Stress, Burnout and Nutrition
You may have heard the phrase “take a chill pill” but when it comes to stress, that is often easier said than done! If you're feeling stressed out, you are not alone. Modern life is increasing stressful - not to mention the past 3 1/2 years that we have lived (or hung on by our fingertips) through.
Stress in the right proportions is an important and necessary part of life. It can help us achieve goals and stay mentally alert and motivated. It is when stress is relentless, occurred over a long period of time or not managed properly that it can wreak havoc on our body systems and overall wellbeing leading to a myriad of health problems including burnout.
But don't stress!
You can proactively manage your stress levels using holistic nutrition and lifestyle practices that work with your body's systems rather than against them so you can increase your energy, feel calm, sleep well, and get that brain working optimally again. In this blog post, we'll explore a variety of helpful tools and tactics rooted in traditional healing approaches like nutrition, exercise and sleep that you can use as proactive measures for dealing with stress on a daily basis.
Ready to take a deep breath? Let's dive in!
How Stress Affects Your Body - Unravelling the Truth
Stress can trigger a cascade of reactions throughout our bodies - it's not just your mind that is affected! When we are stressed, our bodies release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which can increase our heart rate and blood pressure, and contribute to chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Stress can also cause digestive issues, such as bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhoea and reflux, and weaken our immune systems which makes us more susceptible to illnesses and instigate food intolerances or sensitivities. Understanding the hidden impact stress has on your body is crucial to overcoming its effects. Chronic stress also disturbs our hormones and cognitive processes leading to brain fog and memory and concentration issues.
Here is how long term chronic stress impacts your body from a nutritional point of view.
Altered Eating Patterns: Chronic stress can disrupt a person’s regular eating patterns. Some people may tend to overeat in response to stress which can lead to weight gain and potential nutritional imbalances, while others may lose their appetite and eat less which potentially leading to malnutrition and result in deficiencies of essential nutrients.
Increased Cravings for Unhealthy Foods: Stress often leads to cravings for "comfort foods” - high-sugar, high-fat, and high-salt foods. Eating these types of foods in excess can lead to consuming less highly nutritious foods and contribute to various health issues. This is likely to cause blood sugars to be unbalanced which can contribute to anxiety, brain fog, irritability, a lack of energy as well as contributing to poor sleep.
Impaired Digestion: Chronic stress affects the digestive system in a variety of ways. It may lead to conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or worsen existing gastrointestinal issues such as bloating, pain, reflux, dysbiosis and intestinal permeability (often referred to as ‘leaky gut’). These digestive problems can reduce the absorption of nutrients and contribute to malnutrition. Impaired digestion can also lead to lowered protein absorption and therefore affect neurotransmitter production which can affect your mental health.
Altered Nutrient Metabolism: Stress can disrupt the body's metabolism, affecting how nutrients are digested, absorbed, and utilised. This can lead to imbalances in various vitamins and minerals, resulting in nutrient deficiencies which can lead to various symptoms and health conditions.
Reduced Nutrient Absorption: Chronic stress can impact the absorption of certain nutrients. For example, stress may impair the absorption of B vitamins and magnesium, which are crucial for energy production and overall health.
Increased Oxidative Stress: Chronic stress can lead to increased oxidative stress in the body, which can deplete antioxidants that play a role in protecting cells from damage and maintaining overall health. Your oxidative status can also be affected by your genetics.
Weakened Immune System: Long-term stress can weaken the immune system, making you more susceptible to frequent illnesses and infections as well as food intolerances and sensitivities.
Poor Dietary Choices: When you are experiencing chronic stress, you may be more likely to make poor dietary choices, opting for convenience foods that are often low in nutrients and very high in unhealthy preservatives and additives. Your body does not recognise these additives that are found in processed/packaged items as ‘food’! This may leave you feeling hungry quickly as your body is still screaming out for nutrition.
Disrupted Eating Habits: Stress can disrupt regular meal planning and preparation routines, leading to inconsistent eating habits and a lack of attention to balanced nutrition.
Emotional Eating: Many individuals cope with chronic stress by turning to emotional eating, which can lead to the consumption of excessive calories and unhealthy foods, further impacting nutritional reserves.
Managing Stress Naturally
Now that you know that stress can take a toll on your physical, mental and emotional health and lead to you feeling more stressed and burnt-out, what can you do to overcome this? Instead of turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms, junk food, alcohol, mindless scrolling on social media and Netflix - why not try some natural ways to manage your stress - that actually work?
Here are my top five tips I give my clients to help increase their energy and wellbeing:
Eat nourishing foods that calm your nervous system: Always try to eat foods in their ‘whole’ state, and make your meals from scratch when possible, instead of highly processed, packaged and sugary foods that lack essential nutrients and are often high in harmful chemicals. Those type of foods can stress the body and worsen anxiety.
‘Break-the-fast’: Eating a wholesome breakfast is a great way to start the day when you are stressed or burnt-out. This is not a good time to ‘fast’ as that will just place more stress on your body. Eating a breakfast with sufficient protein, good fats and vegetables will help keep your blood sugars balanced and increase your energy so you are not reaching for those heavy carbohydrate and sugary foods mid-afternoon. It is also a great way to get those extra vegetables and their lovely nutrients into your day!
Make sure you are well hydrated: It is easy to forget to hydrate when you are feeling stressed. Dehydration will leave you feeling tired, foggy, upset your electrolyte balances and increase your chance of headaches. Aim for about 30ml times your current weight in kilograms (eg. 30ml x 75kg = 2.25 litres) of filtered water a day. Herbal teas are also included in this tally!
Get some movement in your life!: Exercise can help you manage your stress levels and it is important to do some but really important not to overdo exercise when you are feeling stressed or you are burnt-out - as this is just more stress on your already over-burdened body. Walking, light weights and yoga are great to incorporate into your day to help manage your stress levels. Getting out and walking in nature will help you feel less stressed too.
Prioritise sleep: While feeling stressed can disrupt your ability to sleep, sufficient sleep will help you better cope with your stresses! Make sleep a priority and make sure that you have 8-9 hours in bed to enable you to get sufficient rest. Ideally, aim to be in bed by 10pm at night so you get that more restorative sleep before midnight. If you are a shift-worker it is a lot trickier but even more important to prioritise your sleep and having a plan in place for your differently timed shifts.
Stress is a largely unavoidable part of life, but it doesn't have to control your life.
Now you can see how managing your stress, taking care of yourself and practising healthy habits is essential for anyone looking to improve their overall health and wellbeing, avoid burnout and reduce your risk of developing other health conditions.
Everybody is different and two people may have similar symptoms but the underlying causes are different for each. It is important to know what nutritional imbalances your individual body is experiencing and not supplement ‘willy-nilly’, as you can push imbalances out even further.
If you’re ready to finally kick stress, fatigue and burn-out to the kerb feel free to book in a discovery call to learn more about I can help you!
