How to hack your HPA axis and eat yourself happier

In today’s world, stress is something we all have to live with, whether it’s switching on the TV only to see another distressing piece of news, or feeling overwhelmed by a mountain of pressing deadlines at work. Stress comes in all shapes and sizes, and whilst we’re all familiar with the physical signs of stress (palpitations, sweaty palms and racing thoughts, anyone?), educating ourselves on what’s going on inside our body can empower us to stay above water when those debilitating symptoms hit.

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis — more commonly referred to as the HPA axis is a major neuroendocrine system that is the originating source of the body’s innate stress response. “In a stressful situation the HPA axis may be triggered, and activated, switching on the sympathetic nervous system otherwise known as 'fight or flight' response,” says holistic pharmacist Jaspreet Randhawa (wholebodypharmacist.com).

As its name suggests, this complex mechanism involves three different components; the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, which are structures located deep within the brain, and the two adrenal glands, which each sit just above the kidneys. The HPA axis is connected to the central nervous system and the endocrine system. Together, they work in synchrony to regulate the balance of hormones in the body, adjusting how we react to a stressful situation. This is also known as our fight or flight response.

“The hypothalamus receives signals in a stressful situation (including perceived threat, anxiety, and emotional triggers). Once activated the HPA-axis starts its response instantly, causing the the pituitary gland to create and release hormones. These hormones affect the adrenal glands. In turn the adrenal glands produce several types of steroid hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline,” continues Randhawa.

This ancient system evolved as a survival mechanism to keep us safe in the face of danger, but the problem is that we don’t suffer the same modern day threats as our ancestors and won’t be running away from a pack of lions anytime soon. Our body doesn’t know this so it triggers the HPA axis regardless. This is helpful in the short-term, but when the HPA axis is over-activated for prolonged periods it can be harmful to health.

“HPA-axis dysfunction is also known as adrenal fatigue. The continuous release of stress hormones also results in a number of illnesses including: insomnia, fatigue, muscle pain, anxiety, lowered immunity (as the body thinks you need the energy to be in fight or flight, not protect from germs), digestive problems, memory issues and diabetes,” says Randhawa.

Keeping your HPA axis in check is the key to keeping stress at an equilibrium. To do this we need to find our key stress triggers and look at eliminating them with diet and lifestyle support. Here are a few ways to help you get started.

We’re not talking any old dessert but tucking into a chia pudding for breakfast is a good way to dial up levels of feel good neurotransmitters. Chia seeds are high in the amino acid tryptophan which helps the body to produce the happiness neurotransmitter serotonin which in turn helps to fight stress. The great thing about chia pudding is you only need a few ingredients and you can throw it together in advance to save time.

Mix three tbsp chia seeds with 185 ml milk and a couple of vanilla pod seeds or vanilla bean paste and leave in the fridge for an hour or two — or overnight if you prefer. You can top with a drizzle of honey and some nuts and seeds or fresh fruit.

There’s a huge hype around intermittent fasting right now, and while eating according to a fasting window may aid gut health, you don’t need to take it to extremes. Severe fasting can actually stress out your adrenal glands, causing them to pump out excess hormones.

If it’s feasible, try to have a 12-hour break between your last meal of the day and breakfast the following morning. So if you try to finish dinner by 8pm you can have breakfast at a very reasonable 8am whilst still helping those beneficial gut bugs to function effectively without stressing out your adrenals.

Excess glucose spikes stress out your body, and causes HPA axis dysfunction, and one of the best ways to flatten the glucose peaks and troughs is to have a salad before a main meal.

Salads are also a great way to pack in stress-busting nutrients and your repertoire doesn’t have to be limited to limp iceberg lettuce, soggy cucumber and tomato. In fact when it comes to salad leaves, the darker green the better, as dark hued salad veg is laced with magnesium, a micronutrient which helps to dampen down stress levels so that our HPA axis isn’t activated unnecessarily.

So think peppery watercress and rocket, baby spinach and Swiss chard. Throw in lots of vitamin C foods like roasted or raw yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes, and even a few orange segments as vitamin C stores are quickly zapped by stress.

We commonly associate tension in our jaw, neck and shoulders, but what about our hands? We take our fingers for granted but these underrated extremities deserve a look in too. Take a moment to uncurl a clenched fist and you can almost feel the tension melt away. What’s more stretching out our hands helps to increase blood circulation to key pathways in the brain, relaxing our nervous system so that we feel calm.

“Staying on the hamster wheel will only activate your stress response more. Keeping your attention on just one activity at a time will help you to slow down,” advises Randhawa. Whenever you feel stressed, focus on clenching and unclenching your fists five or so times to help remove negative thoughts.

Thankfully, long on are the days when eggs were demonised for being harmful to health and these days health experts can’t sing their praises enough. “One of the reasons is because eggs contain B vitamins which are needed for a healthy HPA axis,” explains Randhawa.

So whether you like them sunny side up or boiled and mashed into an egg mayo sandwich, eggs are a great way to keep stress levels under control — just don’t leave out the yolk as it’s a concentrated source of B vitamins. There are eight different B vitamins and these work synergistically to help regulate energy production and fight stress. Along with dietary sources, taking a B-complex supplement over a three month period has been shown to help decrease stress symptoms.