TOEFL® essay: People have various ways of relieving stress

[Gustavoknz]

People have various ways of relieving stress. What are some of the ways that you find most effective in doing so? Give reasons and examples to support your response.

A lot of people and doctors say that stress is the century disease. It is powerful and there is a large list of problems it can lead to. Most of the problems in your body can be explained by the stress. It is very important to have some techniques of relieving it.
One very effective way of relieving stress is to lock myself in a quiet room and stand there for about 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing. I try to keep my mind in silence, avoiding think about everything is stressing me at that moment. I do not think about my agenda or deadlines, otherwise I would not relax. In my country, there are a lot of people who do that to calm down. In fact, this is a "way of life", and sometimes someone may confuse this technique with a person who just want to waste her/his time.
Going to the gym is very effective to me as well. As the example above, I avoid thinking what is stressing me. I concentrate in the exercises I have to do and what would be the best way to do them, or how I can stretch better, for example. At the gym I meet a lot of my friends, talk to them, make jokes and have fun, therefore keeping all my problems away.
It is very important to have some different ways of relieving stress. Everybody has appointments, deadlines and things which must be done. Some has children to rise, a stressing job or a boring boss. If you do not have at least a couple of minutes to calm down everyday, you probably will go crazy, have a heart attack or something similar. You must know yourself to know what would be the best way to relieve the stress, otherwise you will not relieve it, and maybe it will even grow up.