To: UA-PTC Students, Faculty, and Staff
Date: October 28, 2021
Re: UA-PTC Health and Wellness Newsletter: Stress

Please Note: The information provided in this newsletter is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions or health improvements. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition.

The Importance of Sleep Hygiene
By Julia Ramey, MAP

Have you heard of sleep hygiene? Did you know there is a direct relationship between sleep hygiene, quality of sleep, and stress? Sleep hygiene is defined as habits and practices that are conducive to sleeping well on a regular basis (oxfordlanguages.com). Poor sleep hygiene means losing out on some good quality sleep. And poor sleep quality may increase our stress hormones, making it harder to manage the everyday stressors in our lives. Below I’ve listed tips from experts that are easily implemented to help you get a better night’s sleep. For more information, visit sleepfoundation.org, webmd.com and psychologytoday.com.

1. Keep a regular sleep schedule. This includes going to bed and waking up at the same time, even on weekends and vacations. Your goal should be 7-9 hours of sleep per night.

2. Sleep in a dark, quiet, and relaxing bedroom. Ideally, this will be an environment that is clean, decluttered, and absent of any electronics. Blackout curtains are a great idea if you have large windows. Fans and air filters are inexpensive options to drown out neighborhood noise.

3. Get outside for sun exposure early in the morning and begin to dim indoor lights with the setting sun. This keeps our circadian rhythm (internal biological clock) set, which makes it easier to fall asleep at night.

4. Beginning 2 hours before bedtime, avoid all electronics.  Phones, televisions, and computers emit blue light, which can block an important sleep hormone called melatonin. Choose other relaxing activities in the evening: talking with family or friends, playing board games or cards, reading, taking a warm bath, meditating, etc.

5. Keep your bedroom between 60-67 degrees when sleeping (65 is ideal).

6. Do not exercise too close to bedtime. Exercise is important for good sleep quality but should be done before dinner when possible.

7. Do not consume alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine before bed. Try to avoid consuming caffeine after lunchtime.

Nutrition and Stress
By Jamie Ryan, MS, RDN, LD and Shannon Wilcox, MS, RDN

Stress may not have a significant direct effect on nutrition status however, there are a few nutrients and hormones we want to be mindful of when experiencing significant or long-term stress. A study identified magnesium, zinc, calcium, iron and niacin as having the potential to become depleted during times of stress (Lopresti, 2019). It may be tempting to look for an easy fix and pop a pill to obtain these nutrients, but it is important to note that we should always strive to get our nutrients from foods rather than supplements.

A key healthy coping skill to aid in reducing or eliminating stress is to ensure you maintain a well-balanced diet with a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods that provide adequate vitamins and minerals that may be compromised during times of stress. Some key food to focus on in order to address the possible loss of magnesium and calcium are dark leafy green vegetables. For niacin, iron and zinc, focus on protein rich foods such as meat, fish, poultry and eggs.

By providing our bodies with a diet that helps control blood glucose levels, excessive hunger, and emotional overeating, we can prepare our bodies to be more resilient to the effects of stress.

Each meal or snack should provide a balance of complex carbohydrates with fiber, lean protein, and healthy fat. You can achieve this by selecting foods from each of the five food groups every time you eat. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes are the sources of complex carbohydrates and many of the vitamins and minerals impacted by stress.

Cortisol is a hormone that can be secreted in excess during chronic stress. Ways to slow the release of cortisol include many of the things mentioned in this newsletter. Exercise, relaxation, adequate/good sleep, and a well-balanced diet may help lower cortisol and increase our bodies ability to cope with the stress we endure.

Lopresti, A. L. (2019). The Effects of Psychological and Environmental Stress on Micronutrient Concentrations in the Body: A Review of the Evidence. Advances in Nutrition. doi:10.1093/advances/nmz082

Meal planning is a great tool to help reduce your stress during the school week. I am the main grocery buyer and cook in my household, and sometimes this task is overwhelming. I try to meal plan and grocery shop on the same day. I also meal prep and batch cook on that day. This usually takes me 3-4 hours. This time investment saves me money, time and stress.

The first step in meal planning is to make a menu. I do this by writing the days of the week on the left and meal ideas on the right. After my menu ideas are written out, I check my pantry and fridge to see what ingredients I already have. The food prices seem to increase every time I visit the grocery store. So, I do not want to buy too much food, but I do want to make sure I have what is needed. I certainly do not want any food to go to waste or be thrown out because it has gone bad.

I like to start my meal ideas with the vegetables that are in season. When a food item is in season, its price will be lower at the grocery store. Right now, sweet potatoes, acorn squash and butternut squash are all in season. I always add a non-starchy vegetable to the meal. Cabbage, mustard greens, collard greens and turnip greens are some non-starchy vegetables that are in season in October and November. Lastly, I add the animal protein such as chicken or fish to the meal. The animal protein will be the most expensive item on the plate. Some meals are meatless at my house and include complementary proteins like beans and rice.

Don’t make this meal planning task hard. Make it as simple as possible. It will help you to have less stress in your life!

Online resources that may be helpful:

• https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/usda_food_plans_cost_of_food/FoodPlansRecipeBook.pdf
• https://www.myplate.gov/tip-sheet/meal-planning

Exercise May Reduce Stress
By Kelley Cowley, M. Ed.

We live in a frenetic society. I hear from my students how stressed they are all the time. They are managing families, jobs and school. Even one of those alone can be taxing, but combined they can feel overwhelming. So, how do we combat feelings of anxiety and stress in a healthy manner? An excellent way to reduce anxiety and stress is to exercise. You’ve got to be kidding me, right? Just thinking about exercising can cause stress for many people, but maybe they are thinking about it the wrong way.

How exactly does exercise help reduce stress? Let’s look at a few of the facts research tells us:

• Exercise helps your body release “feel good” hormones called endorphins, and it reduces stress hormones such as cortisol.
• Exercise provides an opportunity to step back from daily anxieties and focus on doing something positive for your body.
• Both aerobic exercise and calming practices such as yoga have positive mental and physical health benefits.

The next time you are feeling stressed, instead of grabbing the nearest candy bar, lace up your shoes and head to the park for a walk. Exercise doesn’t have to take a long time or be difficult. Just get moving!

For more information, click on the links below.

• https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469
• https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax

Book Review: The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal
By Leslie Lovenstein, MA

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, we have faced unprecedented amounts of stress from disruption to our routines, worries about our health and our loved ones, and uncertainty about the future. Much attention has been paid to the negative side of all this stress and its harmful effects on our mental and physical health. However, health psychologist and Stanford Lecturer Kelly McGonigal shows us the positive aspects of stress in her best-seller The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You and How to Get Good at It.

The basic premise of McGonigal’s book is that if you perceive stress as bad for you, then it is bad for you. She claims, however, that if we shift our mindset about stress and perceive it as the body’s natural reaction to living, then stress may be helpful and even have benefits such as improving performance, learning, and memory; developing empathy and resilience; and strengthening the immune system. She claims, “The latest science reveals that stress can make you smarter, stronger, and more successful. It helps you learn and grow.” Regarding mindset science, McGonigal claims that we have it backward. While we are used to believing that we need to change our lives first in order to improve our mindset, we actually need to change our mindset in order to improve our lives.

Furthermore, McGonigal argues that we cannot live meaningful lives without stress, so “The best way to manage stress isn’t to reduce or avoid it, but rather to rethink and even embrace it.” She notes that stress occurs when things we care about are at stake. Therefore, rather than trying to reduce our stress, we should continue to build meaningful lives and acknowledge that we “can’t create meaningful li[ves] without experiencing some stress.”

If you like facts, statistics, and scientific data and are seeking a more optimistic view of stress, this is the book for you. If you prefer a shortened version of these ideas, take a few minutes to watch McGonigal’s tremendously popular Ted Talk “How to Make Stress Your Friend,” which has over 27 million views.

• https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend?language=en

McGonigal, Kelly. The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It. Avery, 2016.