Election PTSD: 7 Simple Ways to Improve Immunity & Combat Election Stress by Jacob Teitelbaum

Take a gander at the election clocks and in case you stopped counting, there’s less than 32 days now until the presidential election. If you feel like your brain and body are screaming, “ENOUGH!!! Will this agony never end?” you’re not alone.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), research on the 2020 election published in the Journal of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences showed that 12.5 percent of Americans suffered from PTSD tied to the election, far higher than the annual PTSD prevalence of 3.5 percent.

The physiological impact of election stress is real and measurable. Many Americans today are stuck in a state of metabolic overdrive initiated by flagging adrenal glands, which are the body’s stress handlers. When they’re overwhelmed by an onslaught of mental and emotional stress, the adrenals stop protecting us as they should and the entire body feels the effects.

Your adrenal glands manufacture hormones that help the body respond to stress and avoid adrenal exhaustion from the stresses of modern life. Common symptoms of adrenal fatigue include:

• exhaustion
• lack of mental clarity
• anger (especially irritability around mealtime)
• insomnia
• body-wide aches and pains
• frequent viral infections
• low libido

Getting "hangry" (irritable when hungry) suggests fatigue of your adrenal stress handler glands, which can be easily addressed.

Especially now, with COVID-19 still a public health concern and flu cases likely to rise according to schedule in October, we need to keep our immune systems strong, and for that, the adrenal glands play a critical role.

Here's my short list for improving immunity and combating election stress: 

1. Get more sleep.
2. Turn off the TV/radio as soon as you start feeling irritated.
3. Take a good multivitamin.
4. Stay hydrated.
5. Supplement with stress-reducing herbs like echinacea root, rhodiola, holy basil and maca.
6. Avoid things that make you feel horrible.
7. Don’t decrease your salt intake. Salt helps maintain healthy adrenal function.

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