Everyone experiences stress. While our bodies are designed to handle acute and short-lived stressors quite effectively, living in a state of perpetual distress is harmful to our health.

Chronic stress can manifest symptoms including fearfulness, a burning feeling in the chest, stomach pains, diarrhea, fatigue, or a sense of hopelessness, among others.

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Research has also proven that exposure to chronic stress causes cancer, diabetes and auto-immune disorders.

Our brain is constantly releasing neurochemicals, which make us feel some shade of happy or sad. Many people choose to take medications to boost their “happy neurochemical” levels. Yet it is possible to cope with stress and achieve happiness without relying on medication.

To do that, we must engage as many of our five senses as possible, since new habits are wired more strongly and effectively if we see, hear, smell, taste and touch something. The easiest way to derive these positive emotions — sincerely — is by connecting with children and pets.

Here’s why, along with four other smart ways to de-stress:

1.) Spend Time with Kids and Pets
We feel unconditional love around our children and our animals. Either one of these can be a great emotional pill — an antidote for chronic stress that helps our brains produce dopamine and oxytocin, the “happy” neurochemicals.

2.) Listen to Tranquil Music
Listening to relaxing and tranquil music decreases blood pressure and heart rate and can create a peaceful state of mind. Music changes water structure, with soothing music producing a harmonizing effect on the structure of water crystals — and since our bodies are made up of over 70 percent water, music effectively has the same soothing effect on us.

3.) Cook and Prepare Food
Cooking can be extremely therapeutic. It engages areas of the brain responsible for planning, strategizing, and coordination, to mention just a few. The result of cooking, seeing, and tasting a meal that is healthy, delicious, and visually beautiful can effectively divert the mind from anger.

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4.) Take a Soothing Bath 
Add lavender essential oil to the water, light a vanilla-scented candle, and play quiet soothing music in the background. Both lavender and vanilla have been shown to release endorphins and the overall experience will tap into multiple senses.

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5.) Tune Out
It’s also important to get away from the day’s constant flow of news. If you must watch TV, try watching shows with a comedic or romantic tone. Laughing and listening to jokes has been demonstrated to release the brain’s happy dopamine chemicals.

There are endless ways to replace negative feelings with peace and forgiveness. No matter what activity you choose to de-stress with, the most important thing is to invest as much of yourself into it as possible and revisit the happy activity over and over. Caring for someone or something can help us emotionally and physiologically in ways that can never be matched by medication.

Svetlana Kogan, M.D., practices holistic and integrative medicine at her clinic in New York City and is the author of “Diet Slave No More!”