“I can’t stand waiting in line. I get way too stressed out or angry,” says Marie-Josée Racicot, the marketing and development director at Grandma Emily’s Granola, a Montreal-based maker of healthy snack foods.

Like many of us, Marie-Josée admits to having a low tolerance for the time wasted queuing up, particularly while shopping. For her, waiting in line to pay for her purchases is akin to slow torture. Her usual strategy is to grab a magazine, brochure or any other piece of print material at the checkout counter to provide a quick distraction. But what if there’s nothing to read? “To be honest, if the wait is more than 10 minutes, I usually just dump my purchases and leave.” 

Fortunately for readers like her, Canadian Health presents a few simple exercises to help relieve waiting-related frustration — and build a little muscle tone, too. Most of them are quite subtle, so you won’t look as though you’re off your meds when you do them in the lineup at the bank. Others are better done in the home or the office, where, heaven knows, you are just as apt to spend a frustrating eternity waiting on hold “in priority sequence” for a customer service representative to whom “your call is important.”

Some of the activities we recommend below are patterned on the sort of reflexive fidgeting many of us do unconsciously to release tension. Constant fidgeting has in fact been shown to burn calories — as many as 350 per day and enough to produce a weight loss of 30 to 40 pounds per year if done consistently, according to research from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

The following eight stress-busting techniques are based on the principles of progressive muscle relaxation, pioneered by the American physician and physiologist Dr. Edmund Jacobson in the 1920s. Jacobson found that muscular tension accompanies anxiety, and relaxation of  the muscles helps subdue stress.

“You need to be conscious of the tension in your muscles to know how different they feel when they’re relaxed,” says Eric Käfer, a physical therapist affiliated with the University of Montreal. “These exercises teach you how to distinguish between the two states and how to manage stress by controlling them,” adds Käfer, who helped design these relaxing routines.

The key to these exercises is alternating periods of tension and relaxation: you hold the tensed position for a few seconds, then relax the affected muscles for the same length of time. Mentally counting each second will help you fully appreciate the difference between the tensed and relaxed state.

Do the moves individually in sets of 10 to 15 reps or as a series. Käfer recommends trying different exercises as opportunity permits. “That way, you learn how to diffuse tension through each part of your body.” For a whole-body relaxation effect, go through the list, from first to last, doing each exercise once. Repeat as desired.

At the check-in counter, at the checkout counter, you’ll be a bit more fit and a little less frustrated.

Big-Belly Breathing

Do this breathing warm-up before beginning your stress-busting workout. Where possible, try to incorporate this step into each exercise as well.

Basic Method 
Inhale deeply through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth. Your stomach should visibly protrude about an inch as you breathe in.

Next level
Count backwards from 10 to zero very slowly for each inhalation and exhalation.

Advanced stress management
Count backwards slowly starting from one million and see how far you get!

Put Da Squeeze on Him

The stress ball squeeze is a great exercise for anyone who does a lot of keyboarding or other carpal tunnel–threatening activity. (Stress balls are small enough to fit in a pocket or purse, so you can carry one wherever you go.)

Basic Method
Grasp the stress ball firmly in your hand. Squeeze for 10 to 15 seconds, then release for the same length of time. Repeat.

Next level
Squeeze and release the ball one finger at a time.

Advanced stress management
Anyone getting on your nerves lately? Imagine the ball is his head. Just remember to release...eventually.

That’s a Stretch

This two-part routine works the triceps muscle at the back of your upper arm, and stretches the shoulders. It also stretches the chest and back muscles.

Basic Method
To do the seven-second stretch, place your hands behind you, clasping your fingers together tightly, palms out. Extend your arms downward, as if you were trying to pull your grip apart. Hold for seven seconds, then relax. Repeat the exercise, this time with your hands in front of you, working your chest and back muscles.

Next level
You can turn this stretch into a more challenging workout by adding resistance. If you’re at home climbing the walls while waiting for an important call, turn those walls to your benefit. Do this stretch while leaning backwards or forwards, with your hands against a wall or a counter. (Don’t lean against a door that can be opened in the direction you’re pushing!)

Advanced stress management
Pretend you’re pushing away a problem you’d rather not deal with.

Instant Tummy Tuck

Remember: this will look bizarre if you’re dressed in clinging cycle-geek gear.

Basic Method
Breathe in deeply. Upon exhaling, suck in your stomach for five seconds, as if you were trying to make your belly button touch your spinal cord. Relax and breathe in deeply again.

Next level
If standing, combine with the Cheek Clench (see p. 25).

Advanced stress management
Stress? What stress? Your belly size just shrank by half!

Cheek Clench

This, too, will look bizarre if you’re wearing form-fitting spandex, so it’s best done on days when you’re wearing a coat.

Basic Method
While standing, contract your buttocks. Hold the clench for 10 seconds and release.

Next level
Combine with the Instant Tummy Tuck (p. 24).

Advanced stress management
Concentrate on the soothing thought that, yes, this exercise does make your behind look substantially smaller.

The Kegel Has Landed

Known as a Kegel, this pelvic-floor exercise strengthens the pubococcygeus muscle, which stretches from the pubic bone to the tailbone (coccyx). This muscle controls urine flow, reduces the risk of urine leakage and hemorrhoids in late pregnancy and contracts during sexual climax.

Basic Method
Contract your pelvic floor muscles — pretend you’re holding back urine or gas — and hold for four seconds. Relax. (Do not attempt while urinating, since that may weaken the bladder muscle, leading to incomplete voiding and increased risk of urinary tract infection.)

Next level
To see real results, you’ll need to perform at least 10 sets of 10 repetitions daily.

Advanced stress management
Tantric yoga anyone?

Balancing Act

For this one, it’s a good idea to have something sturdy nearby to hold onto in case you lose your balance — but preferably not the person in front of you.

Method
Shift your weight onto one foot and lift the other one a few inches off the ground. Hold the position for 10 seconds. Repeat with your other foot.

Next level
Combine one set of this exercise with one set of the Heel-Toe Rock (see below).

Advanced stress management
Pretend you’re the Karate Kid, about to deliver the coup de grâce to that guy holding up the bank machine queue while he pays two months’ worth of bills at lunch hour. Resist the urge to actually follow through, though.

Heel-Toe Rock

Here, again, it’s helpful to have a graspable stable object nearby.

Basic Method
Stand with your feet close together. Slowly lift your toes off the ground, so you’re balancing on your heels. Hold for two seconds, then proceed to rock forwards onto the tips of your toes. Hold for two seconds, then return to a flat-footed stance.

Next level
Combine with alternate sets of the Balancing Act (above).

Advanced stress management
Place your hands in your pockets while doing this exercise. Instantaneously, you go from antsy and impatient looking, to calm, über-cool and collected — the sort of sophisticate who knows that the best things in life come to those who stand and wait.