Stress Reduction and Anxiety Coping Style

Individual stress levels and stress reduction interventionshave received attention from research for many reasons and for manyyears. The evidence linking psychosocial factors to health carevisits highlights the need for stress reduction research that bothexplores the most effective stress intervention for an individualand identifies factors contributing to why a particularintervention was more effective. This study of stress reduction inwomen investigated the relationship between the length ofintervention, type of intervention, and participant anxiety copingstyle on physiological and cognitive responses to stress. Evidencesuggested that massage intervention and relaxation exercise canreduce stress levels; limited evidence that potentially supportsmassage intervention being more effective than relaxation exercisein reducing stress levels, and both massage intervention andrelaxation exercise producing a greater decrease in stress levelsthan no intervention. Gaining insight into the effectiveness of aparticular intervention and the contributing factors for itseffectiveness should be of interest to practitioner?s who providestress reduction interventions.