Everyone has some sort of stress or anxiety in their life. Managing stress and anxiety can be a helpful component to a balanced lifestyle.
Stress is Common
There are many components of stress that impact so many of us. Symptoms of stress can include depression, sadness, anxiety, fatigue and irritability. Common stressors include money, work, the economy, family responsibilities and personal health concerns.
There are many factors to consider when managing stress. Stress can impact your lifestyle and health in more ways than one. Typical behaviors seen in those who have high stress include not getting enough sleep, exercising less, and/or drinking more alcohol. These factors can have a long-term impact on overall health.
What happens when we are not managing our stress?
Short term or long term stress: is there a difference?
During acute (short term) bouts of stress, the body releases the hormone adrenaline. Adrenaline is involved in the fight, flight or freeze response. Our heart rate increases and our blood flow moves away from the non-essential organs to other areas of the body. This results in less blood flow to our organs in our digestive system and our digestion rate slows. Once the short term stress response is under control, our hormone levels return to normal.
Chronic (long term) stress results in the release of the hormone cortisol from the adrenal gland. The release of cortisol in the bloodstream may result in an increase in appetite. With long term stress and the high cortisol, the amount of food we eat may increase over time, which can lead to weight gain. As stress continues, the stress response is stuck in the “ON” position leading to consistently elevated levels of cortisol.
Why is managing stress important?
High levels of cortisol in the bloodstream can impact our entire body. The impact of cortisol is seen to impact blood sugar regulation, weight management, digestion and blood pressure.
Blood Sugar Management
When levels of cortisol are consistently high in the bloodstream, it leads to a decreased effect of insulin. Insulin acts as a “key” to bring glucose (a substrate used for energy) from the bloodstream into our cells. If the effect of insulin is impacted, the circulating amount of glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream increases. The glucose is not taken into the cell. The inability of insulin to bring glucose into the cells results in high blood glucose levels. This leaves the cells unable to get the energy they need.
Weight Management
Difficulty managing weight can be another result of elevated cortisol. When the levels of cortisol in the bloodstream are high, it reduces our ability to lose weight. The continuous stream of cortisol prevents our body from feeling relaxed enough to utilize any stored energy. This leads to higher and higher amounts of fat accumulation. The combined impact of storing fat and suppressing insulin leads our body to tell the brain to increase hunger. This increased feeling of hunger often leads to overeating.
Digestive System Management
Chronic inflammation can impact our digestive system by slowing the rate of digestion altogether. When the body undergoes times of inflammation, the blood flow moves away from our digestive tract and slows digestion. The intestinal tract can become inflamed and irritated during this time as well. This inflammation from stress, and nutritional choices, may lead to ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome and/or colitis.
Blood Pressure Management
The increased level of cortisol in the bloodstream can also contribute to high blood pressure. Chronic inflammation and high cortisol moves the blood away from non-essential organs and restricts the blood vessels in the body. This narrowing of the arteries leads to restricted blood flow in the body. This increases blood pressure by forcing the same volume of blood through a narrower space.
Stress Management and Nutrition
When in times of acute or chronic stress, you may or may not notice a change in your food choices. While there may be a component of emotional eating or stress eating, there may be other factors to consider. Your nutrition can be a helpful component to manage when creating a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
When undergoing stressful times, take a step back and look at the foods being eaten. People who reported high stress in their lives also noted they eat too much and/or choose unhealthy foods. It is important to ensure eat enough throughout the day to fuel our bodies. Occasionally, it can become another mindless activity that we do when our mind is preoccupied with other important things.
Making Sure You are Eating Enough
Nutrition can play an important role in managing stress by establishing a foundation of consistent energy intake. If the body does not have enough energy from food, you may not have enough energy left to appropriately manage stress.
Think of a car and its gas tank. If there is a long road trip coming and the tank is only one quarter full, it cannot get to where it needs to go without filling up more. The same principle applies in the body. In order to get where we need to go, we need to ensure the gas tank (our energy intake) is full and ready to go.
By having a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains along with lean sources of protein, our body is being properly fueled to tackle most anything that comes our way. By avoiding highly processed foods, high saturated fat foods and high sodium foods, we can better support the body to help with managing stress.
Minimizing stress may be more easily said than done. Reaching out for help from a mental health professional can be a beneficial step in the right direction along with managing your nutrition. Some people may need a team approach for managing their health and well-being.
Suggestions for Managing Stress
Meditate: Studies have shown that meditation decreases stress. By allowing your body and mind to have some time and space in the quiet, it may help with reducing or managing stress. It may also help with being more mindful of food choices.
Engage in calming activities: It may be helpful to find some different activities outside of your normal routine. This can help to calm your stress and give your mind a different kind of manageable challenge. Some ideas couple be: finding a puzzle to complete, journaling about your feelings, reading a good book, trying a new recipe or playing a board game with friends or family.
Find enjoyable movement: Find some kind of activity or movement that is enjoyable. Spend some time to think about what an enjoyable form of movement is for you. How can you incorporate it into your daily routine? Any kind of movement can help with lowering stress whether it is something low intensity like walking or something a little more difficult like HIIT, any enjoyable movement is great for managing stress.
Spend time with supportive people: Social support from supportive people can sometimes make all the difference. Making plans or an effort to spend time with loved ones can help with managing or reducing your stress.
Anxiety
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is usually a term we associate hand in hand with stress. They interact and intersect in our daily lives so often, it can be difficult to untangle one from the other. Anxiety is typically happening when we struggle with adapting to typical, everyday situations.
Common behaviors seen in those with anxiety include uncontrollable worry, feeling restless or on edge, and/or struggling with sleep. Struggling with anxiety can impact day to day life in more ways than one. There may be different situations or circumstances for people that spike anxiety more than others. It is important to understand how anxiety impacts our lives and understand how we can help ourselves manage it.
How does anxiety impact our lives?
Anxiety can come into our lives for any number of reasons. It may serve as a protective mechanism to help us deal with difficult or uncontrollable situations. Anxiety can help protect us by raising the alarm flags. This may force us to be more aware of the situation itself. Anxiety can impact our lives in a positive and negative manner, it is important to understand when it becomes too much. If the anxiety you are experiencing becomes chronic and it has led to an inability to complete normal activities, it may be a sign that your anxiety is no longer helping you.
What happens when we are not managing our anxiety?
The physiological response of anxiety in the body can look different for each individual. Some hallmark factors of unmanaged anxiety can look like an upset stomach, higher blood pressure and even depression.
The Butterfly Effect
Anxiety can impact our body in many different ways, but one of the most common is through our digestive tract. Our gastrointestinal (GI) system or our “gut” is made up of many nerves running through it that are connected to our brain. In fact, many of the nerves running through our GI system share nerve connections with ones in our brain. This connection may help explain why sometimes we feel “butterflies” in our stomach. It may also be why we feel our stomach “is in knots” when a stressful event may be approaching. These connections mean that when the hormones released by our body enter our digestive tract, they interfere with digestion. Unmanaged anxiety can cause disruptions in our GI tract and impact digestion in negative ways. They may create a chemical imbalance in our gut flora (the collection of bacteria in the GI tract).
Increased Risk of Hypertension
During a time of increased anxiety, the body’s response to certain situations may be different. When experiencing anxiety, the body may redirect blood flow from certain areas of the body to another. This redirection of blood flow can slow normal bodily processes. In times of anxiety, the blood vessels in the body may narrow. This narrowing of the blood vessels may cause an increase in blood pressure. The volume of blood stays the same, but the area in which it can travel through has become restricted.
Depression
The ties between anxiety and depression run deep and true. The connection between these two mental health components can become cyclical in their origin. Anxiety comes from the fight or flight response in the brain being more active than it should. This results in the feeling of fear even if no true threat exists. This constant feeling of worry can be difficult to work through. This feeling of not being able to appropriately work through the issue can make you feel like you have failed or are hopeless. This is when depressive symptoms or depression can occur. Depression and anxiety have a complicated relationship and unmanaged anxiety can lead to feeling depressed or low.
Understanding the facets of your worries that you can control can be a helpful first step. This can help prevent your anxiety from impacting your life in negative ways.
Why is managing anxiety important?
Understanding the impact that anxiety has on our body and mind can be a helpful way to begin the process of managing anxiety. Why does it even matter?
Managing anxiety is an important part of self-care because uncontrolled anxiety can impact one’s productivity and focus. It can also lead to feeling down, hopeless or worried constantly.
Anxiety can be a hindrance to our everyday life. By understanding the common triggers for anxiety and identifying its impact, it can become easier to manage over time. By understanding more about anxiety and how it impacts your life, well managed anxiety can be a helpful tool in your tool belt.
Anxiety develops from many different places or experiences and it can stem from a place of self-preservation. By using our anxiety in a different way to spur us on or give us motivation, anxiety can be a strength rather than a weakness.
Anxiety Management and Nutrition:
There may be many factors at play related to managing anxiety. The foods you choose to eat can play a role in that. Along with the general recommendation and guidelines for consuming a balanced diet, adequate water intake and limiting or reducing intake of caffeine and alcohol, there may be some helpful additions or changes to the diet that can complement anxiety management.
Complex Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate is an expansive macronutrient category. It includes not only the typical bread, rice, tortilla and pasta foods, but also includes foods like fruits, starchy vegetables, and many dairy products. There are different types of carbohydrates which include “simple carbohydrates” and “complex carbohydrates”.
Simple carbohydrates are easily and quickly digested due to their low fiber content. Some foods included in this category include white flour based pasta, white rice, fruits and fruit juices and baked goods.
Complex carbohydrates take more work and effort for our body to break them down. Longer chains of glucose (energy for our cells) make up complex carbohydrates. They are typically higher in fiber as well. Some foods included in this category include whole grains, some vegetables and legumes (beans and peas).
Simple and complex carbohydrates each serve a purpose and can be a part of a balanced diet. A higher increase in complex carbohydrates can be helpful when looking at managing anxiety. Consuming higher amounts of complex carbohydrates may help with managing anxiety. The slower digestion time of the complex carbohydrates can help maintain a more even blood sugar level. This can help with making you feel calmer.
Timing of Eating
Managing anxiety can be a difficult task in and of itself. It can take a significant effort to do so successfully. In order for our minds to best manage our anxiety, it is important to make sure our body has enough fuel (food).
Have you ever tried to go through your day to day routine on an empty stomach and find out that you are sluggish, tired or feeling like everything takes twice as much effort to do? Part of taking care of your health physically and mentally comes from ensuring your brain and your body have enough energy from food (and rest) to do the things you want to do.
Successfully managing your anxiety can come from ensuring you are eating enough food throughout the day. It helps to make sure that you are eating consistently throughout the day as well. This means not skipping meals (especially breakfast) and considering the addition of snacks between meals as well. A good rule of thumb to help start the journey is to not go any more than 5 waking hours without eating something.
If you are not sure how to navigate your nutritional intake to best support your needs, consider speaking with one of our Registered Dietitians here at Anderson’s Nutrition.
Micronutrients of Note
In addition to fueling your body with adequate macronutrients (protein, fat and carbohydrates), there are some micronutrients (nutrients needed in smaller amounts) to help with managing anxiety.
Magnesium
Magnesium is a micronutrient the body requires. It has a role to play in cellular energy (ATP) reactions. The amount of magnesium recommended for the average person daily varies between 320-410 mg depending on age, sex and pregnancy/lactation status. We find this micronutrient in many different food sources including, but not limited to: pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and almonds.
Magnesium may be a helpful micronutrient to consider supplementing with when looking at managing stress and anxiety. Magnesium is considered to be an important component in the cause of affective mood disorders such as anxiety and depression. In a study done on mice who were naturally or purposefully made to be deficient in magnesium, their anxiety states became more elevated. Once given magnesium, their anxiety behaviors and states were reduced.
Magnesium Supplementation
Magnesium supplementation can be helpful for meeting the recommended intake levels if it is difficult to meet them from food sources. If you feel you would benefit from a higher intake of magnesium, this is one of our favorite magnesium glycinate supplements.
There are different types of magnesium that are currently available. Some of the types of magnesium that may help include magnesium citrate and magnesium glycinate. The main difference between these two is what the magnesium itself is bound to; the magnesium is bound to citric acid in magnesium citrate and the magnesium is bound to the amino acid glycine in magnesium glycinate.
Magnesium citrate is typically used to help with supporting digestive regularity and digestive health. It is also commonly used to help treat magnesium deficiency in the body.
Magnesium glycinate is a more common supplement to help with sleep or to help with unwinding after a long day. This form of magnesium can be of use to help with supporting mood as well.
Zinc
Zinc is an important component to a balanced diet that aids in growth and development. It is known to be an essential component to living organisms. This micronutrient has impacts on enzyme function, cell signaling in the body, fat metabolism and immune function. Recommended amounts of Zinc can be between 2-13 mg/day depending on age, sex and pregnancy/lactation status. Zinc is found in many different food sources including, but not limited to: oysters, blue crab and fortified cereals.
When assessing levels of Zinc in the body, low levels were found to be associated with higher amounts of DNA damage, oxidative stress and poor antioxidant defenses. Studies have shown a potential association may be present related to high levels of oxidative stress in the body and anxiety.
Increasing the amount of Zinc in the diet from different food sources or through supplementation may be helpful in managing anxiety. We like this Zinc supplement from Thorne to help with Zinc intake.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Omega 3 fatty acids are a type of unsaturated fatty acid that includes EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). These fatty acids help with building and maintaining cell membranes, help with anti-inflammatory mechanisms and are essential to brain and eye health. Recommended amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids can be between 0.5-1.6 g/day depending on age, sex and pregnancy/lactation status. Omega 3 fatty acids are found in many different food sources including, but not limited to: fish, nuts and seeds.
Adequate intake of Omega 3 fatty acids have potential preventative and therapeutic effects on managing anxiety. One study found that a diet high in EPA could reduce the development of anxiety-like behaviors in rats. In a summation study of the available information on the effect of Omega 3 fatty acid intake and anxiety behaviors, the overall findings show that there were significant reductions in anxiety symptoms compared to controls.
The amount or types of foods that are good sources of Omega 3’s may be helpful to incorporate into your diet. If you feel a supplement may be easier (and smell better) than cooking fish, we love this supplement.
Are you thinking that navigating the management of stress and nutrition is too much? Meet with one of our Registered Dietitians to help you get started.
Suggestions for Managing Anxiety
Schedule time to calm your mind: This may look different for everyone. Some people like to pray, some people meditate, and others may do yoga to help ground themselves. Regardless of your preferred method, take time every day, perhaps in the morning or right before bed, to purposefully calm your mind. Focus on something other than what is going on immediately around you.
Start a gratitude journal: Another way to calm your anxiety and see a brighter side to things is to keep a gratitude journal. When you feel your worry or anxiety rushing in, try grabbing a journal or piece of paper to write down three things that you are grateful for, or that brought you joy. When it gets too hard to remember three things to be grateful for, re-read the ones you have already written down. We love this gratitude journal from Amazon!
Take it one day at a time: With things changing day to day, focusing on the here and now can be a helpful grounding technique. Focus on what you need to do in the moment to re-center your brain. Make time blocks for each part of the day as a flexible schedule for the morning, afternoon, and evening. Chelsijo.co has tons of ideas on how to refocus your brain for one task, one day at a time. We also like this book about rewiring the brain and learning more about how to adapt during times of stress or anxiety.
Fuel your body with proper nutrition: When the body has a balance of macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat) it feels better! In addition when we have a good relationship with food, we also experience less anxiety. Read more about how food can impact your anxiety.
