If meditation is not for you, maybe biofeedback is. There are three main forms of it: electromyography (EMG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and electroencephalography (EEG). By attaching electrodes to a body system that readily reacts to stress--muscles, skin, and brain waves, respectively--you can monitor your actual stress level and learn to control, even reduce it. Modern biofeedback devices give off some signal--a blinking light, a bell--that announces a high level of tension. You concentrate on slowing the blinking light or bell.

Studies have found that each form of biofeedback works best for specific stress-related problems. EMG biofeedback, for example, reduces tension headaches; it allows people to focus and relax the muscles in the forehead that cause head pain. GSR seems to work best for stress-induced migraines, which tend to coincide with a rise in body temperature. EEG biofeedback leads to the deepest relaxation states.