Take a breather: more stressed out than ever, CEOs turn to simple pleasures to relax. (Health).

When the stress of running a company in the ultracompetitive semiconductor industry threatens to overwhelm Steve Sanghi, he turns to, of all things, breathing exercises he learned at his wife's prenatal classes.

"If I can take one minute and get off into a dark space and relax and slow down, I can go into the next meeting with a new energy," explains the CEO of Microchip Technology, in Chandler, Ariz. Sanghi's other tension-lifting routines: yoga, running on a treadmill and lifting weights.

Some CEOs still seek the thrills of extreme sports or jet-setting travel as a means of escape. But as pressures on the corner office reach new intensity--thanks to scandals, the sluggish stock market and political uncertainty--chief executives are increasingly drawn to simpler, more contemplative ways to relax.

"Stress-management strategies are not techniques for obliterating stress, but tools to help calm the body and mind enough to experience a sense of balance and direction," says Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier, a clinical associate professor at Stanford Medical School and author of Sound Mind, Sound Body. Pelletier has worked with many executives as the former director of Stanford's Corporate Health Program, a joint effort between the school and 20 major corporations including AT&T, Bank of America and IBM.

Whatever your tonic, the need to relieve stress has never seemed greater. Stumbling economies worldwide have made job security and the prospect of corporate earnings growth more tenuous than they've been in decades. A recent study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that more than half the workers in the United States believe they suffer from serious job-related tension. Other research indicates that 85 percent of executives fail to use all of their earned vacation time. The implication? CEOs can ill-afford to take time off when their companies are losing ground.

That's not to say all anxiety is bad. In fact, most corporate leaders recognize the need for what some call "good stress." Just as athletes thrive on adrenaline, top executives welcome a sense of urgency to sharpen their Locus.

Of course, too much stress of the bad kind--the unchecked pressure and feeling of chaos that comes with being pummeled by problems, tasks and interruptions--leads to overload. "If the company is perpetually in crisis, you never have control of your time," observes John Myrna, president of Myrna Associates, a strategic planning firm based in Silver Spring, Md.

What's more, such unmitigated stress can produce or aggravate a variety of serious health ailments, including migraines, hypertension, heart disease and a debilitated immune system. "Stress is the killer in the workplace today--it's the reason for ulcers, cancer and heart attacks," says David Bowman, chairman of TTG Consultants/Lincolnshire, a Los Angeles-based human resources consulting firm.

On the job, there are several time-tested methods for easing stress. Close your office door. Take frequent breaks, including stepping outside for a breath of air and a head-clearing walk. Set realistic standards, don't overbook yourself and keep a sense of humor, suggests Bowman. Also consider getting to work early or staying late to cut down on interruptions, as the phone seldom rings during off hours. And be sure to delegate responsibilities to capable managers instead of trying to tackle everything yourself.

Myrna's firm has created a strategic planning process that spreads the accountability for key results among those who report directly to the CEO. Once the responsibility has been distributed, he explains, "the CEO finds that, instead of going sleepless himself, he has a whole team to go home sleepless at night." Seriously, he adds, "Just knowing that a team of people you can trust and who are competent are all working on the same page reduces stress.

Some CEOs find that raw, unadulterated worries--over meeting the quarterly numbers, handling layoffs or managing a difficult direct report, to name a few--only serve to compound things. In other words, it's better to get on with things and move forward. "A lot of stress is worry, so I try not to worry about things, or about stress itself," says N.E. "Tuck" Vosburg, president and CEO of Pacific Steel & Recycling, based in Great Falls, Mont. "Whatever the problem is, I just accept it and deal with it. If you sink your teeth into a problem and deal with it, it reduces the stress load."

Away from the office, many chief executives turn to exercise and outdoor activity. Frank O'Connell, chairman and former CEO of Indian Motorcycle in Gilroy, Calif., south of San Jose, rises before 5 a.m. each day to work out at a gym or go for a run. Well before dawn, amid the heady scents of Eucalyptus and pine trees, he jogs the fog-shrouded streets of Carmel, the seaside village where he and his family live.

"That regimen has probably had more to do with my mental health than anything," posits O'Connell. "It's a real cleanser for me. It gives me a high level of energy when I get to the office, so I can deal with whatever comes along."

O'Connell also takes weekend rides on one of his 14 motorcycles. He often drives the winding Pacific Coast Highway, which, with its canyon-spanning bridges, glides between lush forests and crashing surf. It's a great setting for him to try out his company's new Indian Chief cruisers or air out a classic pre-1950 Indian bike. "Riding motorcycles is a huge release," he says. "You have to stay very focused on riding, and that takes your mind off everything else."

Glenn Barton, CEO of Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill., also believes in regular exercise as a defense against stress. Just plain walking, he finds, helps clear his mind of the day's trials. "Walking helps me be more focused," Barton says. "I've found that exercising and getting a good night's sleep really helps me absorb information much faster and much better and, in the end, make better decisions."

But Barton worries his executive lifestyle leaves too little time for exercise. "We walk to the garage, drive in to work, take the elevator or the escalator to our offices, and that's about it for the day," he says. "We need to do more. With that in mind, he and his wife, Polly, have set a personal goal of logging 10,000 steps each day, which they measure by wearing pedometers.

For countless CEOs, such as Bob Dutkowsky, chairman, president and CEO of J.D. Edwards, a Denver-based software firm, decompressing after a hard week means playing golf with friends. "Golfing gets me outside," says Dutkowsky, who commutes to work each week from his Boston area home. "I'm away from the telephone. I'm away from the contacts and the pressure of the job. And it's a purely social activity. I'm with people who don't care about my stock price or my competitors.

"One of the guys I play golf with a lot owns a fish market on the harbor in Boston," Dutkowsky goes on. "If I start talking about work, he changes the subject. 'Hey, I sell fish,' he tells me. He brings it down to the basics. I've found that among the people you tend to do social things with, you almost self-select those who get your mind off work and help you recharge."

Paul Skye, an Australian who operates Stress Dynamics, a consulting firm, suggests executives seek to develop their "inner silence," which he terms "a systematic way of training yourself to think." In his book Mastery of Stress, Skye outlines how achieving this "inner silence" helps "release and defuse traumatic and deeply stressful experiences.

To be sure, understanding and utilizing one's inner spiritual energy is nothing new for some CEOs. Ed McVaney, a founder and former CEO of J.D. Edwards, believes his strong Christian faith helped isolate him from the stress of the job. "I am a type-A person of the first order," he relates, "but I am an extremely spiritual person. I always felt that whatever I did, I was in the Lord's hands. Believe me, that feeling is a 100-percent cure for stress.

So, too, it seems, is retirement. An avid fly-fisherman, McVaney now lives in the mountains of rural Colorado, walking distance from a trout stream.

Send comments to CE at [e-mail].