Anxiety can do a lot to your body.
It can make you feel physically ill, it can make it difficult to concentrate, and it can lead to depression. Anxiety can also cause your body to produce the stress hormone cortisol, which can have a number of negative health effects.
Cortisol is often referred to as the “stress hormone,” and for good reason. This hormone is released in response to anxiety or stress, and it can have a profound effect on your physical and mental health. Cortisol levels that are too high can lead to anxiety, depression, and difficulty concentrating. In addition, cortisol can disrupt your sleep pattern, leading to fatigue and irritability. Long-term exposure to high levels of cortisol can also weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness. In short, cortisol is nothing to mess around with. If you’re feeling stressed or anxious, it’s important to find ways to relax and bring your cortisol levels down. Otherwise, you could be putting your health at risk.
In short, stress and anxiety are not good for your body OR your mental health. It is important to target ways to manage stress and improve sleep to keep cortisol low. It may be important to talk to a life coach to work on lifestyle changes to reduce stress or therapist to build skills for stress reduction or to help manage the thinking that often accompanies anxiety.
Along with managing stress, it is important to target nutrition and the gut-brain axis to help with stress resiliency and lowering cortisol levels.
Some basic nutritional supports that I recommend for mood and gut support are:
