Stress has long been recognised as a major problem in the workplace and can have a major impact on our health and general wellbeing. But while all of us will recognise the symptoms to some extent, how do we manage them, and what can we do to try and minimise their impact on our working and everyday lives?

These are questions answered by Mark Johnson, who has been working with stressed people for more than 20 years.

Mr Johnson, 50, runs CEBO Corporate from a base in Clarendon House, Oxford, and uses a scientifically-based system called Bio-Relaxation for a wide range of people, both inside and outside work.

The strains of the working day very often lead us to feeling the need for a lift' in the form of a bar of chocolate, or another cup of coffee, which disrupts the natural balance of the body.

Instead, the Bio-Relaxation programme instructs people to recognise the signs and intervene without artificial stimulus, for example by taking a few minutes of breathing exercises.

Mr Johnson said: "The whole approach to Bio-Relaxation is to nip stress in the bud before it becomes a problem."

Participants are asked to fill in a stress health profiling questionnaire, which asks questions about their health, career and diet.

This identifies potential symptoms, such as drinking too much caffeine, eating the wrong foods and not taking enough exercise.

Mr Johnson can also give each participant a biodot' which sticks to the skin on the hand and changes colour according to stress levels being experienced by that person.

It ranges from violet to black, with black being very tense' and reacts to temperature. The cooler the contact, the more stressed an individual is deemed to be.

Mr Johnson says that in a stressful situation, people display a fight or flight' syndrome concerning how to address it.

He explained: "As soon as you are in that situation, the blood becomes thicker and moves into the core area of the body, moving away from the extremities.

"I give people a whole range of options that will be better for them and that way they can counteract what they are feeling."

Mr Johnson does not subscribe to the theory that a little stress is good for you.

He added: "If you are feeling nervous, then that feeling will stay with you. You can't measure stress and it is better to avoid it.

"There is a big difference between stress and pressure. Pressure is when you have made a speech in public, for example, and feel good about it. Stress is the feeling that you never want to do that again."

Of course, certain people can cause stressful situations but Mr Johnson is keen to point out that it is not the person, but how you react to them.

Changing your way of thinking helps manage that reaction in a different way.

He has identified that within organisations, most of the training is directed at managers and senior staff. As a result, middle managers are those he believes can be the most stressed, as they have pressure from people both above and below them.

Many now come to Bio-Relaxation workshops of their own accord, although his background is very much in the corporate sector.

Mr Johnson set up the business 20 years ago in London and moved to Oxford in 2004 for family reasons.

The Bio-Relaxation programme has been developed over several years.

After starting his career with the Health Education Council and then working for the Heartbeat Wales health programme, he decided to start his own business in 1986.

His first corporate client was global business consultancy Bain & Company, which he admits was a baptism of fire.

He said: "I went in with big plans but discovered people were working 60 hours a week and I realised I had to change the way I was thinking.

"There was no point telling them they were stressed when they had that type of pressure. I had to start to think about developing programmes that were practical in that environment. After a couple of years, the company had adopted a completely different culture."

Other clients included the BBC, Credit Lyonnais and Goldman Sachs - large organisations with workers in high-pressure environments.

Twenty years ago, stress was not as recognised in the workplace and Mr Johnson was a pioneer.

Now, of course, it is widely acknowledged but there are still problems.

He explained: "I have had people come to sessions and say they have a stress programme in their company but it does not work for them."

That is where Mr Johnson can offer a solution tailored to the individual.

The Bio-Relaxation programme is arranged in six sessions over three weeks. The workshops are deliberately kept short to keep the attention span high, and three months later there is a follow-up session.

There could be a multitude of reasons for attending. Mr Johnson has experience of working with big companies undergoing takeovers which can be highly stressful for people worried about their jobs.

He said: "At the end of the day, it is about responsibility and talking about the things you find difficult."

n Contact: CEBO Corporate 0845 226 5647, www.cebocorporate.com