Under pressure? Try these natural stress-busters
What do you do to help calm yourself down when you’re stressed out?
According to some new research, you might want to have a banana. Or maybe a salad with some dandelion greens or perhaps some asparagus!
What all those foods (and more) have in common is that they’re considered to be “prebiotics,” which are basically plant-based fibers that feed our good gut bacteria — what we take probiotics for. But what a new study has discovered is that these prebiotics are a lot more powerful than we originally thought.
And by making it a habit to include more of them in your diet, you’ll be doing yourself a big favor when it comes to how you deal with stress.
For some humble plant fibers, including one that’s considered a weed, prebiotics can do some amazing things!
Along with their main job — keeping our beneficial intestinal bacteria well nourished — British researchers discovered last year that prebiotic supplements were able to calm airway inflammation in asthma sufferers. And the new study, out of the University of Colorado, shows how much further that calming effect goes.
While we all know a stressful episode can have your blood pressure hitting the roof, it can also leave you tossing and turning at night.
And that’s where prebiotics can come to the rescue.
Researchers from the University of Colorado wanted to find out if these simple plant fibers could both up the amount of beneficial bacteria in the gut and also protect these good microbes from “stress-induced disruptions.”
Keeping your good gut bacteria in tip-top shape is now well accepted as being the cornerstone of having a strong immune system. And some recent research even found a healthy gut can also guard your brain against devastating diseases such as Parkinson’s.
The Colorado team tested their sleep-gut connection theory by feeding one group of laboratory rats a diet enriched with prebiotics for several weeks before stressing them out. They put another group of rats to the stress test, but without the benefits of the prebiotics. The researchers found that not only were those in the prebiotic group able to maintain their levels of good gut bacteria, but they also didn’t suffer from the stress-related sleeping problems the control group did.
Duplicating the lab rat study on people is something that the team plans on doing next, but seriously — considering what we now know, these findings make perfect sense.
Two years ago an Oxford University neurobiologist did a similar experiment, but with people. One group of volunteers were given a prebiotic drink and the other a placebo. Those who got the prebiotics were found to have lower levels of cortisol, what’s known as the “stress hormone.” They also outperformed the placebo group on tests that measure anxiety and depression. The Oxford researchers said the prebiotics were as effective as anti-anxiety and depression drugs.
So along with taking your daily probiotics, whether they be from foods such as yogurt or kefir, or as a supplement, it makes perfect sense to add some stress-busting prebiotics.
For example, some top prebiotic food sources include:
- Garlic, leeks and onions,
- Asparagus and Jerusalem artichokes (which are a different variety from the more common artichoke hearts that you’ll find in the supermarket),
- Dandelion greens and bananas
You can also easily find prebiotic supplements in powder (to mix into water or juice) and pill form. Often such supplements come from the chicory plant, an excellent prebiotic source.
But no matter what form you take them in, you’ll be feeding not only your good gut bacteria but your sense of well-being, too!
“Prebiotics may help to cope with stress” Frontiers, February 10, 2017, ScienceDaily, sciencedaily.com
