What is worse for your health: Stress, or a bad diet?

The picture of glowing health in the 21st century to many people might look like getting up at 5am to do a high intensity fitness class, fasting until 10am, consuming no sugar, alcohol or fast food and getting at least 10,000 steps per day. Of course, this could easily look slightly different depending on which health fads are trending, but in general it seems to be widely accepted that burning as many calories as possible, combined with eating as plainly as possible is highly important for longevity.

A balanced, nutrient dense diet and regular physical activity play a huge role in the optimisation of physical and mental health. However, I am convinced that nowhere near enough emphasis is placed on the importance of regulating stress when it comes to our health.

Stress has become so normal, almost glamorized in society- that even the diet and exercise programmes that are the most ‘hardcore’ are the ones that have become the most appealing. We are so attached to the idea that we must work hard to get results, equating feelings of stress to the anticipation that the more we push ourselves the better our results will be.

Many of us might not label ourselves as such, but we are quite literally ‘adrenaline junkies’! Jumping straight from stressful work tasks and overtime hours, to cutting our sleep short for intense exercise first thing in the morning - the issue of being unable to ‘slow down’ is perpetuated by the belief that hyper-productivity helps us lead healthier, more successful lives.

The reality is, just as important it is to exercise, go to work and deal with people who test our patience - it is equally important to dedicate enough time to restoration and recovery. Our ability to switch between these two ‘modes’ is controlled by what is known as the autonomic nervous system.

Sympathetic nervous system versus Parasympathetic nervous system

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for controlling the internal activity of the body in response to signals from the brain. They include the day to day changes in your heart rate, blood pressure, pupil dilation, sweat glands and movements of your digestive system.

There are two divisions of the autonomic nervous system which will control opposite activities of particular organs and glands. So if one is ‘switched on’, the other is generally ‘switched off’. These divisions are known as the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

During physical or emotional stress, the sympathetic nervous system dominates. The primary role of the sympathetic nervous system is to expend energy, for example during exercise. Many emotions such as stress, excitement or emergency also stimulate the sympathetic nervous system.

When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, ‘rest and digest’ processes are put on hold. Glucose and fatty acids are released into the bloodstream to provide immediate energy, and action of the stomach and intestines slows down to promote blood flow to the skeletal muscles. 

Conversely, when the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, the body can recover from stressful situations and restore energy. When the body is in a parasympathetic state, breathing and heart rate will slow down as we enter a more relaxed state.

The parasympathetic nervous system allows us to absorb nutrients from food and eliminate waste effectively.

If we do not allow our body enough time to be spent in a parasympathetic state, we make ourselves more vulnerable to having a weakened immune system, digestive issues, anxiety, poorer energy regulation and greater risk of cardiovascular disease.

This means that even if we consume the most nutrient dense diet or exercise daily, any of the benefits from these lifestyle changes will have little effect on our status of health if we still do not allow our body enough opportunity to relax.

Even though most autonomic nervous system responses are involuntary, there is evidence to suggest that with practice we can obtain some control over the activity of the motor neurons in the autonomic nervous system.

Studies on individuals who become highly trained in yoga and meditation have proven that these people have a better ability to ‘switch on’ or ‘switch off’ either division of the autonomic nervous system.

There are many ways to encourage the body to enter a state of relaxation but it should be emphasised that relaxation is as much emotional as it is physical. Stressful feelings can keep us in a sympathetic state, even if we are ‘just sitting at a desk all day’.

I would encourage most people to start paying attention to things that indicate stress, such as the way they are breathing throughout the day, and whether they are subconsciously holding tension in places like the jaw, neck and shoulders. Habits like eating more slowly and mindfully, spending less time on social media and less time in noisy environments can also help us become more in touch with the signals our bodies are trying to tell us.

Are you guilty of living in a ‘sympathetic’ state in your day to day life? What techniques have you found most helpful to relax?