6 Foods to Eat for a Less Stressful New Year

Tension comes from both external (like money and connections) and internal (like your thoughts and feelings) factors. Tension seizures can be helpful; for example, when it helps us avoid danger or motivates us to perform adequately in certain situations.

However, chronic tension can lead to sleep issues, loss of appetite, and irritability with friends and family. Over time, the inability to effectively manage tension has been associated with adverse effects on memory, cognition, immune health, cardiovascular health, and gastrointestinal function.

There’s no way to be sure you’ll live a stress-free life, but some research has suggested that including certain foods in your diet can help you, even in times of trauma.

In addition to adopting tension-reducing lifestyle habits to exercise, meditate, and get proper quality sleep, here are six foods that can help you manage tension naturally (or at least nourish your body without putting you in any more tension).

6 Foods That Relieve Stress

1. Walnut

Walnuts give many recipes a satisfying crunch and delicious taste. Studies have shown that eating walnuts can also provide some benefits in the tension management part.

When researchers compared two clusters of college students (who ate 60 grams of walnuts a day for 16 weeks), they found that those who ate walnuts experienced:

• Improvements to self-reported markers of mental health
• A protective effect against some of the negative effects of academic tension, including reductions in stress biomarkers and preservation of gut bacteria diversity in female students.
• Improved long-term self-reported sleep scores

While more research is needed to learn how eating patterns that contain walnuts may affect the brain or mood health, we do know that walnuts have a unique matrix of bioactive nutrients and phytochemicals.

In fact, it’s the only food that’s a great source of omega-3 ALA per serving (2.5 g/oz); this may be one reason why researchers have seen a number of mental health benefits in their studies.

2. Avocado

Avocado can be one of the most suitable foods to help you lower your tension level. Avocados are a natural source of magnesium, and there is evidence that magnesium deficiency can make the body more susceptible to stress.

You’ll struggle to find quality research data that directly shows that eating an avocado is your ticket to a stress-free day, but eating magnesium-rich foods like avocados can support this goal.

If you’re not a fan of avocados, dark chocolate, dairy products, and nuts can also nourish your body with this precious mineral.

3. Salmon

Salmon is one of the most suitable dietary sources of DHA fatty acids. Getting enough of this “healthy fat” in your diet is linked to better tension resistance and other positive mental health effects.

You’ll also get B vitamins and many other tension management nutrients in a serving of salmon.

4. Green tea

Green tea has natural plant compounds that support your health in different forms. A compound found in green tea is an amino acid called L-theanine. This is related to improvements in mood, cognition, and symptoms such as reduced tension and fear.

A cup of green tea tastes great and provides you with these soothing compounds whether hot or iced.

5. Chocolate

There may be a scientific explanation for why many people crave chocolate when they’re feeling nervous. A 2014 study found that consuming 40 grams of dark and milk chocolate a day for two weeks was an effective way to reduce participants’ perceived tension.

The stress-relieving effect of chocolate may be related to cocoa polyphenols. It has been shown to reduce tension in people with high tension and those with normal levels of tension.

However, the color of the chocolate selection is precious – you can’t get these potent polyphenols from white chocolate. Chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa gives you these polyphenols and often contains less sugar.

6. Fruits and vegetables

Eating more fruits and vegetables during the day has many health benefits and helps you cope with life’s stressors.

According to research, choosing one fruit or vegetable over another doesn’t seem to have a significant effect on tension levels. However, eating more treats seems to be linked to lower tension for some people.

For example, a 2021 study that examined participants’ daily tension reports and trace intakes found that higher tension levels appeared to be linked to eating less fruit and vegetables that day.