Stress Management and Nutrition
By Tim Staines
There is an accepted association between nutrition and stress. Stress can lead people to make poor nutritional choices which can affect overall health. Poor nutrition also can greatly affect a person's capability of reacting and coping with stress. And because of this, good nutrition is always part of effective stress management. Here are just some simple tips that would help people use good nutrition as a means to manage the stresses in life.
Eat Breakfast Regularly
A well nourished body always has a bigger capability of coping with stress. The earlier the body is prepared, the better. When a day is about to be filled with stress at work or anywhere else, it pays to keep the body well prepared to handle it as it comes. Bear in mind that stress can easily deplete the body of essential resources that keeps it functioning well. Too much stress can also induce the body to use up more of a variety of nutrients which can easily lead to serious deficiencies. If the body is not prepared to cope up with the changes that stress can bring, it would likely react negatively in some way or the other.
To prepare the body for the stress ahead, people should need to keep their body well-stocked with nutrients. If done early in the day, the better the chances that the nutrients are well stocked up to handle the body's needs. This can be assured by eating breakfast regularly.
But the ability to cope with stress can be worsened by skipping breakfast which is the most important meal of the day. The result would be a body that would react very poorly to stress as it comes. But by eating a well-balanced breakfast regularly, the body is ensured of a build up of much needed resources and nutrients, making it more capable of coping with stress for the day.
A Well-Balanced Meal
Apart from eating breakfast regularly, eating a well-balanced meal should also be considered. What will a breakfast be of use if it doesn't provide the body with its much needed nutrients? There are certain nutrients that the body needs in order to fight off the effects of stress more effectively. Also remember that stress can speed up the use of some of these nutrients.
When the body is under stress, it starts to produce stress hormones. The stress hormones then trigger the body to excrete a number of essential minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium from the body. These minerals, when present in the body, actually help it cope with the symptoms and physical signs associated with stress.
The essential minerals that are excreted by the body as it produces stress hormones actually help to avoid mood swings and help the muscles to relax. Without them, the body won't be capable of handling or coping very well with stress and would even make it worse. Along with essential minerals, more antioxidants such as vitamin A, B, C and E may be needed by the body since it tries to increase the use of such nutrients while it is under stress.
The antioxidants help the body fight the free radicals which are released by the body's adrenal glands when it reacts to stress. By eating an well-balanced diet, you are helping your body build up on the essential nutrients that it needs to fight off stress. There are also several nutritional supplements available that would help make up for essential nutrients that may not be provided fully by your diet.
Using good nutrition to fight stress is sensible stress management.
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