One of the surest ways to feeling stressed out is the sense that the walls are caving in on you. Rather than being in control of your life, your life is controlling you. You feel like a prisoner with no way out in sight. Those who report feeling this way tend to have too much on their plate. A job that requires ridiculous hours. A spouse and kids. Community service activities. A rigorous exercise routine. And so forth. While packing as much as we can into our schedule certainly prevents life from getting boring, we need to leave ourselves a bit of breathing room. Studies show that stress leads to negative health outcomes like headaches and heart disease. What's more, it may lead to coping mechanisms that can also be disadvantageous to one's health, like overeating, smoking, drinking, or taking illegal drugs. Once you feel as though there's not enough time in the day to do a single thing you enjoy doing for leisure -- read a book, watch a show, listen to music -- it ...

Once you've been in a relationship for a while, there's a good chance things will start to become routine. You'll spend an inordinate amount of time together, leading to complacency in the relationship. Unfortunately, couples who are attached at the hip risk growing bored of one another. It happens more often than you think. So what can do to avoid this fate? Before you got into your relationship, you had a life of your own right? Well, that doesn't have to change once you become involved with someone. The two of you have separate hobbies -- from sports to mall hopping -- that you can enjoy alone or with friends. Have a boys' or girls' night, with only your close buddies in attendance. Your partner does not have to accompany you everywhere you go. Leave a little mystery. You shouldn't be able to predict each other's every move. Spending hours apart here and there affords both of you the opportunity to miss each other. It builds anticipati...