RUNNING HEAD: Diet, Exercise, Mindfulness
Diet, Exercise, Mindfulness, and Relaxation: Stress Management and Stress Reduction
Walden University
RUNNING HEAD: Diet, Exercise, Mindfulness
Abstract
Recognizing the growing problem of chronic stress in the United States, this paper explores the
utility of diet, exercise, and mindfulness-based stress reduction to stress management and
protection against periods of stress. A review of research relating diet and stress implicates poor
nutrition and excess consumption of fat as increasing stress reactivity while a Mediterranean diet
and supplementation with anti-oxidant vitamins, minerals and Omega-3 provide stress
protection. The literature exploring the impact of exercise on stress affirms the positive role of
vigorous or aerobic exercise in improving response to stress, protecting against the adverse
health effects of stress, and reducing stress experienced by individuals dealing with chronic
disease. Finally, studies evaluating the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction
identify the practice as successful in lowering perceived stress, improving regulation of stress
hormones, reducing hostile and impulsive behavior in young people, and leaving a positive state
of mindfulness with low emotionality, contentment, and new life perspective.
Key words: stress, stress management, diet, exercise, mindfulness
RUNNING HEAD: Diet, Exercise, Mindfulness
Diet, Exercise, Mindfulness, and Relaxation: Stress Management and Stress Reduction
In August of 2010 the American Psychological Association conducted a study of stress in
the United States (APA, 2010) and concluded that the US population as a whole is over-stressed.
Exasperated by several years of economic downturn, those in the US are finding it difficult to
focus on health given the needs of work and the needs of family. Thus, coping with stress is
having a deleterious effect on their physical and emotional health (APA, 2010). For example, the
report notes that too much stress over an extended time can impair an individual’s ability to
engage in normal living by increasing fatigue, disrupting concentration, and heightening
negative mood (APA, et al).
Families are also adversely impacted by stress. According to the APA, a sizable
percentage of parents (32%) are suffering from extreme levels of stress which they recognize as
potentially detrimental to their health and disruptive to the family and children. They are correct
in this assessment as research has shown that perceived stress is associated with increased
severity of premenstrual syndrome (Gollenberg, Hediger, Mumford, Whitcomb, Hovey,
Wactawski-Wende, & Schisterman, 2010) and the susceptibility of children to disease later in
life (Miller, Chen, & Parker, J. 2011).
Stress, Workplace, and Ethnicity
There are other factors besides those related to the economy that contribute to stress, such as
workplace and ethnic/radical factors. With respect to workplace stress, Chandola, Heraclides, and
Kumari (2009) reviewed studies investigating plasma catecholamines, variability of heart rate, and
cortisol levels after walking and concluded that employment stress is associated with higher levels of
physiological stress markers consistent with greater activation of the sympathetic adrenal-medulla
(SAM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axes. Examination of
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