Stress Relief & Emotional Health

Doesn't it seem like people spend more time focusing on the bad instead of the good? It's so easy to look around and notice what is bad or wrong. It's like our society has become skilled with labeling what's wrong with other people, our life, our bodies, or work, our day, our relationships, our conduct, and our recovery. When we feel negative, in a bad mood, we create negative energy to someone else. If something is bothering you, you don't want to put others in a bad mood or make them feel negative or the negative energy will just keep on growing.

Negative energy sabotages and destroys and drains our energy. Negativity has a lot of power to turn us into someone that we really are not, lead us into depression, stress out the body, decrease our immune system, increase the amount of free radicals, and cause our body to get sick. Since free radicals harm the body and cause our body problems, you will want to eat healthy, exercise, and think positive to limit the amount of free radicals in the body. Instead of focusing on the bad, we need to start looking at what's good. To get into this practice, once a day, ask your self what's right, what's good about other people, our life, our work, our day, our relationships, our selves, our conduct, our recovery. Transform that negative energy into positive energy and a good mood!  Here are other steps to keep your body healthy and your mind more positive.

 Nutrition:

A good diet with fresh whole foods, is a major step to increasing positive energy.
Eliminating caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, refined sugar, simple carbohydrates, and artificial sweeteners will also put you in a better mood. These harmful foods will only stress out your body more and cause mood swings, anxiety, and depression. So what foods should you eat to keep your spirits high? A wide variety of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and amino acids not only supply the body and mind with the nutrients it needs to function properly, but also will help eliminate mood swings and keep your mind feeling more positive. If you are prone to hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, make sure that you eat adequate protein at every meal and don't skip meals allowing your blood sugar to drop. This will only make you anxious and irritable – and who wants that?

Essential fatty acids:  Omega-3 and Omega-6

These improve the ability of the neurotransmitter serotonin to bind to the cell membrane, similar to the drug action of Prozac. These natural mood stabilizers cannot be manufactured in the body and so must be provided in the diet. The omega-6's are found in many vegetable oils and meats, but the omega-3's are harder to come by. You can find omega-3's in foods such as salmon, trout, walnuts, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, and fish oil supplements. Are you including enough of these mood-improving foods in your diet? Most of us are not!

The B-complex vitamins:

B-complex vitamins are important for our mental and emotional health. Our bodies cannot store these vitamins, which means we must depend on our diet and supplements to provide these daily. Vitamin B-3, B-6, B-12, and folic acid deficiencies have been found to have a direct relationship to depression. What is the best way to get them? Eat your vegetables, especially the green, leafy ones! Vitamin B12 is unique in that it is primarily found in animal foods including fish, meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. If you are a Vegan, vitamin B-12 supplements might be helpful.

Amino Acids:

Several amino acid deficiencies are particularly associated with depression and alteration in mood. Tryptophan is very important for combating depression as it helps produce vitamin B-3 and serotonin. You can find it in meat, soy protein, peanuts, and brown rice. Tyrosine also helps regulate mood and is found in avocados, almonds, dairy products, lima beans, pumpkin and sesame seeds, and bananas.

Vitamins:

Increase your daily dose of vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A. Eating more organic nuts, seeds, oils, vegetables, and fruit and taking a supplement will help to reduce free radicals in the body.

Minerals play a key role in the prevention of depression and mood swings, particularly magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, manganese, selenium, and potassium. Depression is a common symptom of iron deficiency. Potassium depletion is frequently associated with depression.

Other dietary factors can contribute to depression and mood swings. Several studies have shown hypoglycemia to be common in depressed patients. Hypoglycemia, a condition caused by a drop in blood sugar level, usually results from consuming sugar and simple carbohydrates. A meal plan with complex carbohydrates at every meal keeps blood sugar levels steady and you on an even keel. Caffeine, alcohol, chemicals, preservatives and additives are not value added and may exacerbate depression and anxiety.   Some people are particularly sensitive to the effects of hypoglycemia and should be very careful about eating unnecessary carbohydrates during the colder months. This can be particularly difficult when it comes to the holidays.

Exercise:

Exercise increases the level of oxygen inside the body. Increasing oxygen levels decreases the amount of free radicals the body can produce. Regular physical exercise enhances the antioxidant defense system, which gets rid of free radicals. Exercise everyday if you can. Exercise by walking, running, cleaning your house, walking the dog, and climbing up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Even a small amount of exercise will do you some good by getting your blood flowing and heart rate up. If you do not exercise regularly, look at your schedule to set out a few days out of the week that you could make time for exercising. Try to make exercise a part of your life. With exercise you will stay fit, decrease free radicals, increase immunity, relieve stress, and feel better about yourself. 

Ways to stay positive:

Give something away to someone you don't like or get along with. Give them a compliment or make them one of your favorite recipes. Practice random acts of kindness.  If you have negative energy, go take a hot bath or go get your nails done. This will help relax you and get your mind off of the negative situation.

Do not respond to negative energy with negative energy. Remember that people who are negative to you, are only responding to how they feel inside, and you don't have to accept their negative energy. Respond with love and positive energy.

Hormones and Mood:

Your brain likes the hormone Serotonin. It is the "happy hormone". Serotonin is made from protein. If you do not get adequate protein in the diet, you will not get adequate serotonin. This is another reason to reduce simple carbohydrates and sugar and to increase protein in the diet if needed.

For women, progesterone is a calming hormone. Women with low progesterone levels are prone to agitation and irritability. Women who also have high testosterone levels are prone to irritability as well. It is very beneficial to get your hormones checked for this reason. This can be especially problematic for a woman who is just starting to undergo menopause. It is not unusual for us to see women in our practice in a panic who are overcome with sudden anxiety and memory loss. Come to find out, they have just begun the process of menopause and have experienced sudden drops in hormone levels that are producing these symptoms. These can be alleviated with natural hormone replacement therapy.  We have practitioners in our rolodex that we can refer you to for hormone testing.

Men, on the other hand, are energized by testosterone. However, if their levels of testosterone are high, and they have no "outlet" such as physical activity, exercise, sex with their spouse, etc., then they can experience severe mood problems, such as anxiety, irritability, and depression. Low levels of testosterone can also lead to lethargy, listlessness, inactivity, and resultant obesity. Again, it is important to get the levels checks.

Low cortisol levels (stress hormone) can also cause inability to handle stress well, which can definitely affect one's mood. They may cry easily, feel depressed, and be filled with anxiety.

 In summary: To improve brain function/mood/memory:
- Check hormones and supplement as needed.
- Make time to exercise 3-4 times/week and stretch your body daily.
- Eat fish and omega-3 fatty acids regularly (fish at least three times per week)
- Eat adequate protein every day, lowering simple carbs, do not skip meals
- - Add nutritional supplements to your diet.