It’s happened to all of us. Studying for exams often means working late nights, not eating properly, not getting enough exercise.  We get through the final exam and the next morning, bleh! We wake up with a sore throat, aching muscles and a blocked nose – we’re all inflamed and sick as a dog just in time for the holidays. Why does that happen?

Our bodies don’t like stress. Who does? When we’re stressed out — rushing to finish projects, anxious about how we’re going to perform in an upcoming exam — our bodies release inflammatory cytokines.

What many people don’t realise though, is that it’s not the stress or illness itself that causes inflammation. These inflammatory chemicals are produced by our bodies to prompt the immune system to kick in and fight back against the stress through inflammation as though stress is an infection. While inflammation helps protect us against illnesses and repairs the body when you do something like cut yourself, chronic inflammation is a different case altogether. It’s been linked to autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, anxiety, high blood pressure and more. This is why it’s so important to manage ongoing stress so you don’t risk creating an environment where a chronic stress situation develops.

Sure, the famed stress hormone cortisol plays a role in regulating your inflammatory response, but chronic stress can dampen the hormone’s ability to do so, leaving inflammation unchecked. Cortisol is released by the kidneys and helps mobilise the body into a ‘fight-or flight’ mode by causing increased blood pressure, heart rate and sugar breakdown. When ‘fight-or flight’ becomes a chronic way of being, cortisol can no longer do its job and systemic inflammation is the result.

This is where OMEGA-UP™ can play a significant role.

Studies show that increased intake of EPA improved test subjects’ ability to handle stress and generated significant improvements in mood.  In one study, highly stressed medical students experienced a 20% drop in anxiety when compared with the group that took the placebo and blood samples showed a similar drop in circulating inflammatory factors.

Consider supplementing your high school children’s diets with OMEGA-UP™ a month or so before exams. You’ll find they’re likely to be a lot more mentally prepared and emotionally robust when the time comes to put pen to paper.

REF:
https://www.prevention.com/health/inflammation-causes
http://www.scq.ubc.ca/stress-cortisol-and-the-immune-system-what-makes-us-get-sick/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-the-zone/201201/anxiety-and-omega-3-fatty-acids
https://goodrelaxation.com/2014/01/omega-3-relieving-stress/
https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-12-07-omega-3-fatty-acids-your-super-weapon-against-stress-and-anxiety.html