Eat well to handle stress
27. Oct, 2011 
3 Comments
Every day, I get a lot of health newsletters that inform me about recent research. And it’s always interesting when I see how two totally different studies can relate to each other.
One study published in the online edition of the American Journal of Public Health, investigated the responses of 2,500 Americans who took part in the Health and Retirement Study.
What the researchers found was that people who were delinquent on their mortgage were more likely to develop depressive symptoms.
Some of these people were “food insecure”—they couldn’t afford to buy food. Some were also less likely to take their medications as prescribed.
So…you can’t pay your mortgage. Can’t eat properly or take your medications. Not a good combination.
And no surprise that it can lead to depression.
In quite a different study on more than 3,000 Australian students (aged 13-18 at the start of the investigation), those who had poor quality diets were more apt to experience depression.
A good diet, the researchers found, is linked with less depression and anxiety (and, therefore, better mental health). (The study was published online in PLoS One).
So, it’s clear… A healthy diet is what you need if you’re stressed.
And, I’m betting, the longer you’re stressed, or the more deeply you’re stressed, the greater your need for a nutrient-rich diet.
But what do we often reach for when we’re stressed? Ice cream? Cookies? Chips?
Good nutrition has lots of benefits. Mental health is just one, but it’s huge.
Depression makes it hard to take care of yourself. Hard to get up and exercise, or to make a healthy meal.
Depression makes it difficult to see there is opportunity down the road, no matter how awful today looks.
With things so tough and so tight for many Americans—with unemployment, a bad job market, foreclosures, mounting bank fees, growing debt and never-ending bills—it’s more important than ever to have a healthy diet.
It’s not a matter of greed to eat well. It’s a matter of doing your best, even under trying circumstances.
And for some, it’s a matter of saving yourself.
If you like reading studies, here you go:
Mortgage Delinquency and Changes in Access to Health Resources and Depressive Symptoms in a Nationally Representative Cohort of Americans Older Than 50 Years (abstract)
And here’s the Medline article on that study.
A Prospective Study of Diet Quality and Mental Health in Adolescents (full text)
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Yes—such an interesting link!
It also brings to mind what I learned in my mind-body skills training…that when you’re stressed and anxious, your body doesn’t actually absorb and use the nutrients you’ve eaten effectively. So this sounds link sounds like it has a pretty serious potential for a negative “snowball effect!”
Lisa´s last [type] ..Day 3 of Intermittent Fasting (but I’d rather call it delayed eating)
Yes—such an interesting link!
It also brings to mind what I learned in my mind-body skills training…that when you’re stressed and anxious, your body doesn’t actually absorb and use the nutrients you’ve eaten effectively. So this link sounds like it has a pretty serious potential for a negative “snowball effect!”
Lisa´s last [type] ..Day 3 of Intermittent Fasting (but I’d rather call it delayed eating)
Interesting, Lisa. So when you’re stressed, it’s important both to eat right AND to find ways to cope with your stress–eg, prayer, meditation, deep breathing, yoga.