It doesn’t matter what we do during the day; we are all under a certain amount of stress. Be it deadlines at work, children’s health, household chores, or traffic jam that makes us late, we struggle to keep calm, and when it all blows over, we struggle to fall asleep. Relaxing has become more difficult than we ever imagined it would be, and unwinding is as important as sleeping and eating. The good news is that there are many simple yet effective ways to relax after a long and stressful day, and one of them includes eating the right foods.
Warm milk
Unless you’re lactose intolerant, you should be drinking milk more often because it has many health benefits. One of the traits of milk is that it can help you sleep more easily, especially if you drink a glass of warm milk right before you go to bed. This is because milk contains very high levels of different vitamins among which B2 and B12 are the most prominent. In addition to this, milk is rich in antioxidants and protein. What is more, milk is also rich in calcium which is why it’s recommended that children drink milk daily. Among many other benefits, it can aid in muscle relaxation and has a calming effect. In addition, it reduces fidgeting thanks to potassium’s effect on muscle spasms, which improves the relaxing effect even more.
Flaxseeds
Omega- essential fatty acids are great for us, and they can do wonders in helping us relax. This is the reason why you should be including more flaxseeds in your diet. Not only will the omega-3 fatty acids keep your heart healthy, but will also help reduce anxiety levels. It’s easy to include more flaxseeds in your daily diet: just add some in oatmeal when you’re eating breakfast, or add them to cookies, muffins, and bread you’re baking. You could also read the labels of treats you like eating to see if they contain this ingredient. In addition to helping your body deal with anxiety, they are great for your metabolism and digestion too.
Broccoli
Any food that’s packed with folic acid is a great choice, which is why you should be eating more broccoli on a weekly basis. Folic acid in this vegetable aids in stress reduction, and there is also plenty of nutrients as well as vitamin C which will give your immune system a boost. A simple serving of broccoli for lunch or dinner contains more than 100% of your daily vitamin C requirement.
Mushrooms
Both Eastern and alternative medicine praise mushrooms and use them to help us achieve different things: lose weight, calm down, become stronger, fall asleep… There are so many different fungi that it can be difficult to choose which to take. Yet, the most popular are the ones people call super mushrooms among which are Reishi, Chaga, Shiitake, Maitake, and Cordyceps mushrooms. Unfortunately, not many people are familiar with all of these, and because they are exotic, it can be a challenge to prepare a meal from them. You can always use mushroom extracts – it’s simple, cheap, and convenient for people who don’t have time to cook.
Green tea
When you want to reduce the amount of coffee you drink every day, the advice you hear is to switch to green tea instead. This is because green tea contains a fair amount of caffeine, yet it has many more health benefits than coffee. It boosts our metabolisms and it plays an important role when people are trying to lose weight. It’s also rich in L-theanine, a compound that has soothing effects and can help relieve stress. Even though it can calm you down, it’s best if you skip green tea in the evening because you’ll have a hard time falling asleep.
Oranges
People tend to drink orange juice and ear oranges when they get sick so as to get well sooner, but if you do so while you’re still healthy, you’ll boost your immune system and you’ll lower your chances of getting sick in the first place. Oranges are rich in vitamin C that’s known for its immune-boosting properties, but there’s much more it: it’s also able to lower the cortisol levels in your body. Cortisol is so-called ‘stress hormone’ and it can cause high blood pressure, but vitamin C in oranges will help keep it under control. If you don’t have time to peel oranges every day, freshly squeezed orange juice is an excellent idea too, as long as you don’t add sugar to make it sweeter.
Conclusion
Even though we would like for it to happen, avoiding stress completely is impossible, but there are things we can do to cope with it in a healthy way. When you are able to calm down and have a good rest, you’ll be able to deal with new challenges the following day easily. In order to find what best works for you, try different stress-relieving methods until you find something you’ll love. You’ll get the best results if you combine several methods that you like.
