The human body is constantly faced with different levels of stress on a daily basis. Stress is a biological and psychological condition where the body fails to appropriately respond to physical and emotional threats from either an actual or perceived danger. A person can easily experience stress from conflicts brought about by his relationship with another person or group; this is commonly the case.

Stress is also experienced when one is placed in a difficult situation or in a self-synthesized state of mind with no truthful precursor. Whatever the stressors are, prolonged exposure to stress can result to serious complications. In fact, many studies have linked exposure to stress as one of the factors causing a wide variety of health problems. It weakens a person’s immunity and makes him vulnerable to diseases.

A Study on Stress

A study conducted by a group of researchers from the Penn State University has revealed significant evidence that consumption of walnuts can improve the body’s response to stress. According to the study, a diet containing high dosage of walnuts can prepare the body to better deal with different stressors through its high content of polyunsaturated fats. When faced with stress, the body’s blood pressure tends to rise. Walnut’s alpha linolenic acid, an Omega-3 fatty acid, reduces the blood’s lipoprotein, or blood cholesterol, density which in effect reduces the risk of high blood pressure brought about by chronic exposure to high levels of stress.

Sheila West, an associate professor of Biobehavioral Health, as the lead researcher, said that people with high biological response to stress have higher risk of developing heart diseases. She added that the primary objective of the study is to determine the effects of Omega-3 fatty acids in reducing the risk of heart diseases due to stress. The study included 22 healthy adults with high cholesterol levels. They were placed on a restricted diet containing walnuts and walnut oil for six weeks and were examined after the end of each week of the six-week diet. The participants were asked to give a speech and had their foot immersed in cold water to simulate stress. The researchers observed that walnuts and walnut oil lowered the tendency of high blood pressure in participants when exposed to stress simulation exams. Details of the study were published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Some of the participants were also subjected to vascular ultrasound to measure the dilation of the artery. The researchers have observed that the supplementation of flax oil to walnut and walnut oil resulted to an improved cardiovascular health. The supplementation of flax oil also showed anti-inflammatory effects and reduced the levels of C-reactive protein. West said that the results point to a reduced risk in developing heart diseases from stress.

In the report, West said that their study is the first of its kind; there has been no previous study on the effects of walnut and walnut oil in the reduction of blood pressure induced by stress. She added that the study presents high significance value because of the fact that people are constantly exposed to different stressors in their day-to-day lives. The results of the study show that people can better prepare themselves by simply eating the right kind of foods.

The results of the study were indicative but are considered to be non-conclusive. Further research at a larger scale therefore, is needed to gather more concrete evidence. The study of the Penn State researchers comes in accord with previous research efforts regarding the effects of walnut in the reduction of blood pressure. But the Penn State study is the first to examine the effects of walnuts against high blood pressure caused by stress.

Tips to Reduce Stress and Foods for Healthy Blood Pressure

According to medical experts, around 90 percent of Americans will experience high blood pressure at one point in their lives. This comes as no surprise especially when we consider all the stressors that we are faced with on a daily basis. Different studies have linked high blood pressure with high levels of stress, and prolonged exposure to stress can result to health problems including heart disease.  It also renders a person to be highly susceptible to develop other forms of diseases mainly due to a weakened immune system.

Almost all things can be achieved when one is on a “mind over matter” perspective. The good news is that there are some things that we can do in order to fight off stress.  Oftentimes, these relatively simple things are taken for granted because we do not know that it can do wonders for our health:

Get some Exercise

Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise in most days of the week can help the body cope with stress better. This can simply be a walk around the park or a short moment on the treadmill. Exercising stimulates the mind to release more endorphins, your feel-good hormones, which gives the feeling of happiness and improves the circulation of blood in the brain.

Eat Right

Eating healthy foods can also improve the body’s reaction to different stressful events. Skipping meals is never good as it causes the body to suffer from hunger pangs. So it is important to eat healthy food on a regular basis to keep the mind alert and well nourished to cope up with different stressors.

It is best to always keep your blood pressure at bay.  Here are some foods that can help you maintain your blood pressure at a healthy level:

• Potassium-rich foods (soybeans, banana, white potato – baked)
  • There exists a love affair between potassium and sodium.  When there are low levels of potassium in the body, it retains sodium.  Sodium, in turn, retains water causing blood pressure to rise. High levels of potassium will cause the body to excrete sodium helping in the regulation of blood pressure.

• Magnesium-rich foods (kidney beans, black beans, sunflower seeds – unsalted, spinach)
  • Magnesium is an important element for the maintenance of, and for lowering, blood pressure.

• Skim milk
  • The Vitamin D and Calcium found in skim milk have been found to cause a 3-10 percent reduction in blood pressure.

Find some Quiet Time

Meditation not only relaxes the mind after being beaten from a hard day’s work, it apparently helps one achieve a healthy body as well. Research studies have also shown that a 20-minute meditation improves mental health and minimizes the body’s stress levels. Mindfulness meditation does not only help the body reduce stress levels, but it has also been discovered to have direct effects in preventing the development of some diseases.

Organize, organize, organize

Some habits cause too much stress - like running late for work, or rushing off to meet a deadline t work. It is therefore safe to say that an organized life is a stress-free life. Try to write down all the things you need to do for the day to prevent sudden jolts of urgency. This will make your life a whole lot easier.
The effective responses to stress include stress management or psychological coping. Stress management is a set of techniques aimed at educating a person on how to cope up with physiological stress and to overcome stressful situations. Nourishment can also reduce the adverse effects of stress to a person’s health. The body is natural equipped with mechanisms that help the body adapt to demanding situations. But this mechanism may need a little help from the food we eat.