You may have heard the saying that all diseases are “nervous”. This is most often said of older people. But there is another, equally old Roman saying: “A healthy body is a healthy soul”. Modern medical science has an answer to what this might mean. Studies have confirmed that the health of the nervous system and even mood is very often determined by diet. It is known that various nutrients containing certain vitamins and mineral...
You may have heard the saying that all diseases are “nervous”. This is most often said of older people. But there is another, equally old Roman saying: “A healthy body is a healthy soul”. Modern medical science has an answer to what this might mean. Studies have confirmed that the health of the nervous system and even mood is very often determined by diet. It is known that various nutrients containing certain vitamins and minerals are needed to strengthen the nervous system.
What does the health of our nervous system depend on?
Strengthening the nervous system and maintaining its daily health is directly related not only to what we experience, how we sleep, how we work and rest, but also to what we eat. Foods that are important for our nerves have one thing in common: they contain B vitamins – B1, B6, B12. We can replenish our bodies with these vitamins by eating more fish products, dishes containing bovine liver, poultry, and various legumes such as green peas, peanuts and chickpeas. Avocados, buckwheat and oat groats also contain these vitamins.
If these foods are not the kind that whet your appetite, we should give you an additional reason to be upset: once you have eaten one of these foods, you will not be able to solve the problem. The problem is that strengthening the nervous system means eating these foods every day, because our bodies do not store B vitamins and we need to replenish our reserves every day.
Strengthening the nervous system is not just about taking B vitamins. These vitamins should be accompanied by vitamins A and C. The latter are needed by our nervous system as antioxidants to help neutralise the negative effects of free radicals. The appearance of free radicals, which threaten to damage healthy cells in the body, can be the result of stress, and vitamins A and C help to counteract the effects of these biochemical compounds.
Maintaining optimal health
How can I strengthen my nervous system if I can’t get enough sleep? The truth is that the length and quality of a good night’s sleep has a major impact on the nervous system and psychological well-being. Meanwhile, insomnia can be caused by a lack of magnesium in the body. The other problem is that we get enough sleep but still feel tired, weak and sleepy. What is missing? It is possible that this is the result of zinc deficiency. What can we do to get the magnesium and zinc we need to strengthen our nervous system? Magnesium is found in cocoa, bananas, potatoes, pumpkin, green leaf lettuce, plums, hazelnuts, almonds and melons. Zinc can be obtained by eating pulses, walnuts, flaxseeds, wheat bran, oysters.
Do you associate bad moods with gloomy skies and lack of sun? Sunlight actually stimulates the body to produce vitamin D, which is also linked to nervous system health. And if you enjoy the good weather, which is not necessarily very sunny, by going for a walk, jogging, exercising, choosing good company instead of gloomy thoughts and depressing inner conversations with yourself, you will also contribute to a better health of your nervous system. Being physically active and having fun stimulates the production of hormones that have an effect on your mood – the body produces chemicals to maintain its own health. Let’s not forget that the building blocks needed to renew nerve cells are dietary protein and fat. This means that we should remember to eat fish, poultry and low-fat meat, replacing animal fats more often with unrefined vegetable oils.
In summary, strengthening the nervous system is a complex of various nutrients and health-promoting activities that also contribute to the health of the whole body. If we find that it is too difficult to fulfil all the conditions we need for healthy nerves in one go, we can help ourselves by taking various nutritional supplements. Modern pharmaceuticals offer supplement complexes for our convenience – there is no need to take vitamins and minerals separately.
Modern medicine confirms the truth of the old adage about the nerves or the soul. Nerves are more important to us than they may seem. So we should not underestimate the troubles of the nervous system and take care of ourselves in time.
Skaityti daugiauSkaityti mažiau
