The Relationship Between Nutrition And Emotional Well-being
Emotional well-being is not based solely on how we manage our emotions through actions such as meditating, having fun with friends or crying when we need to.
An act as seemingly mundane as eating also influences it through various psychological pathways and processes.. Let’s see how he does it.
What we eat has a clear impact on what happens in our brain.
For example, Some amino acids such as tryptophan, widely available in certain foods, are necessary to provide key neurotransmitters in our nervous system (in the case of tryptophan, serotonin, a substance closely linked to the feeling of calm and well-being). Neurotransmitters are molecules that our neurons use to communicate with each other.
They are something like the pieces of a message, and they are constantly emitting and capturing them both in the brain and in the rest of the nervous system distributed throughout the human body.
Furthermore, as this exchange of chemical substances “burns through stages”, changes are consolidated in our brain: changes in the way in which our neurons connect with each other and in the way in which they are activated or deactivated when receive certain neurotransmitters. There is no instruction manual that explains what happens when a neuron receives X molecule, everything depends on its position, the neurons to which it is connected and what has happened to it previously. Nerve cells learn just as we do.
It is here, among other aspects of brain functioning, where we clearly see the way in which obtaining nutrients and chemical processes in general influence the psychological: Without neurotransmitters, brain activity cannot exist.. And the brain is characterized by being constantly in motion, even when we sleep; It is the engine of the human experience and of our own survival as autonomous beings capable of being aware of what happens to us.
Furthermore, the fact that our neurons are always maintaining a dialogue based on chemical reactions is behind our ability to adapt to what life throws at us. As our nervous system is always transforming anatomically and functionally depending on the experiences we go through and the chemical state of our nervous cells, we evolve as people.
Of course, consuming some types of psychotropic drugs under medical supervision is a way to increase or minimize the effects of these neurotransmitters in our body, but in the vast majority of cases Eating a balanced diet is the most effective and beneficial way to ensure that there is a balance in the functioning of our nervous system.
Furthermore, it has been known for years that the Central Nervous System, formed by the brain and spinal cord, is closely related to a vast network of neurons distributed throughout the digestive systemparticularly in the intestines.
Thus, our brain maintains a bidirectional communication relationship with the nutrient extraction processes that occur in parts of the body relatively far from it, both via nerve cells and the neuroendocrine network (we must not forget that neurons are seen highly conditioned by the hormones that circulate through our body through the blood, and vice versa).
Nutrition and emotional well-being
So far we have seen the relationship between nutrition and the functioning of the nervous system in general and the brain in particular, but if we want to understand the human mind and our way of feeling and behaving, we must broaden the focus and see beyond the cells. nervous
Emotional well-being is not reduced to chemical processes (although these participate in it), and also incorporates a behavioral dimension: what we do to relate to our environment and ourselves. And nutrition also influences this, although in a somewhat more subtle and indirect way.
And it is that Nutrition cannot be totally separated from food.. If nutrition is a process that begins and ends within our body and is based on the extraction and processing of nutrients, food is a behavioral phenomenon, based on our actions as individuals. The way we relate to food is food, and unlike nutrition, we can modulate it through conscious decisions.
Now, in most cases, the actions that make up our diet are not conscious; We do them spontaneously, without thinking too much. We get used to eating certain foods, snacking between meals, combining ingredients in a certain way… This can be good in some cases (it would be very tiring to have to stop and think and decide something every time). time we go to eat or prepare food), and bad in others. For example, many people develop emotional problems in which their way of eating participates.
This happens a lot with foods rich in carbohydrates; Our body has evolved so that we have a preference for what is sweet or what has a lot of carbohydrates, since these are signs that we will extract a lot of energy from them; But if we start trying to “cover” our discomfort with these foods, sooner or later we will develop physical health and emotional management problems. Eating without hunger is usually something we do without realizing that we don’t really need food, but the fact that it offers us a momentary distraction causes us to lose perspective and not see that, in the long run, it is worse.
So that, The relationship we learn to maintain with food is key when it comes to explaining whether we are worse or better at maintaining a good level of emotional well-being.. As long as we adjust our actions to satisfy, above all, needs based on nutrition, we will be helping our body to have the ingredients it needs, no more and no less.
Do you want to have professional psychological assistance?
In Vibra Wellness We work offering psychotherapy to enhance emotional management skills both from the management of actions and from the management of thoughts and attention. In addition, we have a team of nutritionists specialized in emotional and digestive health.
If you are interested in having our services, contact us.
