"A lot of people know it intuitively, that they bring stress upon themselves. But they don't have a repertoire of things to do to relieve stress. It's a matter of giving people tools that they can use to impact stress on their professional lives."

Whether or not your perennial professional goal is a national championship.

How to relieve stress

We've all heard the keys to better heart health - stop smoking, exercise, eat right, reduce stress.

We asked Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, director of the UNC McAllister Heart Institute, what advice he gives his patients for reducing stress. Here's what he said.

"The tools can be simple, such as turning off your iPhone on occasion or scheduling regular social activities like a weekly date with your spouse. Regular exercise is an excellent way to reduce stress, as is meditation. At the workplace, learning how to delegate tasks reduces stress and makes you a better leader at the same time. A good balanced diet does a lot to stay on an even keel, and I tell my patients a good free resource for healthy diets is www.drgourmet. Being happy is a great way to reduce stress as well, and I've been referring my patients to the Happiness Project (www.happiness-project) because I think there is a lot of good common-sense wisdom there."