Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Who isn’t stressed right now? We are still trying to get back to normal, while keeping safe at the same time. This can cause stress, lack of sleep and fatigue. Panax ginseng may be extremely beneficial to help get you back on track.
What are the long-term impacts of stress and how can you manage your stress in a much more efficient way? So many people deal with stress on a daily basis. It can come in different forms and be caused by a variety of things. Let’s talk about what you can be doing to help mitigate the impacts of stress.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Amanda Williams, MPH
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For many people, this is an extremely stressful time. On top of living through a global pandemic, students and employees are heading back to school and work. For the schools that are already open and welcoming students back, there have already been reported cases at their locations. So, it’s completely understandable that both students and parents returning to school or employees returning to work are feeling the extreme impact of stress. A very important nutrient you should know about is called Phosphatidylserine.
What is Phosphatidylserine?
This is an essential brain nutrient, as it helps the brain and its neurons to support memory function and neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the ability to clean up minor damage that may have occurred due to oxidative stress and inflammation. It is the capacity to replace damaged neurons and make new ones. Phosphatidylserine plays an essential role in this.
This nutrient surrounds the inner portion of the brain, around all of the neural tissues. This is key because our brain is composed of many different fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin D. But we have to also look at phospho-lipids and the most important is Phosphatidylserine. The issue is that, under times of stress, the body does not have enough innate ability to utilize this important nutrient’s stores. This can impair our ability to focus and retain new information. Stress can also impair our memory, both short term and long term. Many college students going back to school in a virtual environment or even back to school physically may drive up more stress. This is especially true for freshman college students.
Normally, through diet alone, many do not obtain this nutrient in adequate amounts. So this because a crucial brain health nutrient, especially during the aging process. The natural production and exposure of Phosphatidylserine declines with age and chronic stress.
Why 5-HTP Has Been Studied for Depression, Anxiety and Stress. Listen Now >>
Clinical Studies
Published in the Journal of Nutrition, researchers were assessing the roles and importance of Phosphatidylserine as a phospho-lipid, as well as a dietary supplement in the brain. They looked at over 137 different published research studies and found that it had a positive effect when it came to cognitive ability and retention.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
There is a reason why Buddhist monks sip green tea before meditating. There is an amino acid that is related to tea called L-Theanine that has been shown to induce a calming feeling and helps you focused, without making you feel drowsy.
5-HTP easily enters your brain and is quickly converted into serotonin. Serotonin is known as the ‘happiness molecule’ and is a very important neurotransmitter. This is why 5-HTP has been studied for its benefit for mood and overall brain health.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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On today’s episode, I am going to talk about how you can assess your level of stress. This is a really interesting way to see how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting your cellular health.
How stress impacts you on a cellular level
This pandemic is stressing out an awful amount of people. But the long term implications of chronic stress is not a good thing for our cells.
Now, the cell has different components to it, including things that make energy like the mitochondria and it contains a nucleus which contains your genetic material, the DNA and RNA. We also have what is known as telomeres. Telomeres are these protective casings at the ends of different strands of DNA. Every time that your cell divides, it loses a little bit of that protective casing. There is an enzyme called telomerase that can help to replenish your telomeres. But, here’s the catch! Chronic stress and cortisol exposure can decrease your supply of telomerase.
More Information on Managing Stress Through COVID-19. Listen Now >>
Right now, everyone is a bit stressed out and rightfully so. But you should be able to access how much damage has occurred and what we can be doing to mitigate that.
Nutrients for Stress Management
We know that stress management is a really key tool to all of this, especially in preventing that telomere shortening. The good news is that there are certain nutrients that can be beneficial when it comes to the length of those telomeres. My recommendations include B-Vitamins and Vitamin D. Individuals that have chronic disease states like heart disease will have a decrease in that telomerase enzyme activity, which means the DNA within the cell will become damage. Once damage occurs, it can lead to cell death.
Antioxidants can be beneficial, such as Vitamin C and E in the promotion in the length of our telomeres. Resveratrol is a very powerful polyphenol or antioxidant that is derivied from the skin of grapes, plants such a Japanese Knotwood. It contains very powerful antioxidants which have been shown to be able to activate sirtuin. Omega-3 fatty acids can also be beneficial. And of course, the Meditteranean diet.
Managing Stress Through Lifestyle Changes
Diet makes a huge difference when it comes to managing stress. Having high antioxidant foods from fruits and vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil or krill oil. If you are a vegetarian or just looking for a plant based option, you should consider flax seed.
If you are following a Standard American Diet (SAD) that is high in processed, sugary foods and bad fats, you are actually doing quite a lot of damage to those protective end caps. This is why dietary intake impacts the longevity of certain populations differently.
You also should be mindful of how you handle stress and ways to reduce it. This could be through exercise, meditation and yoga in order to offset the negative impact of stress. But, you can also do a simple test that is actually going to look at your cellular age – how much your telomeres been beaten up over time.
Testing Your Cellular Age
A simple cheek swab can help you obtain this information. Invite Health offers a Cellular Aging Test that is very simple to do but very beneficial in terms of the information you will unlock.
All you have to do is order the test kit (order now for 20% off!), swab your cheek, send your test kit to our lab and within about 5 days, you will have your results. You will be able to see the impact that stress has had on your telomeres. This is a great way to be able to access what you are doing right and wrong, and what you can do to try to correct that.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
