Stress Reduction: Relaxation Training and Diet

In the last byte, we looked at physical exercise as a means for preventive stress. In today's byte, we look at relaxation training and diet as means to help in preventive stress management.

Relaxation has been found to be a natural counter response to stress for many stressful situations. Hebert Benson was one of the first to identify this relation. Benson found that the Judeo-Christian people find their relaxation technique to handle stress through their time-honored tradition of prayer. The people in the eastern hemisphere handle this through meditation. The theological/religious component is only another layer that surrounds the fundamental relaxation mechanism.

While all the techniques discussed thus far on how the individual could help prevent stress are all have a direct impact, diet plays an indirect role in stress and stress management. Diet with high sugar content is found to stimulate stress; food with high cholesterol could adversely affect the blood chemistry etc. A good dietary practice helps contribute to overall health and makes the person less vulnerable to distress. There are 2 forms of diet that could help reduce stress:

1. Reversal diet
2. Preventive diet