The best 84 Stress Reduction books

The Upside of Stress explores the power our attitudes have when it comes to dealing with stress. These blinks explain the inner workings of our biological and psychological responses to stress, and open up new perspectives on how stress can help us grow.

Wherever You Go, There You Are (1994) explains how to fully enjoy the present moment without worrying about the past or the future. By providing step-by-step meditation practices, both formal and informal, that can easily be incorporated into everyday life, Kabat-Zinn steers us toward the peace and tranquility that we’re yearning for.

In How to Stay Sane (2012), British psychotherapist and author Philippa Perry shows you how to better nurture relationships while using self-observation, “positive” stress and the power of stories to achieve and maintain your mental health.

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (1994) vividly explains the biology behind stress and its impact on our lives, functioning as an effective way to deal with immediate problems, while also posing serious health risks in the long run. The author also offers plenty of practical tips on how to keep stress under control.

What to Do When You’re New (2015) is the result of Rollag’s 20 years of research on why people become anxious and stressed in new situations. It provides strategies for changing your outlook on new situations and offers techniques for handling such situations with comfort and confidence.

Reclaim Your Brain (2015) is about how imbalances and quirks in the human brain can lead to serious problems such as anxiety, depression or addiction. These blinks explain the biological roots of these problems and what you can do to overcome them to get your brain back in check!

Anger Management for Dummies (2015) is a guide to dealing with your inner irascibility. These blinks will give you the tools you need to understand and – more importantly – master your anger. You’ll learn methods for dissolving stress, dealing with provocations and even stopping temper tantrums in their tracks.

The Happiness Track (2016) outlines the simple steps you can take to become happier and more successful. Referencing the latest scientific research, these blinks debunk common myths about how to be successful and set out a concrete plan for you to reduce stress in your life.

The Worry-Free Mind (2017) takes a close look at why we spend so much time worrying and what can be done to reduce these worries. Having a stressed-out mind may be part of being a human being, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to better control your thoughts and emotions. Here are some tips and techniques to take control of your mind and live a happier life.

Hardcore Self Help (2014) is your guide to overcoming anxiety and living a peaceful life. These blinks examine some of the different forms that anxiety disorders take and offer some techniques to help ease anxiety.

Lying (2011) explains why the act of telling lies is so dangerous. And that means all lies, from the tiny lies that people tell on a daily basis to the massive lies sometimes told on the world stage. All in all, it’s always better to tell the truth.

Cure (2016) is your guide to the healing power of the mind. These blinks explain the true depth of the placebo effect, how hypnosis can cure illnesses and explain the fascinating, scientifically-supported alternatives to the painkillers and surgeries so prominent in Western medicine.

Simplicity Parenting (2009) teaches parents how to reduce the levels of stress experienced by their children. Parents can accomplish this by controlling their children’s environment, limiting their access to the adult world and providing them with a steady, rhythmic schedule. Taking these simple steps will improve family life for all involved.  

How Not to Worry (2012) is a practical and accessible roadmap to defeating anxiety, stress and worry. Logical and clearly laid out, life coach Paul McGee’s approach is all about small changes that make a big difference. He shows that by thinking analytically, you can start dealing with worries rationally and free up valuable headspace for more pleasurable pursuits.

Stop Reading the News (2020) shows us how we can live a calmer, healthier, and more thoughtful life if we simply stop reading the news. By practicing what the author calls radical abstinence from the news media, we can rescue our minds from the overload of information, and focus on what actually matters in life.

Resilient (2018) is a practical guide on how to cultivate your inner strengths and develop qualities like compassion, confidence, and grit. Through simple techniques and concrete examples, it explains the ways you can harness your brain’s resources to cope with stress and anxiety – and find the motivation to follow your dreams.

Full Catastrophe Living (1990) doesn’t sugar-coat it: this is a book that acknowledges life can sometimes feel like one catastrophe after another. But while we might not be able to prevent life’s catastrophes, the way we respond to them is entirely within our control. An acknowledged classic in the mindful living genre, Full Catastrophe Living explains how life’s storms can be weathered through mindfulness.

Brain Wash (2020) is a no-nonsense handbook for living a calm and content life in a world that’s designed to deliver the opposite. Medical doctors David and Austin Perlmutter unpack how our modern society manipulates our brains. Then they lay out a powerful 10-day bootcamp for breaking these bad patterns and building healthier habits.

In the FLO (2020) outlines a way for women to eat, live, and work in sync with their monthly cycles. Author Alisa Vitti demonstrates how taking charge of your hormonal health can help you unleash your creativity, manage stress, and even improve your sex life.

Breath (2020) is the fascinating and unexpected story of the power of breathing. Western science has overlooked the amazing effects that different methods of breathing can have on our health.

When the Body Says No (2003) probes the hidden connections between mental health and physical illness. Modern medical science often tries to reassure us that our minds and bodies are totally separate – when, in reality, they’re deeply interconnected. Mental stresses often play out in the body as physiological diseases, disorders, and chronic conditions that endanger our health and well-being.

The Lazy Genius Way (2020) is an essential guide for perfectionists everywhere. We run ourselves ragged trying to excel at everything, but this leaves us exhausted and unfulfilled. Luckily, there is another way. We can identify what really makes our lives meaningful, and put our energy into leading lives that fulfill us. By adopting the practical strategies of the Lazy Genius, we can transform how we live and work, one small step at a time.

The Joy of Missing Out (2019) focuses on how we can eliminate stress from our lives and improve our productivity. It contains actionable strategies for simplifying our lives and identifying our priorities.

What’s it about?

The Power of Intention (2004) explores the connection between human beings and the creative potential of God and the universe. This feel-good guide to spirituality examines the true meaning of intention and explains how we can all live more purposeful lives. 

Journey of Awakening (1978) is a guide to establishing and solidifying a personal meditation practice. Combining insights from many spiritual traditions, it outlines a path to self-realization through meditation – offering sage advice on how to stay the course through doubt, fear, and ego traps.

Relentless Solution Focus (2021) shows how having a more optimistic mindset can transform our lives. Using a three-step process, the authors share insights, tools, and frameworks for developing the mental toughness needed to strip away our tendencies toward negativity.

Loving Your Business (2020) is a guide for people who feel overwhelmed by their business. Debbie King offers new strategies for thinking about your business and managing your emotions in order to avoid unnecessary stress and achieve positive outcomes.

Stress Less, Accomplish More (2019) shows how meditation can help busy people accomplish more in their fast-paced lives. In recent years, science has revealed what meditators have known for millennia: this simple tool can be practiced anytime and anywhere to relieve stress, gain mental clarity, and improve performance across your life.

Win at Work and Succeed at Life (2021) explores the pitfalls of our long-hours work culture. It outlines how professionals can reclaim their personal lives and achieve a better work-life balance.

The Art of Rest (2019) is a deep dive into the world of rest. It takes the results of the Rest Test, an online survey of over 18,000 people across 135 countries about rest, and uses those results as a starting point to examine which activities people find most restful, and why two-thirds of respondents felt they didn’t get enough rest. Drawing on scientific research, it investigates the ten most popular ways to rest, and the difficulties and proven benefits behind each restful activity.

Forest Bathing (2018) is a guide to the Japanese practice of forest bathing. It explores the beliefs, culture, and traditions behind forest bathing, as well as various studies on its health benefits. It also lays out easy-to-follow steps for practicing forest bathing in any environment.

A World Without Email (2021) presents a bold reimagining of the workplace, one in which the days of email and instant messaging are a thing of the past. It argues that while email may seem like an integral part of modern knowledge work, it’s actually making everyone less productive and less focused, not to mention miserable. The solution will require a major paradigm shift –⁠ but it will be well worth the effort.

Chatter (2021) directly addresses our inner voice, which, too often, turns into our inner critic. Backed with information from countless studies, Chatter delivers a wealth of strategies to help free us from the negative thought spirals that dominate our lives.

Anxiety at Work (2021) explores how the modern workplace contributes to our soaring anxiety levels. It outlines how organizations, and team leaders, can help alleviate their employees’ worries and concerns.

Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess (2021) presents a scientifically backed strategy for rooting out toxic thoughts. It breaks down the principles and tools of the Neurocycle – a mind-management process that changes toxic thoughts and their related behaviors into positive thinking and habits.

Real Change (2020) is a guide to building a better world through cultivating inner strength. This manual teaches how meditation and mindfulness are key to navigating the stresses and pressures of modern life.

The Work-Life Balance Myth (2021) is a guide to managing stress and creating harmony across the key areas in your life using the Seven-Slice Method. Rather than divide your waking hours between work and life, the Seven-Slice Method recontextualizes life into seven key areas and demonstrates how spending time in each of them every day can help you overcome pressure and find peace.

Urgent! (2021) is your guide to getting the right things done at the right time. In our fast-paced world, it’s easy to fall into the urgency trap – and keeping up with the constant demands often feels impossible. But by learning to consciously replace reactive behaviors with proactive ones, you can reduce stress and do deeper, more effective work.

Hear Yourself (2021) is a guide to cutting out distractions, silencing your mind, and connecting to your inner peace. Packed with ancient wisdom and compelling anecdotes, it’ll teach you to cultivate calm and serenity within yourself to counter the noise and busyness of the world outside.

Bliss More (2018) outlines a radical and effortless approach to meditation. Whether you’ve found yourself restless while sitting on your pillow or more mindful of your backache than your oneness with the universe, this book outlines easy steps to help you find your meditative groove. 

The No-Nonsense Meditation Book (2021) explores the science behind meditation. As the latest neuroscience research shows, you don’t have to be a monk in search of nirvana to reap the benefits of meditation. In fact, it’s a great solution to many distinctly modern problems like stress and chronic anxiety.

Everyday Vitality (2021) explores how we can cultivate resilience while juggling the small, nonstop stresses of everyday life. Those who thrive do so because they build vitality, a force of power and flexibility that allows them to handle difficulties. The people who cope best are the ones who find ways to turn their stress into strength through intentionality, purpose, and connection.

The Expectation Effect (2022) explores the connection between our minds, our bodies, and our outcomes. It explores how our expectations can form our realities, and reveals the extent to which self-fulfilling prophecies shape our lives.

Meditation (1988) provides a valuable overview of Osho meditations – an approach to meditation that emphasizes awareness and uses movement as a way of preparing the mind and body. It provides the basic principles behind Osho meditation, as well as a few foundational techniques to get you started.

At Your Best (2021) is a practical guide to moving beyond time management. Drawing on Carey Nieuwhof’s decades of leadership, it shows how to sync your time, energy, and priorities so that you can reach your goals, have more energy for what you love, and begin to thrive both at work and at home.

The Power of Pressure (2021) takes a deep dive into the world of pressure in all its forms, and how high performers deal with it. By noticing the patterns of both single, peak pressure moments and pressure over the long haul, it’ll provide you with a practical set of tools to start using pressure to your advantage.

Undistracted (2022) is a call to arms against one of the greatest forces stopping you from living your best life: distraction. Life is full of it. The 24/7 news cycle. Your smartphone. Worrying about what your colleagues think and what your neighbors have. Endless to-do lists. All those sources of distraction get in the way of what really matters – a life filled with joy, love, and intention.

Attention Span (2023) examines the connection between the digital age and our capacity for attention. As digital devices have become inextricable from our lives, our attention spans have shortened and our stress levels have risen. Drawing on scientific research, it debunks modern myths about attention and explains how we can reclaim it for better well-being. 

Tranquility by Tuesday (2022) is a practical guide to scheduling and organizing your time, week by week, to have a more peaceful and productive life. Through tips, anecdotes, and guided questions, you can regain control and improve your quality of life.

How to Be a Productivity Ninja (2014) transforms old-school time-management techniques and productivity advice into a twenty-first century handbook on how to work smarter – not harder. Adapted to the realities of contemporary work and life, it’s filled with practical guidance and exercises for boosting productivity.

The Power of Unwavering Focus (2022) is a practical and personal guide that offers clear steps toward ending the distractions, fears, and worries that keep us stressed out and anxious, while carving a clear path toward more mental clarity and focus. Packed with concrete steps and personal reflections, it offers a deep look into the awesome power of the mind and how focus can help everyone live a more purposeful and joyful life.

Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening (2013) explores how adopting a Buddhist approach to mindfulness can unlock a true and deeply felt freedom. The author draws on an ancient dialogue conducted by Siddhartha Gotama, the Buddha, and creates a clear, systemic path to establishing mindfulness of body, emotion, thought, and time as a way to overcome suffering.

Stop Overthinking (2021) is an indispensable guide to breaking free from the negative thought patterns holding you back. Learn how to recognize your negative spiral triggers, overcome anxiety attacks, and declutter your mind to live a stress-free life.

Living Untethered (2022) is your guide to finding self-realization and unconditional happiness. It provides practical guidance on moving beyond your thoughts, feeling, and emotions and will help you to stop struggling and start experiencing life to its fullest.

Awe (2023) is a deep dive into this elusive emotion. Drawing on new research, it shows how awe can improve your mood, well-being, cognitive abilities, and relationships with others. 

Forever Young (2023) challenges the notion that poor health associated with aging is an inevitable part of life. Instead, it provides a roadmap to not only live longer but to enjoy good health until death.

Your Brain on Art (2023) offers remarkable insights into how artistic endeavors and aesthetics – from music and dance to drawing and interior design – can rewire our brains and improve our lives.

The Home Edit (2019) proposes a straightforward formula to organize any part of the home in a way that is functional, classy, and easy to maintain. The technique it teaches is equally easy for other members of the household to learn and apply, so that everyone can enjoy a calm, happy home environment.

Getting to Neutral (2022) is a step-by-step guide to conquering negativity and embracing the state of neutrality in a stressful world. By delving into deeply personal experiences as well as insights from leading athletes and coaches from around the world, it shows how anyone can find calm and clarity in their everyday life. 

Let That Sh*t Go: Find Peace of Mind and Happiness in Your Everyday (2018) offers a trove of tools and tips to declutter your mind of all the crap that gets in the way of inner peace and joyful living. Its approach to mindfulness helps you to connect to what’s going on in your head and then use that awareness to build self love, authenticity, acceptance, perspective, and forgiveness. 

The Source (2019) reveals the secret to mastering your mind. It draws on cognitive science and the author’s coaching experience to provide a four-step plan to fire up your brain and get what you want from life by becoming a new, confident you.

Enchantment (2023) asks how – in a world of toxic social media, rolling news coverage, burnout, stress, and anxiety – we can spark feelings of wonder, magic, and miracle. It suggests that discovering a connection with nature and rekindling our connection to our own inner selves will awaken our ability to be enchanted by the world.

Life in Five Senses (2023) is a meditation on how activating and exploring the five senses can lead to a richer, more meaningful engagement with life.

The Resilient Founder (2022) reveals that founders and entrepreneurs share a unique set of psychological traits. Learning to manage these traits allows founders to address issues and challenges, cultivate mental resilience, and set themselves up for even greater success.

The Mental Toughness Handbook (2020) offers a step-by-step guide with proven strategies and time-tested wisdom for overcoming adversity and obstacles in life by developing mental discipline and resilience.

Mindset Matters (2022) is your handbook to thriving in uncertainty. It contains actionable insights to help you cultivate mental agility for success in any dynamic work setting.

The Oxygen Advantage (2015) reveals how simple breath control can unlock untapped power to improve fitness, focus, and overall well-being. 

Yoga Nidra Made Easy (2022) explores the roots and techniques of the practice of Yoga Nidra, or yogic sleep. This practice of meditation exploring the hypnagogic state between wakefulness and sleep boasts an impressive list of verified benefits, from stress relief and better sleep to boosting critical thinking, self-reflection, and creativity.

Master of Change (2023) is a guide to coping with the inevitable – a life full of change and uncertainty. Drawing from age-old philosophical traditions and cutting-edge science, it shows how your attitude to change is the key to a life of resilience, fulfillment, and growth. By altering your mindset and embracing change, you can improve your life.

Don't Overthink It (2020) unveils the mental entanglements that come with constant rumination, highlighting how overthinking can rob us of time and precious moments. Drawing on her own experience as an overthinker, Anne Bogel provides readers with tangible solutions to break free from the chains of repetitive, negative thought patterns. 

The Mind of the Leader (2018) explores how leaders can cultivate critical inner capacities like mindfulness, selflessness, and compassion to become more effective guides. Supported by research conducted by The Potential Project, it draws on psychology, neuroscience, and case studies of global organizations to provide science-based tools for strengthening these core leadership skills. 

No Time to Panic (2023) is a personal exploration of the causes and treatments of panic attacks. It’s grounded in the latest science and informed by interviews with leading specialists in the field. 

Building a Non-Anxious Life (2023) is a straight-talking manual for regaining peace and joy. It offers a six-step roadmap to navigating the stress-inducing modern world with intention and perspective – reminding us that while we might not be able to eliminate anxiety completely, we can reduce it significantly. 

A Cure for the Common Company (2023) delves into transforming traditional business environments into dynamic, health-centric workplaces. It emphasizes the importance of integrating well-being into corporate culture, outlining strategies for creating a more engaged, productive, and healthy workforce.

The Art of Letting Go (2023) invites you on a transformative journey toward emotional freedom. It’s a guide to shedding the burdens of the past, embracing self-compassion, and cultivating a growth mindset for a purposeful and liberated existence. Dive into this exploration and emerge more resilient, insightful, and equipped to navigate life’s challenges with grace.

The 5 Resets (2024), is a comprehensive guide to how we can better manage stress with the help of five key life-enhancing strategies. Brought to life by the stories of a Harvard doctor and her patients, it focuses on making manageable lifestyle adjustments to improve mental and physical health, fostering resilience and balance in the process.

Stress Resets (2024) offers a plethora of quick and scientifically validated methods for managing stress. It introduces you to effective exercises that promise to ease your stress quickly without intensive meditation, medications, or alcohol. Through practical tips and exercises, it teaches you to regulate your emotions and build resilience, fundamentally changing how you perceive and handle stress.

The Humor Habit (2024) explores the transformative power of humor, emphasizing how incorporating humor can improve personal well-being, relationships, and workplace dynamics. It provides practical strategies and insights to help readers develop a habit of finding and using humor in various situations, promoting resilience and a positive mindset. 

Sovereign (2024) explores how people can take back their freedom and learn to truly value themselves. It offers science-backed strategies to break free from self-destructive patterns and beliefs, aiming to help readers live more authentic, fulfilling lives. Using real-life examples of people who hold an inner sovereignty, it addresses how readers, too, can reclaim sovereignty over their work, family, body, and mind.

Unstressable (2023) applies an engineering mind and stress-management expertise to our epidemic of stress. It argues that chronic stress is avoidable, often as much due to negative thought patterns as external circumstances. It offers practical exercises to help build the skills to manage stress.

Chill (2022) presents scientific evidence supporting the health benefits of cold water swimming, challenging traditional skepticism in the medical community. It explores how this practice can alleviate various physical and mental conditions, offering guidance on safely incorporating cold water swimming into your wellness routine for improved overall health and vitality.

Tapping (2024) explores the practice of Emotional Freedom Techniques which combine elements of cognitive therapy with acupressure to promote physical and emotional healing. It explains how tapping on specific meridian points while focusing on emotional issues can help alleviate stress, anxiety, and other psychological challenges.

Powered by Me (2023) delves into the complexities of burnout, providing a clear method to pinpoint where it affects individuals across five levels: physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. Packed with practical tools and tips for beating burnout, it shows you how to replenish your energy, enhance personal awareness, and align decisions with your core values. 

Unstoppable Brain (2024) explores the latest neuroscience to help readers understand how their brains respond to failure and stress, and offers practical strategies to reprogram these responses for lasting behavior change. It focuses primarily on the habenula, a brain region that can inhibit motivation after perceived failure, and provides actionable steps to overcome this built-in internal barrier and achieve personal goals​.