Less stress = longer life.

Can job stress really result in more gray hairs on your head? Increasing clinical research suggests this piece of popular lore may be grounded in as much scientific fact as subjective feeling. A recent University of California at San Francisco study found that women with the highest levels of perceived psychological stress were aged 10 years older on a cellular level than their more mellow peers. Study authors believe that chronic stress may be linked to increased oxidative damage and depletion of an enzyme--telomerase--needed to rebuild aging cells.

Stress in and of itself isn't harmful. In fact, short doses of stress can actually boost immunity, by increasing the number and activity of T cells, a type of white blood cell that targets infectious agents like germs and viruses. In this way, stress is very similar to inflammation: it can be a healthy reaction to a particular threat. But like inflammation, when stress becomes a habitual condition, rather than a selective response, it can damage tissues, aggravate arthritis, increase abdominal fat, and even damage DNA.

This research is reflected in the programs of the California WellBeing Institute. Guests will have an opportunity to receive the kind of blood, hormonal and DNA tests that can detect the biological levels of stress and determine their impact on health. Workshops on stress management will promote dietary, physiological and psychological strategies for managing the stress of daily life, while various spa therapies, both modern and ancient, will serve to support the diagnostic and educational components of the institute's programming.

More sleep, less commitments, self-forgiveness, regular activity--these are some of the better recognized modalities of stress management. But guests at the California WellBeing Institute may be in for a few surprises as well. "We wanted to create a fun, interactive, eye-opening educational experiences that would give guests a few of those 'aha' moments--epiphanies where we make new discoveries about old ways of doing things that can pave the way for transformation," says the institutes General Manager, Heidi Geier. Here are a few unexpected stress fighters that can be incorporated into the most high-pressured lifestyle:

1) Veg out-with vegetable soup: Consuming gazpacho (chilled vegetable soup) was found to lower levels of key stress molecules while increasing blood levels of vitamin C by more than 25% in one Tufts University Study.

2) Nip it in the bud--literally: Women who worked with a bouquet of colorful flowers (vs. a foliage only plant) on their desk, relaxed more during a typing assignment, according to Kansas Sate University researchers.

3) Become a better listener: Research from the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco suggests that the habit of constantly interrupting other people may be linked to the release of damaging stress proteins, which in turn may increase cardiovascular disease risk.

4) Say "Ohm": Yoga has long been recognized as a path to greater inner peace. Modern research now confirms a drop in levels of the stress hormone cortisol after just one yoga session.

5) Sweep it away: Indiana University researchers found that four hours of accumulated daily housework and yard work improved the condition of hypertensive and prehypertensive study subjects, temporarily inducing a drop in blood pressure.