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We’ve all had stress at one point in our life or another. There are some types of stress that are healthy and beneficial to life. Unfortunately, the majority of the stress we encounter in today’s world is destructive and may even help to shorten our lives.
According to a study done at Duke University’s Medical center and reported to the American Journal of Cardiology, a link can be found between an “aggressive” personality and the likelihood of death in people younger than age 61 who currently have heart disease. If you can’t find a way of managing stress properly, it will help to kill you.
There are several tools available nutritionally for stress management. Some vitamin supplements give natural stress relief and bring body balance when stress saps your energy. Some natural sources for managing stress are foods, herbs, and some from nutritional supplements.
Stress Management with Food:
When thinking of managing stress in the body and food sources, the key is maintaining a balance between the many chemicals within the body that control mood.
Serotonin is a chemical released within the body that works to control mood.
Overall, when stressed, depending on what your activity level it can be a good idea to eat a diet rich in complex carbohydrates. These help to release serotonin into the body and elevate mood. Some good food sources of complex carbohydrates include broccoli, potatoes, squash, and brown rice.
In addition, you should likely look to increase your consumption of B vitamins in food as the B vitamins are essential in stress management. Foods high in B vitamins include asparagus, beets, soybeans and spinach.
Finally, including tryptophan in the diet is important in maintaining a balance of serotonin levels in the body and stress management. Foods rich in tryptophan include poultry (chicken, turkey, etc.), eggs and nuts
For more information on foods rich in stress reduction properties, visit the food and stress page at http://www.wholehealthmd.com/hk/remedies/disp/1,1459,516,00.html.
Natural Stress Relief with herbs
One of the biggest “stars” of the herb world relative to stress management has become St. John’s Wort. St. John’s Wort has been shown to be effective in treating mild to moderate depression in clinical trials conducted in Europe.
St. John’s Wort acts much the same as some medicinal serotonin inhibitors such as Prozac. St. John’s Wort helps to balance serotonin levels in the body. This leads to an overall elevation in mood.
The biggest concern about St. John’s Wort is its possible interaction with
other drugs and/or supplements. The use of St. John’s Wort should be discussed with a physician or health professional before beginning a course of stress management therapy.
Another herbal remedy for natural stress relief is chamomile. Chamomile has a sweet apple-like fragrance-in fact, it’s name comes from the Greek kamai melon which translates to “ground apple”. Chamomile can be taken as a supplement but is likely a better tool for natural stress relief as a hot tea.
While the herb “kava-kava” has been promoted as a possible herbal remedy for natural stress relief, the U.S. FDA has issued a warning about the possible effects of this herb on the liver. Please read the article at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/addskava.html.
Stress Reduction with natural supplements
When choosing natural supplements for managing stress, it’s a good idea to look at those natural supplements which directly combat stress.
The B-Complex of vitamins is a great place to start. All of the B-Complex of vitamins are important in managing stress and elevating mood. While you can take them individually for a variety of issues, for managing stress, it’s beneficial to take a B-Complex tablet which includes all of the vitamins in the B-Complex.
In general, natural stress relief is possible in many ways by the foods we eat, by herbal remedies and even by natural supplements. By learning how to properly incorporate natural stress relief elements into our diet, we can achieve stress reduction and live a happier life.
This has been a short overview of a few methods to use for managing stress naturally and nutritionally. For more information, please visit the reference sources listed below.
References:
Chamomile: Herb Profile and Information - http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/chammo49.html
UK Health And Nutrition Information – Depression
http://www.healthandnutrition.co.uk/articles/depression.htm
St. Johns Wort (Hypericum perforatum) and the Treatment of Depression
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/stjohnswort/
Stress Management, Diet, Food and Stress-Controlling Stress by Diet, Food, Nutrition
http://www.holistic-online.com/stress/stress_diet.htm
Hostility may speed death from heart disease
http://www.somersetmedicalcenter.com/115569.cfm
About the Author
Ben Douglas is the webmaster for VitaminFan.com, a vitamin information portal which collects quality vitamin information from independant sources publicly availaable on the World Wide Web. VitaminFan.com is a one-stop-shop for research and information on nutrition and vitamin related topics. Visit at http://www.vitaminfan.com
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