Are you aware of the anxiety and stress Agent Provocateurs in your life?
Well, here are some of the main behaviours that affect anxiety sufferers and make stress symptoms worse, often without them realising:
1. Low blood sugar- skipping meals
2. Wildly fluctuating blood sugar – junk food diet, sugary foods and drinks
3. Caffeine
4. Excess Alcohol
5. Poor sleep
6. Lack of regular exercise (especially outdoors).
All of the above create havoc with your hormones (particularly adrenaline and cortisol- the stress hormones) and so heightens the feelings of anxiety and stress. stress hormones
So what can you do to help yourself to relieve anxiety and stress symptoms?
It doesn’t take a doctor to recognise the vicious circle that can be set up through these behaviours. If you drink/eat too much caffeine for example, you repeatedly need more to avoid the crash in your alertness and energy levels. So you take more and you become trapped in a vicious downward spiral.
Because high levels of caffeine can cause anxiety, heart palpitations, jitteriness and sleeplessness, it really is a good idea to cut back. And of course, too little sleep contributes to anxiety and stress too. Another downward spiral!
Or maybe you’re eat too much processed junk food?
This causes rapid blood sugar rises which then fall quickly affecting your mood and energy levels. So you eat more to get the short lived ‘sugar high’ or to boost your energy, only for it to crash again in a short time. Another vicious downward spiral that affects your mood and general well being as well as many other health issues.
These poor dietary habits negatively affect your gut microbiome (now known as your ‘second brain’). Did you know that most of your happy neurotransmitter hormones like serotonin and dopamine, are made in your gut as well as your brain? Eating a poor diet doesn’t feed them well so you don’t produce enough of your feel good hormones. your gut and mental health
So if you suffer from anxiety and stress, and you recognise yourself in that list, what are you going to change today to help yourself to feel better?
Begin by changing one habit. Then tackle the others that are contributing to your anxiety and stress and you’ll be surprised at how much better you will feel. contact me