7 Ways to Beat the Stress Bully

By Sarah Clachar, Health Writer
December 21, 2009

Stress is a savvy enemy. It attacks from all over. It sneaks into our body and psyche through different channels, and shows itself in a variety of guises.

To combat it, you have to be savvy, too. Know your enemy and you can defeat it.

That's why we've created this simple breakdown of stress, zeroing in on its many manifestations.

And for each of stress' aliases, we've created a specific nutritional prescription to bring it to its knees.

In this article you'll find:

1. Help for Headaches

Magnesium can work wonders when it comes to quieting headaches. Researchers noticed that migraine and cluster headache sufferers are often magnesium deficient. In fact simply by adding 200 mg of magnesium to their regimen, a group of 3000 migraine sufferers reported an 80% reduction in their migraine symptoms.¹

Magnesium prevents and reduces the severity of headaches in several ways. It relaxes blood vessels, regulates the action of brain neurotransmitters and inflammation triggers, and prevents the formation of blood clots.

Finally, tight muscles around the neck and shoulders also cause headaches. These knots actually squeeze blood vessels, reducing blood flow to the brain. Magnesium restores blood flow by relaxing these muscles. Which brings us to the next symptom of stress...

2. Chronic Pain And Inflammation

In addition to your neck, magnesium can help muscles relax throughout your body.

But magnesium goes even further. By balancing out calcium, it also helps nerves relax.

Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, an expert in treating chronic pain, contends magnesium deficiency may be a key factor in chronic pain. He recommends magnesium in combination with malic acid (which is also in Jigsaw's Magnesium w/SRT) as part of a comprehensive treatment plan to reduce chronic pain.

Vitamin C helps with pain from another angle. C reduces inflammation by preventing tissue damage and supporting your immune system. Its antioxidant activity also signals your immune system to calm down, further reducing inflammation.

3. Immunity Support

The biochemical changes in your body brought on by stress are really old survival mechanisms to protect you from imminent danger. Today, we experience stress as an ongoing buzz – not once and awhile like our ancestors did. That means our immune system, the frontguard, is always on guard. And this constant vigilance zaps it.

As explained above, Vitamin C plays a key role in supporting immune system health. Vitamin C researcher Dr. Steven Hickey, Ph D, notes that he hasn't had a bad cold since the early 1990's due to his diligent use of C.

Probiotics also help with immunity. In addition to playing an integral role in your immune system's defenses, they seem to help your immune system relax.

4. Heart Health Help

Your heart starts pounding... anxious, right?

And certainly your heart works harder when you're under the gun. Hormonal signals tell it to speed up. And your body shrinks down capillaries to send more blood to the brain so it can react quicker.

Dr. Barbara Levine, Ph D. notes that magnesium is "unbelievable" in the number of ways it supports heart health. Like any other muscle, your heart uses magnesium to create energy and regulate nervous impulses by balancing out calcium signals.

Magnesium also helps the heart work less. It relaxes the muscles around blood vessel walls, allowing them to relax and move blood through more easily.

Pair magnesium with Vitamin C's inflammation-fighting antioxidant power and your heart has even more support to keep it pumping strong.

5. Better Sleep

When it comes down to it, sleep is ultimately the best medicine for stress. But in a cruel twist, the more tension you feel, the harder it is to get good, restorative sleep.

Magnesium's relaxing power brings good snoozing. “I have consistently seen magnesium improve sleep in patients, especially when taken in appropriate combination with calcium,” says Dr. Kris Somol, ND. Nerves quiet down, muscles let go and your body slips into sleep's soothing rhythms.

5- HTP, a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin, also helps with anxiety and sleep. It's manufactured from tryptophan. Yet unlike tryptophan, 5-HTP has an easier time crossing the blood-brain barrier. Many Jigsaw customers testify that in addition to helping moderate mood, 5-HTP also gives them nights of dreamy sleep.

6. Adrenal Support

Your adrenal glands produce hormones cortisol and adrenaline to regulate your body's response to stress.

However, when these glands are taxed too much by poor nutrition and too much stress, they can't do their job adequately. Fatigue and poor immunity result.

Naturopathic doctor, Dr. Manby Sura, ND, highly recommends Jigsaw Complete for managing adrenal fatigue because of its full complement of nutrients that help your body reduce stress and recover from it. She particularly likes the B vitamins which not only help in the production of stress-reducing hormones but also provide energy.

The adrenal glands also use a tremendous amount of Vitamin C to protect your body from stress.

7. Dispel Digestive Disorders

Knots in our stomach, gas, the runs...all of these digestive problems can be triggered or exacerbated by stress.

Naturopathic doctor, Dr. Laurie Steelsmith, has experienced digestive woes first-hand. She points out that when you are stressed, your digestive enzyme production goes down. For this reason, she highly recommends digestive enzymes to help bring digestion up to par, especially when you're feeling tense.

In addition, invite some friendly bacteria into your digestive system. These probiotics perform essential tasks in your digestive tract that help digestion, absorption and reduce inflammation.

So don't let stress push you around.

Where it rears its ugly head, break it down and tackle it from all sides. Along with healthy diet, exercise, and some strategic nips at its source, these nutritional recommendations will help you tame tension's attacks on your good health.