Clean out your wallet or messy make-up kit. Sort that jumbled sock drawer. Tidy up your desk. Consider it a form of stress management if a work problem or family upset sours your spirits or makes you anxious, says Robert Thayer, PhD, professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, and author of The Origin of Everyday Moods. According to Dr. Thayer, who conducted a study of strategies people use to improve mood, “Volunteers reported that getting organized was one of the most effective ways to change a bad mood. It reduced tension and/or boosted energy.”

Quick, easy-to-do tasks like these can give you a feeling of accomplishment that increases your sense of control, says Georgia Witkin, MD, assistant clinical director of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and author of The Female Stress Survival Guide. “And when your sense of control goes up, your stress level goes down.”