Time to stress less
Halloween and Bonfire night have come and gone which means just one thing – Christmas is coming and fast! We have all been chatting in the office about how many weeks we have to get all our shopping, what we will buy, where we need to be and when over the festive season.
With so much to plan and get done on top of our everyday lives we can imagine that a few of us will feel the strain and start to feel a little stressed. So this week, we want to share a few secrets with you about stress and ways to help you manage those manic moments.
Managing Stress
There are many factors that can cause stress such as the pressures from work and social family demands that can all become overbearing from time to time. People have many different ways of coping when they are under pressure, commonly they do not take their foot off the gas which can cause them to eventually burn out and be enveloped in a whirlwind of emotions.
Fight or flight response
Modern day life - running around all day and juggling many different deadlines leave many of us still living off of a ‘fight or flight’ response. This response is something that we would have used to flee from life threatening situations such as running from a sabre-toothed tiger. The response causes us to live off our energy glands (adrenals) which are mainly there to help us exert energy. Constantly being in this state can have a negative impact on hormones, weight management, insomnia, immune system and our mood.
Although it is not easy to tell someone to reduce the stress in their lives, we can look at ways to reduce the amount of pressure that they are feeling and aim at supporting their health. Therefore we have put some tips together below.
Managing weight and energy
Following a low Glycaemic Load (GL) diet, which consists of small meals/snacks every 3-4 hours that are high in protein and low in carbohydrates, help support constant energy levels and also reduce the chances of storing fat.
Relaxing the mind
There are many foods that contain amino acids tyrosine and tryptophan, that encourage the release of happy hormones. These are mainly protein foods such as chicken, turkey, tuna and beef and non-protein foods such as banana.
Insomnia
Stress can keep you awake due to you still being in a ‘fight or flight’ mode late in the evening. Having protein rich foods late in the evening that contain magnesium and taurine such as seeds and eggs can have a calming effect on the system by relaxing the muscles and calming the mind. In addition to this, aim to have teas which contain lemon balm, chamomile and passionflower.
Supporting the Immune System
Aim to have a diet rich in fruit and vegetables of all different colours as each colour represents different phytochemicals that help provide support to the immune system. In addition to a healthy diet, now that we are heading into winter, make sure that for adults you are having at least 1000 iu of Vitamin D daily to boost the immune system and at least 1g per day of Vitamin C.
With so much to plan and get done on top of our everyday lives we can imagine that a few of us will feel the strain and start to feel a little stressed. So this week, we want to share a few secrets with you about stress and ways to help you manage those manic moments.
Managing StressThere are many factors that can cause stress such as the pressures from work and social family demands that can all become overbearing from time to time. People have many different ways of coping when they are under pressure, commonly they do not take their foot off the gas which can cause them to eventually burn out and be enveloped in a whirlwind of emotions.
Fight or flight response
Modern day life - running around all day and juggling many different deadlines leave many of us still living off of a ‘fight or flight’ response. This response is something that we would have used to flee from life threatening situations such as running from a sabre-toothed tiger. The response causes us to live off our energy glands (adrenals) which are mainly there to help us exert energy. Constantly being in this state can have a negative impact on hormones, weight management, insomnia, immune system and our mood.
Although it is not easy to tell someone to reduce the stress in their lives, we can look at ways to reduce the amount of pressure that they are feeling and aim at supporting their health. Therefore we have put some tips together below.
Managing weight and energy
Following a low Glycaemic Load (GL) diet, which consists of small meals/snacks every 3-4 hours that are high in protein and low in carbohydrates, help support constant energy levels and also reduce the chances of storing fat.
Relaxing the mind
There are many foods that contain amino acids tyrosine and tryptophan, that encourage the release of happy hormones. These are mainly protein foods such as chicken, turkey, tuna and beef and non-protein foods such as banana.
Insomnia
Stress can keep you awake due to you still being in a ‘fight or flight’ mode late in the evening. Having protein rich foods late in the evening that contain magnesium and taurine such as seeds and eggs can have a calming effect on the system by relaxing the muscles and calming the mind. In addition to this, aim to have teas which contain lemon balm, chamomile and passionflower.
Supporting the Immune System
Aim to have a diet rich in fruit and vegetables of all different colours as each colour represents different phytochemicals that help provide support to the immune system. In addition to a healthy diet, now that we are heading into winter, make sure that for adults you are having at least 1000 iu of Vitamin D daily to boost the immune system and at least 1g per day of Vitamin C.
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