Chronic stress influences various aspects of our lives, including energy levels, digestion, hormones, and even the ageing process. While many of my clients link stress to anxiety and a sense of being overwhelmed, they often overlook its deeper impacts on their well-being.

This is a great chance for us to delve into the effects of stress on our physiology and explore how we can enhance our health through specific nutritional and lifestyle adjustments. Let’s dive in.

Stress and Inflammation are like pouring gasoline on fire

That’s how I describe the relationship between stress and inflammation in my talks and consultations. If you are already inflamed and do not focus on managing stress, it is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Stress increases inflammation signals in the body. Even low-grade chronic inflammation has been linked to fatigue, accelerated ageing, brain fog, and various skin conditions. Fortunately, there are various foods you can add to your diet to help control stress and inflammation.

Helpful Dietary tweaks:

• Omega 3: Fabulous anti-inflammatory compound found in foods such as oily fish (think salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring.) or plant-based sources such as flaxseeds, chia and walnuts. Are you currently eating any of these foods or is there one or two that you can start to incorporate in your diet?
• A Rainbow of plants: the more colours, the more antioxidant support we get. Aim for half of your plate of non-starchy colourful plants like broccoli, rocket, cucumber, radishes etc…

Stress and Hormones: Cortisol Mayhem

Chronic stress can lead to elevated cortisol – our “get up and rock the world “hormone. Doing this long term can lead to an impaired endocrine system, affecting anything from our thyroid function to sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone: it is not unlikely in fact to meet clients suffering from long term stress, who are experiencing low libido for this exact reason.

What can you do to keep rocking on:

• Start your day with a protein rich breakfast: this can really set you up with the right blood sugar balance for the rest of the day, avoiding a cortisol surge early in the morning, which could instead lead to quick crashes in energy, cravings, mood swings brain fog etc. Think about switching your sweet breakfast to scrambled, poached or boiled eggs with avocado and veggies, Greek yoghurt with berries, nuts and seeds, or creamy smoothies with added protein powder and nut butter.
• Cruciferous veggies: these types of vegetables (think cauliflower, broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts…) can help support your liver detoxification pathways to process excess hormones. Cauliflower steak topped with garlicky pesto, pasta with broccoli, sautéed kale with garlic and chili are all good options.

Where did I put the remote? – Brain Cognition:

Have you ever experienced that hazy, forgetful or distracted feeling? Yup. Same. Cortisol can affect your hippocampus, a part of your brain key for memory, mood and learning.

Brain supporting nutrients to focus on:

B vitamins: foods like legumes, eggs. leafy greens and wholegrains can all help to provide B Vitamins, extremely useful in neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) and energy production. I like to combine them in my plate: ex. Lentils with parsley, omelette with spinach, parsley and spring onions etc…

Magnesium: Another supportive nutrient for energy production and cognition, often depleted in many individuals. Dark green leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate are some foods that could help you increase the amount of magnesium in your daily meals. | like to use 100% raw cacao powder to make hot chocolates, smoothies, a decadent mousse and much more.

Hydration: this one is incredibly underrated. But even 1-2% dehydration can really affect your cognition, so get drinking! Water that is. The main complaint I get in clinic is that people “forget” to drink. So set an alarm, place a big bottle on your desk where you can see it throughout the day, start the morning by drinking a big glass before you get out of bed. There is a lot you can do. And trust me, my mind is still blown when I see the HUGE difference drinking enough water throughout the day can make to my client’s energy and focus.

Stress and you Gut – the gut-brain axis

Gut and brain communicate all day every day via both vagus nerve and chemical messengers. Most of us may have experienced loose stools when stressed or anxious, and research has found an association between gut comorbidities and mental health. In fact, stress can alter gut motility and microbial balance, so taking care of your gut could be a big support for stress management.

Quick gut loving tips:

• CHEW YOUR FOOD: seems too simple? Trust me, not many people chew their food till it’s a pulp, which can lead to digestive issues later. Chew.Your.Food.
• Prebiotic Fibre: think of onions, garlic, leeks as powerful ingredients that can help feed your beneficial bacteria and help them thrive.
• Probiotic rich-foods: Kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, live yogurt…A little bit of everything can help to add to your beneficial bacteria levels.
• Extra tip: with both pre and probiotic foods, start low and go slow to avoid gas/bloating.

Stress and Sleep – Sweet Dreams?

Restorative sleep is extremely important as your body repairs itself during that time. Unfortunately, chronic stress can make it more difficult to either fall or stay asleep impairing the quality of our rest.

Three useful strategies to wind down tonight:

Are you one of those people that needs an evening snack? Fine, but make it a protein and magnesium rich one- a small bowl of Greek yogurt with seeds and berries or even a banana with some almond butter and hour before bed could help balance blood sugar and give you a small magnesium hit.

Magnesium bath: Epsom salts in a bath are another soothing idea to help you relax and absorb that magnesium transdermally. Make sure to drink a glass of water before and after the bath, as they can be dehydrating.

Create you own night rituals: whether it’s switching off any electronics to stop the blue light, dimming your lights or doing some journaling or gentle stretches. Find out what helps you wind down and most importantly: be consistent, that’s how you get results.

3 Last Lifestyle tips to remember:

• Reset your nervous system daily: some gentle movements like walking in nature at your nearest park, doing a quick breathing practice or even 5 minutes of gently humming to your favourite song can all help to stimulate the vagus nerve, activating the parasympathetic nervous system (the side of your nervous system that calms you down).
• Connection is gold: Loneliness is a very common stressor in western society. So reach out to that friend, join a workout or art/dancing class, engage in your community (even online). This will help you to create a support circle to strengthen your resilience to stress.
• Boundaries: One of the most important things we can do, and a hard one at that, I know. Please remember that both your time and energy are incredibly valuable, and that you just cannot pour from an empty cup, so practice saying NO should you need to protect your own self-care.

Let me conclude by telling you that I know stress is inevitable. We deal with one stressor, and at some point, another one will show up. But we can, however, use both targeted diet and lifestyle strategies as a preventative measure to work with our body, rather than against it.