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Seeking Stress Relief: 20 Natural Stress Relievers to Boost Your Health

The AHA! Team — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 06:49:02 +0000

Jillian Levy, CHHC via Dr. Axe – Stress: We all deal with it, yet we know how much better off we’d be — both physically and mentally — if we could only get it under control and find stress relievers that really work. While stress can be a positive, motivating factor at times (such as when you’re under pressure to perform well at work or to ace an important exam), more and more research shows that chronic stress impacts the body in ways similar to a poor diet, lack of sleep or sedentary lifestyle. Would you believe that 75 percent to 90 percent of all doctors office visits are related to conditions caused by stress? It’s true. How exactly does stress negatively affect our health in so many ways? It mostly boils down to changes in our hormones, which then cascade to an increase in inflammation and various other problems. Uncontrolled stress experienced over a long period of time is considered “chronic stress,” dangerous and capable of increasing someone’s risk for heart disease, diabetes, weight gain or obesity, mental disorders, autoimmune diseases, digestive disorders, and even cancer. Let’s face it, the stress we face today isn’t going anywhere, which is exactly why it’s more important than ever to find natural ways to relieve stress that work well for us. Thankfully there are natural stress relievers that can help. If you adhere to the following stress relief practices, you’re likely to better manage your stress on a daily basis. Best of all, there are stress relievers out there for just about everyone. Higher stress levels today In many parts of the world, more people today report experiencing negative experiences — which includes physical pain, worry, sadness, stress and anger — on a daily basis than at any recent point in history. What is causing everyone to feel so stressed and burnt out? Some of the top reasons people feel stressed and mentally unwell include: Worries over finances and the economy Health and healthcare-related concerns Disapproval of government performance and worries over politics Anxiety over current events, including natural and societal events such as mass shootings, climate crisis, racial tensions and terrorism Stress due to social media and technology use Feelings of loneliness and depression We know that stress can negatively affect nearly all parts of the body, including the musculoskeletal system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, gastrointestinal system, nervous system, and both female and male reproductive systems. Here are some of the ways ongoing stress can lead to discomfort and disease: Causes tension headaches and migraines Makes it harder to sleep and causes fatigue (even adrenal fatigue) Triggers digestive issues, such as stomach pain or IBS Can lead to overeating and weight gain or sporadic eating patterns and skipping meals Makes it more likely that people favor sedentary activities and don’t exercise Can lead to social isolation, loneliness and poor relationships Can increase obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and asthma What is chronic stress? Chronic stress is considered the type of stress that interferes with your ability to function normally over an extended period, such as more than six months. Obviously people of all ages can experience chronic stress, but it’s thought that younger and middle-aged adults between the ages of 15 and 49 are most likely to deal with debilitating chronic stress. “Generation Z” is considered to be the most stressed-out age group in many industrialized nations, due to factors like violence, political turmoil, poor finances and poor health, while “millennials” report the highest rates of anxiety, loneliness and depression. Do people always know that they are dealing with chronic stress? Not necessarily. It’s not always easy for people to make a connection between stress in their lives and symptoms such as pain and brain fog. People also tend to struggle with identifying exactly what’s causing them to worry or feel angry, overwhelmed or depressed. When chronically stressed, you release more “stress hormones” such as adrenaline and cortisol, a steroid hormone in the broader class of steroids called glucocorticoids that is secreted by the adrenal glands. When levels of stress hormones remain elevated over time, they impact many bodily functions. That’s why finding natural stress relievers is so important both mentally and physically. Natural stress relievers 1. Exercise and yoga One of the best stress relievers available to us is exercise, a natural remedy for anxiety because it releases powerful endorphin chemicals in the brain, which act like the body’s built-in painkillers and mood-lifters. Research has suggested the negative effects of stress on the body seem to be exaggerated in people who are inactive, a phenomenon called “stress-induced/exercise deficient” phenotype. Because we react to stress by experiencing changes in our neuro-endocrine systems, regular exercise is protective because it regulates various metabolic and psychological processes in the body, including reinforcing our natural circadian rhythms, sleep/wake cycles, moods and blood sugar levels. Exercise has been shown to help improve insulin sensitivity, can help someone become more aware of her hunger levels, may improve confidence/self-esteem, and can lead to better mental processing and a lower risk for depression. Can’t sleep? Well, exercise can help with that too, which is very important considering quality sleep is needed to regulate hormones and help the body recover. Yoga has been shown to have similar benefits, reinforcing the “mind-body connection,” improving how people (especially women) feel about their bodies, helping with sleep and controlling anxiety. A review of more than 35 clinical trials that tested the effects of regular yoga on stress levels and health found that, overall, yoga offered significant improvements in various physical and psychological health markers for the majority of people. Looking for an even more impactful way to feel the benefits of exercise? Do so while listening to uplifting music. Research findings have indicated that music listening positively impacts the psycho-biological stress system, helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, improves recovery time, and has benefits for hormonal balance and brain functioning overall. Another terrific way to relieve stress is through forest bathing. To forest bathe, you immerse yourself in naturally beautiful and health-boosting forest surroundings by using your various senses of sight, hearing, smell, etc. It’s meant to be a very peaceful and positive experience that has been shown by science to provide various health benefits. A study found that the tree’s compounds can decrease stress hormone levels in both men and women. 2. Meditation/devotional prayer Meditation and healing prayer are both proven stress relievers that help people deal with worry, anxiety and finding peace of mind. Best of all, they can both be practiced conveniently anytime of day, in your own home and with no therapist, practitioner or program needed, making them no-brainers. Meditation and prayer have been used for literally thousands of years to improve well-being and connection to others, and today they’re actually backed up by science as well. Natural stress relief meditation and mindfulness-based stress reduction are types of simple mental techniques that are practiced for as little as 10–15 minutes once or twice a day in order to bring about more “mindfulness” and reduce stress or anxiety. Various other forms of meditation have been shown to lower physiological responses to stress, improve mental alertness, and help people overcome various emotional and physical problems, such as: anxiety depression poor mental health that affects quality of life attention problems substance use eating habits sleep pain weight gain 3. Acupuncture Acupuncture has increasingly been used to treat many stress-related conditions, including psychiatric disorders, autoimmune or immunological-related diseases, infertility, anxiety, and depression. In fact, researchers have found that acupuncture treatments result in changes in the cardiovascular and immune systems, increasing protective T-cell proliferation and helping with cellular immuno-responses. Studies have shown that acupuncture is one of the best stress relievers for patients recovering from heart disease because it helps regulate the nervous system, therefore having positive effects on blood pressure levels, circulation, hormones and other factors. 4. Nutrient-dense diet A steady supply of nutrients like essential vitamins, trace minerals, healthy fats, electrolytes, amino acids and antioxidants all help your brain handle stress better, therefore benefiting your entire body. It’s also a great weight loss tip for women and men. Some of the most nutrient-dense foods for natural stress relief include: Foods high in B vitamins (which the body uses to convert nutrients to energy) — raw or cultured dairy products, cage-free eggs, grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, poultry, brewer’s yeast, and green leafy vegetables. Foods high in calcium and magnesium — as relaxing minerals and electrolytes, calcium and magnesium are important for relaxing muscles, relieving headaches and helping you sleep. Try unsweetened organic yogurt, wild-caught salmon, beans/legumes, leafy green veggies, cruciferous veggies like broccoli, avocados and nuts. High-protein foods — foods with protein provide amino acids that are needed for proper neurotransmitter functions. Healthy fats and omega-3 fatty acids — cold-water, wild-caught fish like salmon or sardines can reduce inflammation and help stabilize moods, plus omega-3s are great for the brain, development and heart health. Other healthy fats that support brain health include nuts/seeds, avocado, olive oil and coconut oil. These brain foods and mood-boosting foods work as natural stress relievers. On the other hand, foods to avoid in order to keep stress levels down (aka bad mood foods) include: Packaged or sugary foods — processed, refined foods or those with added sugar can give you blood sugar highs and lows throughout the day, increasing anxiety and causing cravings and fatigue. Too much alcohol or caffeine — both alcohol and caffeine can cause or worsen anxiety, make you dehydrated, interfere with sleep to leave you tired, and make you unable to cope with stress well. Refined vegetable oils — imbalances in polyunsaturated fatty acids, meaning getting much more omega-6s than omega-3s from your diet, are tied to metabolic damage, inflammation and even poor gut health, which can affect mental processes. 5. Challenging thoughts with cognitive behavioral therapy Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of therapeutic practice that has been proven to lower anxiety, stress and multiple disorders — including addiction, eating disorders, insomnia and depression. Knowing that at least 50 percent of the time experiencing a mental disorder is due mostly to chronic, untreated stress reactions, therapists use CBT to train all types of people to better react to situations that are stressful. CBT focuses on challenging and changing your thoughts first and foremost, since the way you perceive an event (not the actual event itself) means everything in terms of how your body reacts. Once you can identify the root thought pattern that is causing harmful behaviors, you can work on changing how you think about events and therefore react to them. The idea behind CBT is this: If you can reframe the way you think about events in your life — for example, instead of panicking over a job change you choose to embrace it, prepare as best you can and seize the opportunity to start fresh — you can literally reduce the stress you wind up feeling from the event. CBT is useful for training us to avoid internal causes of stress, such as “all-or-nothing” thinking, jumping to conclusions, pessimism, having unrealistic expectations for ourselves, always expecting the worst-case scenario, and feeling guilt or shame over events that are out of our control. 6. Spending more time in nature and being social Making time for connecting with the people around you (like practicing fika), spending time outside, and doing things you love with family, friends and your spouse are all stress relievers that are good for your health in many ways. Social connection is tied to longevity, since it helps people feel like they’re a part of something larger than themselves and helps give them perspective. Being outdoors has some similar effects, reminding people that they’re one piece of a much larger universe, lifting their moods and making it easier to get good sleep. For many American workers, their work stress accelerates because they don’t take their full vacations or are always on call. Instead, take your deserved...

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One of the Best & Most Easily Accessible “Anti-Depressants”

AHA Publisher — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 08:00:38 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In this podcast (episode #358) and blog I talk about something we all do: laughing! Have you ever thought about why emitting sounds from our mouths gives us so much joy? Even when those sounds can sometimes come out like a cackle, grunt, wheeze or even a snort? When we do this, we are most likely filled with joy, although there are times when people laugh out of discomfort, shock, anger, and/or sadness. In almost all these situations, however, there is something about laughing that relieves us—it releases tension and can improve our mood in tangible ways. But what even is laughter? Physiologically, laughter is a sound that comes from our lungs with an exhalation of air. Our facial muscles contort when we laugh, and this is considered a somewhat involuntary or automatic response to some kind of stimulation. And if you think of it, laughter is literally a form of communication. It’s an intrinsic part of our language; it is part of how we understand and connect with other humans. There are even some studies that show humans laugh 17 times a day! Many of us love to laugh, which makes sense because it activates several reward systems in the brain. Studies have shown that laughing is heavily involved with the limbic system. The limbic system is the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses. It responds to the energy of the mind by facilitating memory storage and retrieval, and in establishing our emotional states. The limbic system also becomes very active when we self-regulate (by paying focused attention to what the nonconscious mind is sending us up through the conscious mind), and links our conscious, intellectual functions of the cerebral cortex to the unconscious, autonomic functions of the brain stem. Essentially, the limbic system is involved in our emotional and behavioral responses, like laughing, that we need to live our lives. Indeed, the limbic system is connected to feeding, reproduction, caring for our young, and our “fight, flight, freeze or fawn” response. This suggests that laughing is literally one of our most intrinsic human behaviors! Laughter changes the neurochemicals in the brain, especially in the frontal lobe, which is associated with our emotions but also affects other parts of the brain. So, its impact is quite widespread! Studies have shown that laughter can have a similar effect on the brain as antidepressants. Laughing can activate the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin, the same brain chemical affected by the most common types of antidepressants, which helps regulate our mood and causes the release of oxytocin. Often called the empathy hormone, oxytocin helps individuals bond and form groups and communities. Laughter can also alter dopamine activity, while the endorphins secreted when we laugh can help us when we feel uncomfortable or depressed. Laughter can also reduce the level of stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine, which can make us more resilient to the impacts of toxic stress. Laughing literally increases the amount of oxygen we have in our lungs. This, in turn, increases the amount of oxygen that flows throughout our body (in our blood), which goes to the heart and lungs and can increase the level of endorphins in our brain. This, in turn, helps us feel good and regulates our mood. The increased oxygen and blood flow can also help relieve muscle tension and help us think more clearly in the moment and make better decisions. Laughter can even act as a pain reliever by increasing blood and oxygen flow and releasing tension. Some studies have shown that laughing can result in a release of neuropeptides. These are short strings of amino acids that are synthesized in and released by neurons or glia, and can affect the function of the nervous system in the body. Neuropeptides can be extremely beneficial in fighting toxic stress, and can even increase our immune system functionality. If we think about the mind-brain-body connection, we know that what we think and feel will also affect our physical health. Negative thoughts can potentially affect our health if left unmanaged because thoughts are real structures in the brain. The neuropeptides that are released when we laugh can help us manage any toxic stress we have and can potentially make us more resilient. Laughter can even keep our telomeres healthy, which, as we observed in our recent clinical trials and I discussed in my book Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess, plays an important part of managing our mental health and resilience. Laughter is also good exercise! Some researchers estimate that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Indeed, many times people feel exhausted after laughing because of all the muscles it activates—it really is like a workout! We all know that when we laugh at something humorous, we tend to feel better. When something makes us laugh, like a funny video or silly joke, we essentially give our mind and body a break, which is also great for our wellbeing. A therapist friend of mine recently told me how she uses laughing to manage the stress of their job and not feel broken by listening to people’s deepest pains and fears all day long. She said that every morning while she gets ready and drives to work she listens to a podcast that makes her laugh. She uses this time to focus her mind on funny things and give her brain an opportunity to rest before starting the day. By doing this every day, she gives herself time to prepare herself mentally for the day ahead and not feel worn out by the time she gets to work. We should all try to laugh more, regardless of what we do for a living. As mentioned above, all the neurochemicals and endorphins that begin to flow in our brains when we laugh can help with feelings of depression, sadness and anxiety we all experience. Even in situations when we are angry or sad, laughing can help ease our pain and frustration. No wonder more and more psychologists and mental health professionals are promoting different types of “laughing therapy”. The idea behind laughing therapy is to teach people how to use humor as a healthy coping mechanism. Laughing is cathartic, it makes us feel joy, and it relieves our tension. It is an emotional release, so laugh more! It’s a fun kind of therapy! I recommend finding out what makes you laugh and incorporating that into your daily schedule. I personally love watching my dogs play with each other, which never fails to make me laugh, or watching silly animal videos online! Read funny memes, watch funny TV shows, go to comedy shows, spend more time with funny people—whatever you love best! Check out this helpful link to find more things to make you laugh. To read the original article click here.

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