Feeling Stressed? Mediterranean Diet May Help Reduce Its Effects On Health – Study

In this fast-paced competitive world, stress has been one of the major factors affecting human life across the globe. It is, in fact, one of the major concerns we all are dealing with. Stress not only impacts the personal and professional life negatively but also leads to severe health risks including heart disease, obesity, diabetes and more. Hence, experts around the world suggest that yoga, meditation and an overall healthy lifestyle bring a balance in life and achieve fit mind and body.

Food plays an important role in leading a healthy lifestyle. A well-balanced diet with every essential nutrient can do wonders for our overall health. A new study has found that the Mediterranean diet may help reduce stress and promote healthy ageing. It was an animal study, conducted by researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health. The findings were published in the journal Neurobiology of Stress.

“It is very difficult to control or reduce stressors in our lives,” said Carol A. Shively, PhD, professor of pathology and comparative medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine and principal investigator of the study.

“But we do know that we can control our diet, and previous observational studies have suggested that lower perceived stress is associated with high fruit and vegetable consumption,” Shively added.

The research was conducted on 38 middle-aged animals that were given either a Mediterranean diet or Western diet (rich in animal protein, sugar, saturated fats). The diet the animals were given was somewhat like the ones human being consume.

The results showed that the animals who were fed with the Mediterranean diet had better stress management skills, compared to the ones who were given a western diet.

Hence, Shively suggested that the Mediterranean diet may help provide a relatively simple and cost-effective solution to the psychological stress human beings go through on a daily basis. It may also reduce the risk of its negative impact on health.

Here’re 7 types of foods ingredients that are a must-have in the Mediterranean diet:

-vegetables

-fruits

-whole grains

-beans

-nut

-seeds

Promoted

-olive oil.

(Note: The food suggestions are not a part of the study)