Heart Healthy Exercise
Probably one of the first and most effective methods for relieving stress and reducing cortisol levels is through some form of physical activity. Exercise is the most predictable way to manage stress and prevent depression.
This makes sense, especially if we go back to the classic stress scenario or the ‘fight or flight’ response. The initial stress is created to help you survive by making you alert so that you can either fight off your tormentor or run away. Unfortunately today’s stressors are not as easy to escape from – they cannot usually be fought off and it's not advised that we run away from our problems, so it seems there is really no getting away from it. In the classic scenario, once the stress is relieved, cortisol levels drop back down to their normal, pre-stress levels. In the real-life scenario, the stressful situation can continue to persist and may result in chronically elevated cortisol levels.
Eventually you may end up with exhausted adrenal glands that are unable to produce cortisol. Add to this the fact that your cortisol levels are already slightly out of whack due to shiftwork, and you could end up dealing with long-term health consequences.
Stress causes the body to build up extra energy in preparation for the battle or the race ahead, while exercise burns energy and reduces stress levels. Basically, physical exercise works because it tricks your body into thinking that it has dealt with the stress and that you have in fact fought it off or escaped from it. Excercise metabolizes stress hormones in the blood. It increases the body’s anti-anxiety hormones called beta-endorphins and brain derived neurotrophic factors which elevate mood. And all exercise will divert any energy away from worrying and towards the exercise itself. 
The Shift Solution Heart Healthy Exercise program will differ slightly depending on your goals, but the basics are built around the FITT Principles exercise program that was designed by Dr. Howard Eisenson and Dr. Martin Binks in the very popular weight loss program called ‘The Duke Diet’. The idea is to use this principle in reducing your stress and raising your level of fitness by changing one of the following elements at a time to keep your workout challenging.
F- Frequency- the number of times you exercise each week
I - Intensity- how hard you work out while exercising
T - Time- the number of minutes you devote to each exercise session
T - Type- the type of exercise you are performing: Aerobic vs. Weight training vs. Flexibility training