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Lower Stress Levels

Lower Stress Levels

Eat more leafy greens

Leafy greens like spinach and kale are already known to be packed full of essential nutrients like iron, vitamin A, vitamin K and magnesium, but they’re also a rich source of folate, which helps the body to produce feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

Eat enough food

Not eating enough food makes people irritable, upset and stressed. This is a cast-iron fact of nature, known to all dieters across the land, as well as anyone who’s ever interacted with them.

Studies have found that dieting increased the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body, leading to more stress.

There’s a vicious cycle which frequently happens here. Time constraints often cause stress , like not feeling that you have enough time to meet a deadline.

That time-stress causes you to skip meals or switch to small, unhealthy snacks. Your poor diet then makes you even more stressed.

Break the cycle and find time for a proper meal.

Get more sleep

The dangers of sleep deprivation are well documented. Not only does your overall health and cognitive function suffer, but you’re also putting yourself in a default stressed state.

Research has shown that sleep deprivation leads to increases in the stress hormone cortisol, and anyone who’s ever had an argument while sleep deprived knows that emotions are liable to run far higher than should.

Treating sleep like an absolute necessity rather than a luxury for weekends is one of the best overall health practices you could take up. Never fear if you suffer from a restless night every so often, though, a nap might be enough to get you back on the right track.

Research suggests that a 30-minute nap might be able to reverse the negative hormonal impact of a poor night’s sleep meaning, partly that it could reduce stress.

Spend more time in nature

Even if you don’t live in the heart of the concrete jungle, it’s likely that you’re not spending enough time in nature. It’s a simple fact of modern living that most of us end up spending most of our time indoors at any given time – whether that’s in an office at work, or in our living rooms at home.

But getting out into nature isn’t just a nice way to spend an occasional Sunday morning – it’s an incredibly powerful way of improving your overall wellbeing.

One study found that patients in a hospital who had a view of trees from their windows recovered faster after surgery.

Whatever the reason, it’s clear that one of the best ways of reducing your stress levels is by taking the time to get out into nature and walk around on a regular basis.

 

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