Modern life includes plenty of things that can leave us stressed and tense. From work to school and family, you'll probably encounter numerous things in a day that can trigger a lot of tension.

While some levels of stress are perfectly healthy, too much can have a negative impact on your physical and mental health, as well as overall wellbeing. This is why you need to know how to relieve stress and tension to keep yourself more balanced and be able to cope with anything life throws at you.

To help keep you healthy, here are some simple ways to relieve tension:

Listen to music

Music can really help you to unwind as it causes an emotional response, which can then help reduce tension in your muscles. While chilled-out music is a good option, it's all about finding what works for you, which may be heavy metal.

Take some time out every day to listen to some music and just escape from the stress of your everyday life. It could be a good idea to do this on your commute to and from work or once you get home.

Eat better

Eating healthy foods not only makes your body feel better, it can also improve your mental health and leave you feeling less tense. 

Being stressed often makes us reach for unhealthy foods and drinks with lots of caffeine to keep us going. This can all leave you feeling tired and mean you're missing out on vital nutrients.

Take time to eat right and include plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables in your meal and you could see a difference in your stress levels.

Start yoga

As well as being a great workout, yoga helps to relieve tension. The exercise allows you to focus on your breathing, work out knots in your muscles and meditate to stop you feeling overwhelmed.

Even half an hour of yoga each day can make a big difference so why not see if you can fit a short session into your daily routine? Not only will you feel more relaxed, you'll also find that your muscles become a lot more toned. 

Regular exercise

If yoga isn't your thing, any form of regular exercise can help you de-stress and relieve tension. Walking, running, swimming and cycling are all easy to do and you don't need a mountain of specialist equipment to enjoy them.

Try fitting more exercise into your routine and see what a big difference it will make to you mentally and physically.

Some you time

Of course, just taking some time for yourself can be a bit part of relieving tension. Whether you enjoy reading, like to chill out in the bath or simply want to catch up your soaps, putting 30 minutes to an hour aside for yourself each day or as often as you can may help you feel less stressed.