Anxiety is a common mental condition affecting a significant proportion of people worldwide. Medicines and psychological support help them. And certain foods and beverages can calm the excited nerves. Here is the list of anxiety-reducing foods.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a common mental disease that affects around 7.3% of people globally. It could be mild to severe panic attacks that requires emergency management. There is nervousness, tension, worry and even jitteriness or shaking episodes. Medicines as well as non-pharmacological treatments help. Foods and beverages also play a great role in calming the excited brain and nervous system. Which are these anxiety-reducing foods?
Anxiety-reducing foods, beverages and nutrients
Adding these foods and beverages in the diet of an anxious patient would help him or her calm his brain.
High fiber foods
Intake of high fiber foods slows the digestion process. Hence blood sugar spikes and crashes are avoided. This calms the nervous system. Dr. Uma Naidoo, a nutritional psychiatrist from Boston opines:
“High-fiber foods break down much more slowly in your body and they prevent that insulin spike and that sugar crash that people might feel when they eat a sugary doughnut,”
“If you can even out your blood sugar, it can be more calming for your system.”
High fiber foods for anxiety (Source: Pharmeasy)Fermented foods
Fermented foods and drinks such as kombucha, miso, tempeh, pickled vegetables etc. calm the brain and overcome anxiety. These foods improve gut health and help it to develop a healthy microbiome. This reduces inflammation and hence anxiety comes down drastically. An article in Frontiers of Nutrition 2022 has explained this aspect of anxiety handling beautifully.
Spices
In this, turmeric with a pinch of black pepper is best. Turmeric has curcumin. And this is good for brain health and prevents anxiety disorders. It is anti-inflammatory and has antioxidant properties. Both these actions lower brain cell damage and improve it’s health. Turmeric helps convert alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) to DHA and thus assists brain function. A study on 80 diabetics of supplementation with nano-curcumin showed that those taking it had lesser anxiety problem. Black pepper improves turmeric absorption.
Herbal teas
Herbal teas that include chamomile, lavender and passion flower teas are anxiety-relieving. Chamomile has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that lower anxiety feelings. It probably acts via action on the neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and GABA. It also affects the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis.
Herbal teas (Source: Expert Reviews)Magnesium
This micronutrient can improve cerebral blood flow and hence brain function. Avocados are rich in this mineral and can help relieve anxiety.
Potassium
This mineral relaxes the body blood vessels and can hence enhance blood flow to various body organs including the brain. And this causes reduction of stress and anxiety.
Selenium
Selenium is good for anxiety because it minimizes inflammation and also lowers the levels of the damaging free radicals in the body. Thus, it is an antioxidant and decreases anxious state. Rich sources of this mineral are brazil nuts, other nuts, mushrooms, soybeans and animal products.
B vitamins
Some B vitamins are anxiolytic. These help certain people to overcome their anxiety. Either foods rich in this vitamin can be taken or supplements of them can be consumed daily. But they are not a replacement for medicines for anxiety.
Vitamin D rich foods (Source: Health shots)Read here: Herbal therapies for anxiety: benefits and risks!
Vitamin D
Research has shown that those with mood disorders have low vitamin D levels in their blood. Studies in pregnant ladies, women and elderly people have shown similar outcomes. Eating vitamin D rich foods such as dairy and dairy products and fatty fish is helpful. Alternatively, vitamin D supplements can be considered.