How Occupational Stress Can Affect You, And How You Can Tailor Your Diet to Manage Stress

Occupational stress is defined as stress that is caused by a person’s job. It most often stems from unexpected responsibilities or pressures that surpass a person’s knowledge or abilities. This includes a person’s ability to cope with a situation. There are many reasons that occupational stress might increase. The most common reason is that a professional does not feel supported by their organization or they feel that there is a lack of control in their life.

The Effects of Occupational Stress

When you’re stressed on the job for a long period of time, it can lead to some unwanted health issues. There are three types of strains caused by occupational stress:

• Behavioral – poor performance issues, absenteeism, etc.
• Physical – headaches, coronary heart disease, etc.
• Psychological – anxiety, depressed mood, etc.

Although there are multiple symptoms caused by oxidative stress, the most common symptom is weight gain. The stress alters your body chemistry and your eating habits and you gain weight easily.

Reduce Your Stress via Your Diet

While the effects of occupational stress are myriad, they can be minimized or negated by sticking to a stress reducing diet. When you become stressed, your body releases hormones that increase your hunger and cravings. You can eat foods that counteract this mechanism to naturally reduce stress.

Warm, soothing foods

Drinking a nice cup of warm, soothing tea can reduce stress and anxiety naturally. It will rewrite the body’s stress response and up the production of feel good hormones like serotonin and dopamine.

Dark chocolate

Dark chocolate is the one dessert you can always count on to help alleviate stress. It is rich in antioxidants that can lower the level of stress hormones. The indulgent taste and feeling of eating dark chocolate can also bring on a relaxing state of mind.

Whole Grain Carbs

Carbs that come from whole grains can increase serotonin levels and boost your mood. This is only the case for whole carbs though. Processed carbs and grains will only increase the amount of stress you feel.