It seems everyone today is putting so much effort into beating stress. When people talk about stress management and stress hormones, they often talk about the fight or flight response that happens in your body when you are exposed to a stressor.
Even on this website, you’ll find references to the importance of Adrenaline and Cortisol when it comes to dealing with stressful circumstances.
However, the medical evidence is piling up showing that in today’s day and age, we are seldom exposed to the types of dangers and threats that made it necessary for these two hormones to be so heavily used.
Getting frustrated while sitting in rush hour traffic is not at like being attacked by a sabre toothed tiger, from a survival perspective.
Regardless, it has become normal for our bodies to carry the same levels of Adrenaline and Cortisol as a matter of day to day life as they did when our lives were threatened by serious challenges.
This is true even though we have learned that having the fight or flight response always present in our bodies is actually quite unhealthy. In fact, it can really make us sick.
Recently, however, medical science has begun to point to a different way of looking at beating stress.
Rather than spend all our time trying to find ways to lower Adrenaline and Cortisol, it might be a better use of our time and energy to spend time trying to raise the healthy stress hormones and brain chemicals such as Dopamine, Oxytocin and Nitric Oxide. So this article aims to give you a list of ways for you to do that.
Beating Stress with Dopamine…
15 Ways to Get More of the Feel Good Brain Chemical
- Drink green tea
- Follow a schedule
- Exercise
- Eat blueberries
- Eat raw sesame seeds
- Bananas
- Turkey
- Eat avocado
- Eat tofu
- Consume blue-green algae
- Sleep eight hours
- Eat salmon
- Eat pumpkin seeds
- Eat almonds
- Take vitamins B6 and B9
Beating Stress with Oxytocin…
20 Ways to Get More of the Trust Hormone
- Care for your children with love and gratitude
- Get involved and lend a hand in your community
- Practice mindfulness
- Practice contemplative prayer
- Do some deep breathing
- Listen to soothing music
- Play music and dance
- Eat something sweet, savory and spicy all together
- Make eye contact
- Kiss someone
- Hold hands
- Head out to the shooting range and do some target practice
- Go for a walk outdoors in the sun
- Create ways to be trusted by others
- Hug someone
- Retweet tweets on Twitter
- Pick up the phone and call someone
- Don’t forget to laugh
- Like and share posts on Facebook
- Give away money, donate to good causes
Beating Stress with Nitric Oxide…
15 Ways to Open up Your Body’s Own Internal Pharmacy
- Eat beets, broccoli and beetroot
- Eat collard greens, kale and dark green leafy lettuces
- Eat nuts like walnuts, pistachios, and Brazil nuts
- Eat spinach, cranberries and oranges
- Eat kiwi fruit, pomegranate and watermelon
- Eat seafood like salmon and shellfish
- Eat lean meats like turkey and organ meat
- Eat red chili peppers like cayenne peppers
- Get plenty of heart pumping exercise
- Consume Hawthorne extract
- Eat raw dark chocolate
- Eat brown rice
- Eat garlic and onion
- Drink black tea
- Eat raw peanut butter and honey
Of course, it is still a good idea to do what you can to keep Adrenaline and Cortisol levels as low as possible, but nowadays it’s also a good idea to focus on increasing the good stress hormones, brain chemicals and neurotransmitters as well.
Checkout my Pinterest boards about Dopamine, Oxytocin and Nitric Oxide as well as many other great resources provided by your own body to help you manage stress and take back control of your health and your life today.