How to Reduce Stress Through Diet and Exercise

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Making sure you’re getting the right amount of exercise – and putting the right ingredients in your body – doesn’t just benefit your physical health. Something that’s scientifically proven, yet wildly underappreciated, are the ways in which a healthy diet and exercise can give your mental health a boost – and, in turn, help to keep your stress levels in check too.

At Garden of Life, we’re passionate about doing things as naturally as possible and using natural ingredients, so we’ve put together our top stress-relieving diet and exercise tips to help reduce stress naturally.

How Stress Can Impact Your Body

Stress can take a negative toll on the body, especially when stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, are released. These effects can include:

Increased blood sugar levels
Faster heart rate
Higher blood pressure
Heightened anxiety levels

This means that long periods of stress can affect both your mental and physical health, but eating the right foods, and doing certain types of exercise, can help to reduce your stress levels and leave you feeling ready to take on the world once again.

Stress-Busting Foods

With stress causing increased blood sugar levels, it’s important to ensure you’re eating healthy meals at regular times to keep your blood sugar levels in check. One of the main stress-busting foods to include in your diet is protein. Protein releases sugar into the bloodstream slowly, so we recommend eating plenty of protein-rich foods such as chicken, tuna and eggs to help you maintain blood sugar levels and manage stress too.

Supplementing your diet with our vegan protein powders can also help with the slow release of sugar into your bloodstream, which may leave you feeling calmer in times of stress.

Eating foods that are naturally rich in omega-3 can also give your mood a boost, as these fatty acids are known for their positive effects on brain health. Walnuts are a good source of omega-3, as well as oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines. You can also increase your intake of fatty acids through omega-3 supplements.

range of foods high in omega-3 on a table, including salmon, avocado and walnuts

Vitamin D is also known for its mood-boosting benefits, so it’s another good ingredient to incorporate in any stress relief diet. Again, oily fish tend to be rich in vitamin D, as well as cheese, egg yolks and orange juice.

If you feel as though you’re in need of an extra boost of vitamin D, try our 100% organic and vegan Organics Vitamin D3 Spray, which can also contribute to your bone health, as well as the health of your immune system.

How Can Exercise Reduce Stress?

In simple terms, regular exercise can be highly beneficial to reducing stress. Exercise triggers the release of endorphins in your brain, which can send positive energy all through your body. These endorphins are great for boosting your mood, which is why we sometimes get that coveted post-workout high. Some exercise helps us to focus our minds to the present moment, forgetting about the stresses of your day and letting out any frustrations in your moves. Regular exercise can also help improve your quality of sleep, which in turn has a positive effect on reducing stress too.

The Best Exercises to Reduce Stress

Here are our top four recommendations for the best exercises to reduce stress:

1. Aerobic Exercise

High-energy, aerobic exercise such as circuit training or a dancing can significantly increase your heart rate, releasing a high volume of endorphins – also known as ‘the happiness hormone’. These endorphins will benefit your physical and mental health positively, helping you to reduce your stress levels.

2. Outdoor Exercise

Getting out into nature to work out can be calming for both your mind and body, leaving you with that endorphin hit from your run, as well as a clearer, more relaxed mind thanks to the fresh air and peaceful, natural surroundings.

What’s more, the different wind speeds and terrain you’ll encounter along the way will force you to push yourself that bit further, leaving you with a “warm-feeling” dopamine boost afterwards from your achievement.

3. Yoga

Yoga is known as one of the best stress-relieving exercises. It involves a lot of stretching and you need to focus on your breathing, which makes it relaxing, while building up your strength and resilience at the same time.

4. Kickboxing

Sometimes, you simply need to take your stress out on something. Kickboxing is a great way to channel your frustrations and physically let out your stress. Using high energy and power in your exercise like kickboxing packs a punch and is a great stress buster.

Other Ways to Reduce Stress

Simple changes to your diet and exercise can help reduce stress, but you can also look to a wide range of other stress-busting activities that will boost your mood. Try things like meditation, mindfulness, baking, taking a relaxing bath, improving sleep quality, or even counselling. There are also plenty of health supplements you can take to help relieve stress too.

Should I Take Stress Relief Supplements?

A healthy, balanced diet featuring plenty of our recommended stress-busting foods, combined with a consistent exercise regime that keeps your endorphin levels high, should help you see an improvement in stress levels over time. However, if you want to try regulating your mood even further, there are stress relief supplements you can try.

Our Microbiome Mood+ Capsules are designed to promote emotional wellbeing and relaxation, and contain ashwagandha, a plant known for its ability to help the body to adapt physically and psychologically during periods of stress. Each capsule contains 16 different strains of live bacteria too.

Our Whole Food Magnesium Powder in Raspberry and Lemon may also help to keep your stress levels in check. Magnesium has many health benefits, including its ability to help balance electrolytes in the body. Electrolytes play an important role in helping cells to generate energy, and this magnesium powder is designed to reduce feelings of tiredness and contribute to normal psychological function.

Both of these stress-relieving supplements are part of our Healthy Mind Bundle, which also includes our Organics Vitamin D3 Spray. Try incorporating all three products into your daily routine and see if you notice a difference to your mood.

One thing’s for sure: you won’t feel stressed about what you’re putting into your body with Garden of Life supplements. We go the extra mile to bring you the very best ingredients, tracing every single one right back to its source so you know exactly what you’re putting into your body.

Discover the full range of Garden of Life products.