Managing stress and anxiety is necessary for achieving a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Meanwhile, life moves at a faster pace than ever before, and people are more stressed and anxious than ever! In this blog post, we do a deep dive into these two common realities of everyday life. Learn how both stress and anxiety impact health, and how you can use nutrition as a tool to keep these feelings at bay.
What to Know About Stress
Stress is an everyday reality, and it impacts so many of us. That’s why learning to manage stress in our lives is so important. Some common symptoms of stress are depression, sadness, anxiety, fatigue and irritability. Common stressors include money, work, the economy, family responsibilities and personal health concerns.
Stress can impact your lifestyle and health in more ways than one, and there are many factors to consider when managing stress. Typical behaviors seen in those who have high stress include: not getting enough sleep; exercising less; and/or increased alcohol consumption. Unfortunately these factors can have a long-term impact on overall health.
The Types of Stress: Short-term Versus Long-term
During acute (short-term) bouts of stress, the body releases the hormone adrenaline, which is involved in the fight, flight or freeze response. Adrenaline increases the heart rate, and blood flow moves away from non-essential organs to other areas of the body. This results in less blood flow to the organs in our digestive system, and our digestion rate therefore slows down. 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 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 the entire body. Most notably, cortisol can have an adverse effect on 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 therefore become inflamed and irritated. 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. This increases blood pressure by forcing the same volume of blood through a narrower space.
Stress Management and Nutrition
There are two fairly simple ways that you can use nutrition as a tool for managing stress:
- Be aware of food choices: During times of acute or chronic stress, do you notice a change in your food choices? While this may indicate emotional eating or stress eating, there may be other factors at play. People who report high stress in their lives also note that they eat too much and/or choose unhealthy foods. Being mindful of how you fuel your body is key to giving your body the nutrition it needs to manage stress.
- Make 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. Having a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains along with lean sources of protein provides proper fuel to tackle almost anything that comes your way. Avoiding foods that are highly processed, high in saturated fat and/or high in sodium can help us manage stress.
Suggestions for Managing Stress
Minimizing stress may be more easily said than done. Some people may need a team approach for managing their health and well-being. Along with managing your nutrition, reaching out for help from a mental health professional can be beneficial. In the meantime, here are some practices you can adopt to help mange your stress:
- Meditate: Giving your body and mind some quiet time and space can help with reducing and managing stress. It may also help you to be 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: find a puzzle to complete, journal about your feelings, read a good book, try a new recipe or play a board game with friends or family.
- Find enjoyable movement: 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 (high intensity interval training). Find some kind of activity or movement that you find enjoyable. How can you incorporate it into your daily routine? Any form of movement that you enjoy is great for managing stress.
- Spend time with supportive people: Social support from supportive people can sometimes make all of the difference! Make an effort to spend time with loved ones, which can help with managing or reducing your stress levels.
What to Know About Anxiety
Anxiety happens when we struggle with adapting to typical, everyday situations. Anxiety is usually a term we associate with stress. They interact and intersect in our daily lives so often, it can be difficult to untangle one from the other.
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.
Since anxiety can impact our lives in both positive and negative ways, it is important to understand when it becomes too much. On the positive side, anxiety can serve as a protective mechanism; It can protect us by raising an alarm, thereby making us more aware of a dangerous or harmful situation. However if the anxiety you are experiencing becomes chronic and hinders you from completing normal activities, it may be a sign that your anxiety is no longer helping you. Managing anxiety will therefore become important to ensure a healthy life.
Why Is Managing Anxiety Important?
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.
- Impact on the Gastrointestinal (GI) System: Anxiety can impact our body in many different ways, but one of the most common is through our digestive tract. Our GI system or “gut” is made up of many nerves running through it that are connected to 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 can also create a chemical imbalance in our gut flora (the collection of bacteria in the GI tract).
- Increased Risk of Hypertension: 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: Depression and anxiety have a complicated relationship and unmanaged anxiety can lead to feeling depressed or low. The ties between anxiety and depression run deep, and can become cyclical in their origin. Anxiety comes from the fight or flight response in the brain being more active than it should be, resulting in feelings of fear even if no true threat exists. This constant feeling of worry can be difficult to work through, leading to feelings of failure and hopelessness. In turn, depressive symptoms or depression can occur.
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.
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. 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.
Carbohydrates
Simple and complex carbohydrates each serve a purpose and can be a part of a balanced diet. 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, which can make you feel calmer.
- Simple carbohydrates: Simple carbohydrates are easily and quickly digested due to their low fiber content. Some foods included in this category are white flour-based pasta, white rice, fruit, fruit juices, and baked goods.
- Complex carbohydrates: These take more work and effort for our body to break down. Longer chains of glucose (energy for our cells) make up complex carbohydrates, and they are typically higher in fiber as well. Some foods included in this category are whole grains, legumes (beans and peas), and some vegetables.
Timing of Eating
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 daily routine on an empty stomach and you are sluggish, tired or feel like everything takes twice as much effort to do? Successfully managing your anxiety can come from ensuring you are eating enough food throughout the day. This means not skipping meals (especially breakfast), and adding snacks between meals as well. A good rule of thumb is to not go any more than five 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 the 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 milligrams depending on age, sex and pregnancy/lactation status. We find this micronutrient in many different food sources including pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and almonds.
Magnesium deficiency 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. Meanwhile their anxiety behaviors and states improved when given magnesium,
To manage stress and anxiety, consider supplementing with magnesium. This can be helpful for meeting the recommended intake levels if you aren’t getting enough from food sources. If you feel you would benefit from a higher intake of magnesium, this is one of our favorite magnesium bisglycinate 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 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, and can . help with supporting mood as well.
- Zinc:
Zinc is an important component to a balanced diet that aids in growth and development, and is an essential component to living organisms. This micronutrient impacts enzyme function, cell signaling in the body, fat metabolism and immune function. Recommended amounts of Zinc are between 2-13 mg/day depending on age, sex and pregnancy/lactation status. Zinc is found in many different food sources including oysters, blue crab and fortified cereals.
Low levels of zinc in the body are associated with higher amounts of DNA damage, oxidative stress and poor antioxidant defenses. Meanwhile, studies have shown that high levels of oxidative stress in the body can be associated with anxiety. Therefore 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 are between 0.5-1.6 g/day depending on age, sex and pregnancy/lactation status. Omega 3 fatty acids are in many different food sources including 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 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.
Disclosure:
Some of our pages contain affiliate links. Anderson’s Nutrition may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Anderson’s Nutrition is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
