In Partnership with NUUDA

Your Stress Survival Guide: What to Eat, What to Breathe, and How to Actually Unwind

A nutritionist-led guide to managing stress from the inside out, combining anti-stress nutrition from NUUDA with calming rituals from Spritz Wellness.

By Spritz Wellness, in partnership with NUUDA

Stress is not just a feeling, it is a physical response. And the good news is that what you eat and how you create space for calm can genuinely change how your body handles it. If you want to start managing stress in a way that actually holds, this is where it begins.

If you have tried to just relax your way out of a stretch of high-pressure weeks, you will know how well that usually goes. Willpower is not the problem. Modern stress rarely switches off on its own, because we are not built for the always-on version of life most of us are living: back-to-back meetings, phones that never stop buzzing, and a to-do list that resets before you have even finished today's. Your body does not know the difference between a work deadline and an actual threat. It just knows to stay switched on.

The fix is not one big overhaul. It is giving your body what it actually needs, nutritionally and sensorially, so it has a real chance to come back down. That is what this guide is about: the food that calms your nervous system from the inside, and the rituals that calm it from the outside.

What Stress Actually Does to Your Body

When you are stressed, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that is brilliant in short bursts (it is what gets you out of the way of danger) but disruptive when it is switched on for weeks at a time.

Chronically elevated cortisol does not stay in its lane. It affects your appetite and cravings, pushing you toward quick-hit sugar and refined carbs. It promotes inflammation throughout the body. And it disrupts your gut, slowing digestion, altering your gut bacteria, and making you more likely to feel bloated, low-energy, or off even when nothing specific is wrong.

This is where the gut-brain-stress axis comes in. Your gut and brain are in constant communication via the vagus nerve, and a huge proportion of your serotonin (a mood-regulating neurotransmitter) is actually produced in your gut, not your brain. So when stress disrupts your gut, it does not just affect digestion, it feeds back into your mood and your ability to cope with the next stressful thing that comes along. It is a loop, and the good news is you can interrupt it from either end.

People are often surprised that gut health and stress resilience are so closely linked. If your gut is inflamed or under-nourished, it is harder for your body to regulate mood and cortisol properly. Supporting your gut is one of the most direct ways to support your stress response.NUUDA on the gut-brain-stress axis

Eat to De-Stress: NUUDA's Top Foods for a Calmer Body

You cannot supplement your way out of chronic stress, but you can nutritionally support your body's ability to handle it. A few nutrients do most of the heavy lifting.

Magnesium is arguably the most important mineral for stress. It is used up faster when you are under pressure, and low levels are linked to poor sleep and heightened anxiety. Find it in leafy greens, nuts, seeds and whole grains.

B vitamins (particularly B6, B9 and B12) are essential for producing neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, your body's natural mood regulators. Eggs, leafy greens and lean proteins are good sources.

Omega-3 fatty acids help reduce inflammation and have been shown to support a calmer stress response. Oily fish, walnuts and flaxseed are your friends here.

Vitamin C is not just for immunity. Your adrenal glands (where cortisol is produced) use more vitamin C than almost any other organ in your body. Citrus, peppers and berries help replenish it.

Adaptogens are plants and mushrooms like ashwagandha, reishi and rhodiola that have traditionally been used to help the body adapt to stress. The evidence base is still growing, but early research is promising, and they are an easy, low-risk addition to a stress-support routine.

When cortisol is high, your body is wired to crave fast energy: sugar, caffeine, refined carbs. It is not a willpower failure, it is biology. The trick is meeting that craving for quick energy with something that actually nourishes you instead.NUUDA on cortisol and food cravings

This is exactly why NUUDA's meals are built the way they are: nutritionist-designed, real ingredients, nothing ultra-processed, so a calmer body is not something you have to think about, it is just what is on your plate. Their Gut Health Bundle in particular leans into the gut-stress connection directly, with meals designed to support digestion alongside the nutrients your body needs when it is under pressure.

What to Avoid: The Habits Quietly Keeping Your Stress Elevated

Just as important as what you add is what you dial back.

Caffeine, especially on an empty stomach or later in the day, can spike cortisol and make an already-wired nervous system feel more wired. You do not need to cut it out, just be more intentional about when and how much.

Sugar and ultra-processed foods cause blood sugar spikes and crashes that your body reads as a stress signal in itself, on top of whatever is already going on in your day. That crash-and-craving cycle keeps cortisol elevated longer than it needs to be.

Alcohol, while it might feel relaxing in the moment, disrupts sleep quality and gut health, two things you need in good shape to actually recover from stress.

None of this means perfection. It means noticing the small, daily inputs that are quietly working against you, and swapping a few of them out.

Calm From the Outside In: Scent, Sensation and the Nervous System

Nutrition addresses stress from the inside, but your body also responds powerfully to sensory cues, and this is where Spritz Wellness comes in.

Scent has a uniquely direct route to your nervous system. Unlike other senses, smell bypasses a lot of the brain's usual processing and connects straight to the limbic system, the part of your brain tied to emotion and memory. Certain botanicals, like lavender, bergamot and chamomile, have been shown to help trigger the parasympathetic nervous system, your body's rest and digest state, which can lower heart rate and reduce circulating cortisol.

That is the idea behind Spritz's Relax Room Spray: a few spritzes into a room, and you are sending your nervous system a clear, immediate signal to stand down, without needing ten minutes of meditation you do not have time for.

We have chosen each botanical for a reason: lavender for its calming effect on the nervous system, bergamot to ease tension, chamomile to soften anxious energy. It is designed to change the emotional temperature of a room in seconds.Spritz Wellness on the Relax Room Spray

The Aromatherapy Eye Pillow works on a different but complementary sensory channel: gentle pressure and weight. The light pressure across your eyes and temples stimulates the ocular pressure reflex, which can slow your heart rate, while the weight itself has a grounding, almost swaddling effect on the body, similar to the principle behind weighted blankets. Add gentle warmth (many are designed to be used chilled or warmed) and you get a genuine full-sensory pause button.

It is such a small object, but it does a lot. The weight, the pressure, the darkness, it gives your nervous system permission to switch off, even if it is only for five minutes.Spritz Wellness on the Aromatherapy Eye Pillow

Relax Room Spray

Lavender, bergamot and chamomile to signal your nervous system to stand down.

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Aromatherapy Eye Pillow

Gentle weight and darkness for a five-minute full-sensory pause.

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Your Daily Stress Reset Routine

Small, repeatable rituals beat big gestures. Here is a simple structure to build around.

Morning: Start with a nutrient-dense breakfast featuring B vitamins and protein rather than sugar and caffeine alone. It sets your cortisol curve up properly for the day rather than spiking it early. A couple of minutes of stillness before you open your phone goes further than it sounds.

Throughout the day: Keep an eye on caffeine timing, favour whole foods over ultra-processed snacks when the 3pm slump hits, and get a NUUDA meal on the table that is doing the nutritional heavy lifting for you.

Evening: This is where the ritual really pays off. A few sprays of Spritz's Relax Room Spray as you shift out of work mode, a nourishing dinner rich in magnesium and omega-3s, and ten minutes lying down with the Aromatherapy Eye Pillow on before bed. It is a small sequence, but done consistently, it teaches your nervous system that the day is genuinely over.

Start Tonight

You do not need to overhaul your entire lifestyle to feel less wired and more able to cope. Start with one swap tonight: a different snack, a spray in the bedroom, five minutes with the Aromatherapy Eye Pillow, and build from there. Small, consistent changes beat one big overhaul, every time.

Shop the full stress reset: NUUDA's Gut Health Bundle, build your own NUUDA bundle, Spritz's Relax Room Spray, and Spritz's Aromatherapy Eye Pillow.

Laura Colucci is a yoga teacher and the creator of the Spritz Wellness range. You can find her classes and teaching at Laura Colucci Yoga.