Strategies to help manage stress and impact both physical and mental health:
Mindful eating:
Creating a stress-free zone can help you savour your food at a leisurely pace without pressure. Mindful eating is based on taking the time to truly enjoy your meal without rushing. This can reduce bloating and general stomach discomfort. It can also help you become more in tune with your hunger as you start to observe how your body feels before, during and after a meal.
Food groups, including fermented foods (such as kimchi, kefir, pickles, yogurt, kombucha, miso, idli, dosa), spices like turmeric, cumin, coriander, fruits and vegetables, pulses which include beans, lentils and nuts, are all beneficial to gut health. Foods rich in prebiotic fibre like garlic, bananas, onions, asparagus, celery, berries and foods containing insoluble fibre benefit our gut-brain axis.
Meditation:
Start by meditating a few minutes each day. Gratitude journals are also an effective form of meditation. A simple but powerful way is to physically put pen to paper and write down what you’re grateful for each day.
Movement:
Gentle, mindful exercise like light stretching, yoga, tai chi or even a brisk walk through the park can help relax both your mind and body.
Breathing Exercises:
Pranayama can greatly influence your stress and anxiety levels and can help balance hormones that cause these feelings of stress and anxiety in the body.
Mindfulness:
Practice mindfulness not just with food but with everything you do.
Reset your circadian rhythm:
Resetting your circadian rhythm has a huge impact on gut microbiomes, sleep quality and hormone balancing.
You can achieve this by 3 simple steps.
1. Morning sun exposure: Take some direct sun for 15 minutes as soon as you wake up
2. Evening sun exposure: Exposing yourself directly to the setting sun rays tells your body that it’s time to go to bed soon and releases melatonin naturally.
3. Limit blue light in the evenings: Blue light rays emerging through screens and devices imitate the sun’s blue light rays. If you expose yourself to gadgets, screens and devices after sunset, it does not signal your brain to release melatonin because your body still thinks that the sun has not set. So avoiding screens after 7pm will significantly improve your sleep quality which will directly improve your recovery, hormones, and gut health.
as told to Delna Mistry Anand