breath say "nine," then breathe out. Do this until you reach zero.
3. Put your hand under your navel, just as you did for exercise number two. As you breathe in, count very slowly up to four. As you exhale, count very slowly back down to one. So as you breathe in, count one, two, three, four. As you exhale, count four, three, two, one.
4. Breathe in through your nose and then breathe out through your mouth. Do this 10 times. Notice how cool the air feels as you inhale in contrast to how warm it feels when you exhale.