The Role of Nutrition in Stress Management

Stress is an important factor that in long term can be the cause of a number of physical neurological and psychiatric disorders. It is important to manage stress by adopting a healthy attitude towards various aspects of life limiting the responsibility to what you can shoulder, limiting your liabilities to the extent that you can handle them and not over committing yourself to any task beyond what you can reasonably except to perform. The best defense against stress is the knowledge that you can only give your best, however even that may not be always adequate enough to ensure success, for there are many factors beyond your control. The best attitude, in which so many religious texts have preached, is that you have only the right to do your best, but not the right to expectation of the result.

Even though stress management is basically a function of attitude, there are some simple tips that are immensely helpful in management of stress. One is that you should avoid working on too many things simultaneously. Concentration on one task at a time is always the best. Being communicative also is very helpful so that others know your capabilities and limitations and do not have expectations from you in excess of your capacity to perform and to deliver. Unfulfilled expectations, unrealistic goals, over assessment of your capacity often lead to high stress levels.

Nutrition is also important in stress management, it gives you the capacity to perform to be able to under

ake the task that you have to do. For instance, diabetics need a proper dietary nutrition that suits them the best. A high carbohydrate diet may not give them the right kind of nutrition to be able to go about their daily routine and thereby lead to high stress levels.

There are many chemicals, hormones, enzymes that control your mood. Serotonin is an important chemical that controls the mood. Some foods control serotonin at optimum levels in the body. These include complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, broccoli and brown rice. Increase in consumption of B group vitamins reduces the stress in the body. Sources of such vitamins are fermented foods like yogurt, fruit and uncooked vegetables like salads; juices, eggs and some types of dry fruits, asparagus and soybeans are also rich B group vitamins. Tryptophan levels of food are important, as they help to maintain correct serotonin levels in the body. The foods that contain high levels of tryptophan are poultry, eggs and nuts.

There are some herbal products that are excellent in reducing stress such as Saint John's Wort; consumption of this leads to overall elevation of mood. The other natural stress relievers are Chamomile tea and Kava Kava. B - Complex vitamin tablets may help during the periods when you are passing through a particularly stressful period, but while taking these tablets keep it in mind that they are not long-term dietary supplements.

It needs to be remembered that the diet in general is specific to an individual. Many people digest certain kinds of foods while others don't. Again, some foods can be metabolized easily by some people while others are not able to do so. Common example are fats which some people metabolize relatively easily while others tend to deposit them in various parts of their body. Apart from the physical exercise genomic factors play an important part in the process of digestion and metabolization of foods. Genetic factors may also govern the level of mood forming chemicals in the body. This is a newly emerging area of science but, in the next one or two decades knowledge in this field will grow significantly and may provide understanding of role of genomic sequences in digestion and metabolization of foods and synthesis of stress relieving chemicals by the body. It may then provide new tools or stress management.

The management of stress is a function of a number of factors, nutrition and diet are just some of them. A diet that enables body to perform various physical and mental functions that are part of an individual's routine will definitely be helpful in stress management. The role of micro nutrients such as vitamins and trace minerals is also important. These can be provided mostly by diet and in some cases by dietary supplements.

Chris Moheno is a sport enthusiast who gained substantial knowledge about stress relief strategies through his higher scientific education and through his own life experience as a successful counselor.

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