As a 룸알바 psychotherapist, nutritionist, and highly trained and experienced mindfulness practitioner, I am well equipped to help you identify which forms of stress management best support your needs, goals, and lifestyle, as well as develop effective ways of integrating self-care into daily living. If you are in Scottsdale, Arizona, or surrounding areas, and are interested in getting treatment for stress management–for yourself, your teen, or another loved one–I can help.
Whether it is through relaxation techniques, autogenics (self-hypnosis), mindful exercises, meditation, mindful movement, or another stress management method, we will work together to design a holistic, realistic stress reduction strategy to help you feel better in mind, body, and spirit. In the stress management sessions, we will also discuss your diet, lifestyle, any physical issues and health concerns, and which techniques and changes seem realistic to you. The good news is there are many simple lifestyle changes that we can implement that can help us to manage stress levels.
Eating a balanced, healthy diet is critical in helping our bodies cope with physiological changes caused by stress. More evidence is suggesting the connection between our lifestyle, and the foods that we eat every day, with our stress levels and anxiety. Emotional eating may cause us to accumulate calories and cause digestive problems, while staying idle for extended periods may invite several diseases associated with the sedentary lifestyle, such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
Making the conscious choice to eat healthier foods may actually offer noticeable relief from stress. Mindful eating practices counteract stress by encouraging deeper breathing, making deliberate choices about your meals, paying close attention to your meals, and slowly and fully chewing your food. When it comes to food and stress, one of the best things you can do for your body is choose a balanced, healthy style of eating.
If you are experiencing any kind of prolonged or intense stress, be it emotional or physical (for instance, if you are feeling ill), it is important that you nourish your body regularly to keep you from becoming even more stressed due to blood sugar deficiencies, so a quick breakfast right after you wake up is essential. Having protein in breakfast is important to balance your blood sugar, and thus your stress levels. Just like we have foods that either nourished or did not, we have foods that may decrease or increase stress levels.
For instance, eating stimulating foods like sugar or caffeine often, or eating foods that you are not mindfully able to tolerate, can all cause your body to experience stress.
Another key thing to try to avoid is caffeine and alcohol, since these can be hard for your body to detoxify from and affect your blood sugar levels when under stress, so they should be kept at a minimum.
Stress takes blood flow away from the digestive system, something you do not want while trying to digest food. Stress does damage to our digestive systems, increases cortisol, can lead to unintended weight gain, and keeps us up at night.
Stress can interrupt sleep, leading to lighter naps or more frequent awakenings, leading to tiredness throughout the day. Stress can also be physical, in the form of injuries, illnesses, inflammation, toxins, and certain foods and eating habits. It is a response by the body to a difficult situation, but when experienced for extended periods, can lead to a variety of health problems.
If stress does not go away, the nervous system continues to produce physical reactions which eventually leads to inflammation and cell damage. If the stress continues, the adrenal glands secrete another hormone called cortisol, which spurs glucose release in the bloodstream and increases your brains use of glucose for energy. The adrenal glands, located at the top, internal surface of each kidney, produce the primary stress-response hormones, adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol.
Heres an example; The stress hormone, cortisol, blocks how progesterone is used by the body, leading to an imbalance between oestrogen and progesterone, as well as irregular menstruation. When the body is stressed, demand increases for all nutrients, and any deficiencies leave the body less capable of dealing with the stress. Magnesium is drastically depleted during times of stress, and symptoms of a deficiency commonly include fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, and a tendency towards stress.
Magnesium is a key nutrient that helps to support our ability to handle stress, and has positive effects on our anxiety levels. Key nutrients for our adrenal glands are Vitamin C, vitamin E, B complex, and magnesium, vitamin C can generally be obtained from healthy eating, and during times of increased stress, supplements may be taken to increase levels. Vitamin C helps to reduce cholesterol levels and supports our adrenal glands, particularly in times of increased stress.
Next, dark chocolate is high in antioxidants, which can also ease stress by lowering the levels of stress hormones in your body. It appears that flavonoids in dark chocolate may work to reduce stress hormones, including cortisol.
To help slash your stress, we checked with registered dietitians to find out the top foods to lower stress. Pair relaxing activities and positive thinking with the best foods to lower stress, according to nutritionist Carrie Gabriel, MS, RDN.
There are a lot of factors that put stress on your body: External stresses like job or family obligations, as well as internal influences: What we eat, and how well our digestive, immune, and nervous systems work. Stress has become a regular part of modern life, and although it affects us in a variety of ways, the ways in which we deal with stress also impact our health. Over a long period of time, chronic stress can cause chronic illnesses, plaque buildup in the arteries that leads to heart disease, decreased immunity that may lead to cancer, and a host of other ailments.
According to the American Psychological Association, 77% of people experience physiological symptoms caused by stress on a regular basis, such as fatigue, headaches, muscle tension, upset stomach, and changes in sexual desire. Everything from headaches to stomachaches, muscle soreness to sleeping problems, fatigue to decreased sex drive are physical symptoms of stress. When we stress-eat, we quickly consume food, not paying attention to what we are eating, and not paying attention to how much, leading to weight gain.
