One of the valued job satisfactions for journalists is the regular chance to examine wholly new and foreign subjects. But working on this week's cover story about stress and its effects on health proved to be an illuminating inquiry into all too familiar territory. As Detroit Correspondent Barbara Dolan put it, "While attending stress seminars and workshops, I kept thinking, 'They're talking about me.' " San Francisco Correspondent Dick Thompson was late to an interview when the car in front of him skidded out of control, and his body braced for the expected crash. Happily it did not occur, and the Salk Institute biochemists he was meeting were soon telling him exactly how his neurotransmitters and other internal defenses had geared up for the anticipated trauma.

Thompson deals with the stresses of normal life by beginning the day strapped into Wallis and his rowing machine. Senior Correspondent Ruth Mehrtens Galvin relies on "a long, long, long walk. Daily." For the Washington Bureau's Renie Schapiro, reducing stress means a jog through Rock Creek Park or a swim. "For backup," she says, "there is always my foot massager and my Pachelbel record."

The Medicine section's senior editor, James Atwater, also jogs away tension and praises biofeedback techniques, which he learned in a program at Duke University two years ago. Yet another runner is Medicine Reporter-Researcher Mary Carpenter, who has tried a "tranquillity tank," spending half an hour floating in a dark saltwater chamber. "I didn't begin to feel the beneficial effect until afterward," she reports. "Suddenly I was HUGH PATRICK BROWN refreshed and clear and focused, and the relaxed feeling lasted longer than that from any other technique I've tried."

Carpenter and Cover Writer Claudia Wallis also banish tension with vigorous, twice-weekly squash games. Wallis came to TIME four years ago with credentials that included pre-med studies at Yale (1976) and a stint researching a series of science films.

"Naturally, I was trying to practice what was being preached in this story," she says, "but a critical number of high-stress life events were coming together while I was writing it: I was planning my wedding in June and looking for a co-op apartment." So, in addition to the squash games, Wallis tried to pace herself and took "aesthetic breaks. I bought flowers for my desk and played the piano before coming to work." The result was smoother sailing. "After all," she says, "I wouldn't want to fall apart while writing about stress." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.