Modern life subjects us to kinds of stress that our primitive ancestors could never have imagined. We face unnaturally high levels of stress for unnaturally long periods... and naturally enough, our bodies just aren’t designed to cope with it all.
Firstly, there are the things we can do something about.
We may be able to reduce our workload, avoid particularly stressful environments, and find ways to improve our sleep. We can also often reduce the physical impact of stress on our bodies. But secondly, there are those things we can’t change. After all, the whole problem with many forms of stress, and the reason they are so stressful, is that we can’t do anything about them. For these kinds of issues, all we can do is change the way we respond to them so that they affect us less. Practices like meditation, yoga, and sports don’t usually eliminate the causes of stress, but they can help reduce the impact that stress has by changing our attitude or “burning off” the natural responses that stress causes within our bodies.
Stress can be harmful to our health, and detrimental to our enjoyment of everyday living. Even activities that would ordinarily be enjoyable can become unpleasant if our stress levels are too high – a pleasant outing like a concert in a park may be a relaxing delight or a miserable distraction, depending on whether we are in a good mood or we’re stressed out. And somehow, despite all the scientific breakthroughs and our complex economic systems, we seem to be further from stress-free lives than ever! In fact, even for those of us who are not directly affected, it’s hard not
to experience an increased level of worry and anxiety when so many challenges dominate the news. After all, being bombarded with reports
about the global financial crisis, floods, drought, terrorism, and bushfires is bound to have an effect on our perception of the world around us.
Then there are all the flow-on effects of stress – if lying awake with worry has kept us from getting a good night’s sleep, then the following day can
be much harder to get through... and this in turn can lead to still more stress. In fact, that kind of “feedback loop”, where stress creates more
stress, is only too common and can happen in all kinds of ways. If we are experiencing, say, workplace stress, that may cause us to be distracted or irritable at home, creating relationship friction and a whole new source of stress. Many people even find that worrying about their stress levels causes them stress!
Have you ever noticed how a stressful period can leave you feeling physically exhausted even if you have not had to work hard in a physical way? It’s not because you’ve confused mental fatigue with physical fatigue. It’s because stress really can have a major effect on our physical wellbeing. This is because our bodies evolved to deal with forms of stress that were primarily physical: if we’re being chased by a sabre-toothed tiger or escaping from a bushfire, our bodies are doing the right thing by releasing natural substances like adrenaline that temporarily boost our performance. When we’re stressed by more modern causes (Was that a speed camera that just went off? Will the mobile phone bill be too high this month?), there’s no particular advantage to our built-in stress responses... but they happen regardless.
With this in mind, it’s easy to see how some attention to nutrition can be very helpful during times of stress. While we always need to maintain a balanced diet with a wide range of nutrients, the golden rule when it comes to stress and diet is to give some thought to B-group vitamins. B-group vitamins can often be depleted during stressful periods, which means that we need more of them. Fish, meat, bread, and dairy products can be good sources of B vitamins, while vegetables like lentils, spinach, brococoli, beetroot, and asparagus are also wise inclusions in a B-friendly meal. Of course, B-group supplements are also available, and are sometimes formulated specifically for stress – try to find one that has a wide range of B’s rather than just one or two. Like B vitamins, the mineral nutrient magnesium may also be helpful, especially when stress has follow-on effects like muscle tension and cramps.
Herbs can also help with stress, especially in cases where stress is affecting sleeping patterns. Most people know that chamomile tea has a long tradition of use as a calming and relaxing late-night drink, and this is certainly one option. Other anti-stress herbs, or herbs that can help with sleep, include ginseng, skullcap, valerian, and passionflower. Two other herbs that can help with stress are rhodiola and withania, which are sometimes described as adaptogens – a reference to their ability to help our bodies adapt to changing circumstances, helping keep our health status consistent and stable even when things are stressful or challenging. And when stress takes the form of more ongoing anxiety or nervous tension, many of us reach for the herb hypericum, also known as St John’s wort. All of these herbs are available in different forms such as teas, tablets, and capsules.
While different people find stress relief in different activities, almost everyone can benefit from revisiting their work vs leisure balance.
Perhaps most important of all though, are lifestyle approaches to eliminating stress or reducing its effects. While different people find stress relief in different activities, almost everyone can benefit from revisiting their work vs leisure balance. Too often, we fill our time outside work with still more work, and leave little or no time for basic relaxation or leisure. Remember, gently reducing stress levels doesn’t have to involve meditation, incense, and rainforest music. Simple pursuits like playing card games or board games are much less popular than they once were, but they can be far more restful than an evening spent watching an action movie. After all, what could be better for stress than a bit of good old-fashioned family fun?
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