Technique #8: Quick Dietary Fixes To Manage Social Anxiety

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Part of the Series “10 Powerful Techniques To Overcome Social Anxiety”

Social anxiety can significantly impact your daily life, making social interactions and public situations feel fearful and overwhelming. Fortunately, there are practical strategies to help reduce social anxiety and build your confidence.

In this multi-part blog series, I am covering ten powerful and effective techniques to help you reduce social anxiety symptoms.

Today is technique #8: Quick dietary fixes to manage social anxiety.

If you want to catch up on this blog series, so far we have covered:

Each of these ten strategies includes actionable steps to implement in your daily life. Following these steps can help you to improve your social interactions and decrease your social anxiety.

Whether you’re facing anxiety at social gatherings, work meetings, or casual conversations, these techniques can provide the tools you need to navigate social situations with less anxiety and more self-assurance.

One often overlooked factor in managing anxiety is your diet. What you eat and drink in general affects your overall baseline level of anxiety. Also, what you eat and drink on the day of a social event impacts how anxious you feel on that day.

In this article I’ll discuss three dietary changes that can help you manage social anxiety. You will learn how making these three adjustments can help you decrease your baseline anxiety level, making social interactions more manageable.

These adjustments are reductions in caffeine, sugar, and alcohol. I will also offer tips for implementing these changes.

When you understanding the impact of these common substances on your anxiety level, you can make informed choices that help you put your best foot forward in social situations.

How Caffeine Affects Anxiety

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant

Caffeine’s primary effect is to block adenosine receptors. In medical terminology, caffeine is an adenosine antagonist. (An antagnoist is a substance that binds to and blocks the activation of receptors on cells, preventing a biological response.) Adenosine is a neuromodulator that promotes relaxation and sleep.

By blocking adenosine receptors, caffeine prevents the relaxing effect of adenosine. Caffeine also promotes the increased release of neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine. In many respects, this heightened neural activity feels good: you’ll be more alert and have more energy.

However, these effects also trigger physiological responses associated with anxiety, like elevated heart rate, increased blood pressure, and heightened cortisol levels. These responses can amplify anxiety symptoms, especially if you already struggle with anxiety.

By reducing caffeine intake, you will decrease the physiological arousal that exacerbates anxiety symptoms. With decreased caffeine levels, your central nervous system will be calmer overall. For example, your heart rate and blood pressure will be lower, as will your overall cortisol levels. (Remember, cortisol is a stress hormone.)

Caffeine is a sleep disruptor

Also, reducing caffeine consumption will likely improve the quality of your sleep. The half-life of caffeine tends to interfere with the body’s ability to fall and stay asleep, particularly when it’s consumed later in the day. Adequate, quality sleep is crucial for managing anxiety, and your mental health in general.

Collectively, the combined benefits of a calmer nervous system and improved sleep can significantly alleviate your baseline anxiety symptoms. Also, avoiding caffeine before anxiety-provoking social situations will help protect your nervous system from being overly stimulated when your social anxiety is likely to peak.

A Note About Caffeine and Moderation

Most people can consume some caffeine in the early part of the day without significantly impacting their anxiety levels. In fact, I drink a cup of coffee every morning despite my own tendency towards anxiety. Not gonna lie – I love my cup of coffee!

You might not be ready to give up the increased alertness and concentration that caffeine provides, and that’s probably fine. Try limiting your caffeine consumption to the early part of the day, and see how you feel. If your mornings involve anxiety-provoking situations (like a work meeting, for example) experiment with postponing caffeine until after that meeting, or skip it that day. Try not to ingest caffeine after 2:00pm to protect your sleep.

If you decide that you want to eliminate caffeine completely from your diet, you might notice even greater improvements in your baseline level of anxiety, as well as the quality of your sleep. If quitting caffeine cold turkey gives you a headache and/or significant fatigue, try “half-caff” alternatives to help you cut back gradually over a period of one to two weeks.

How Sugar Affects Anxiety

The Blood Sugar Rollercoaster

When you consume sugar, it is broken down into glucose, which enters the bloodstream and causes a rapid increase in blood glucose levels. In response to rising blood glucose, the pancreas secretes insulin. Insulin is a hormone that facilitates the uptake of glucose into cells for energy, or for storage as glycogen in the liver and muscles.

The insulin response leads to a rapid decrease in blood glucose levels. Think of the “sugar crash” after the initial burst of energy; this is the roller coaster effect of sugar. When you crash, your body wants a quick solution to boost glucose levels, and sugar cravings kick in.

This cycle of repeated sugar intake creates fluctuations in your blood glucose. These fluctuations create stress in your body, and this stress response exacerbates anxiety. For example, the release of adrenaline and cortisol (hormones associated with the body’s “fight or flight” response) feel like anxiety, and are aggravated by unstable blood glucose levels.

Sugar and Your Neurotransmitters

Additionally, high sugar intake can disrupt the balance of neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine, which play crucial roles in mood regulation. The resulting hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances can exacerbate symptoms of anxiety. The feelings of nervousness, irritability, and agitation associated with high sugar intake make it that much harder to manage anxiety from social situations.

Sugar and Inflammation

Finally, chronic high sugar consumption is linked to systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. Inflammation and oxidative stress are implicated in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (among other physical and mental disorders).

How Alcohol Affects Anxiety

“Take the edge off with a drink”: what you should know

It’s widely accepted that having a drink will take the edge off of anxiety. This belief is deeply ingrained, in American culture at least. From happy hours to uttering “I need a drink” after a hard day, alcohol is regularly depicted as an effective tool for unwinding. The association between drinking and relaxation is ubiquitous, reinforcing the idea that a drink is an effective remedy for stress and anxiety.

What many people don’t know this short-term solution tends to worsen anxiety over time, due to the body’s rebound effects and disrupted neurotransmitter balance. Regular consumption of alcohol actually exacerbates anxiety over time (as well as depression, which is a topic for another time).

The Mechanisms of Alcohol Effects

Initially, alcohol acts as a depressant for the central nervous system. Alcohol enhances the effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter, which leads to a calming and sedative effect. At the same time, alcohol inhibits glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, leading to a short-term reduction in anxiety and stress.

If you have ever had a drink of alcohol, you are familiar with the calming, “loosening” initial effects of alcohol. No wonder it seems like a great tool to help you cope with social anxiety!

But here’s the catch: our bodies are always seeking equilibrium. After the alcohol is metabolized, there is a rebound increase in glutamate activity and a reduction in GABA activity, resulting in heightened neural excitability and anxiety. Even after one drink, these neurochemical imbalances kick off a cycle where you may crave another drink to mitigate the rebound anxiety symptoms.

If you consume alcohol on a regular basis, the body eventually down-regulates GABA receptors and upregulates glutamate receptors. Again, the body is adapting to its environment and seeking equilibrium. This adaptation lead to heightened neural excitability and reduced natural inhibition when alcohol is not present. Cue an increase in anxiety and agitation in the absence of alcohol. (If you have ever experienced “hangxiety,” or hangover-induced anxiety, then you are familiar with the mother of rebound effects of alcohol on the central nervous system.)

Five Ways Alcohol Makes Anxiety Worse

Alcohol use results in a rebound increase in glutamate activity and a reduction in GABA activity, resulting in heightened neural excitability and anxiety.
Alcohol disrupts the balance of neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine. These neurotransmitters play crucial roles in mood regulation. The subsequent drop in these neurotransmitter levels can contribute to feelings of anxiety and depression.
Dehydration and electrolyte imbalances caused by alcohol’s diuretic effect can further exacerbate anxiety symptoms, as the brain and body struggle to function optimally.
In addition, the physiological stress of metabolizing alcohol, which involves the liver breaking down ethanol into acetaldehyde (a toxic byproduct), and then into acetate, puts a strain on the body’s systems. This process can lead to inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which are linked to increased anxiety.
Finally, poor sleep quality often accompanies alcohol intake. Alcohol disrupts the normal sleep cycle, particularly the REM phase. Disrupted sleep leads to fatigue and reduced resilience to stress the following day.

Note: alcohol dependence is a serious issue not addressed in this post. If you have concerns about alcohol dependence, consult a doctor, and do not attempt to quit alcohol without medical supervision, as it can be dangerous.

Practical Tips for Reducing Intake of Caffeine, Sugar and Alcohol

OK, so I have laid out how reducing your intake of caffeine, sugar and alcohol can set the stage for less social anxiety. It can be easier said than done to change habits around food and drink consumption. Here are some tips for enacting meaningful change that How to do this?

Aim for incremental change

Research supports the idea that incremental change is more sustainable than sudden, drastic changes. Studies in behavior change psychology show that gradual adjustments are more likely to lead to long-term change, because they are less overwhelming and easier to integrate into your daily routines.

Define specific, measurable, and achievable goals for reducing your intake of sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. For instance:

Aim to cut your sugar intake by half within a month.
Replace one of your two cups of morning coffee with decaf for two weeks, then assess whether you want to decrease your caffeine intake further.
If you currently average two alcoholic beverages three nights a week, try replacing one of those nights with a nonalcoholic alternative.

Set Realistic Goals

Start by setting achievable goals for reducing intake of these substances, such as gradually cutting back over time rather than attempting to eliminate them completely all at once. Unrealistic goals can lead to frustration and failure, while small wins build confidence and momentum. Research suggests that making a 10-20% change at a time is a realistic and manageable approach.

For example, if you consume five sugary drinks a day, reducing that by one drink (20%) is more manageable than eliminating all sugary drinks at once. Keep reducing your consumption every week or so to maintain steady progress.

Tracking Helps

Keep track of your daily consumption, and identify patterns and areas where you can make changes. Use a journal or smartphone app to record what you eat and drink throughout the day. Recording what you consume can help you identify patterns and triggers, making it easier to adjust your habits.

Have Substitutes Readily Available

Focus on reducing intake of the substance itself, but not going without the entire experience. The less deprived you feel, the easier it will be to make lasting changes.

For example:

Replace sugary snacks with fruit or other whole foods.
Opt for herbal teas or decaffeinated beverages instead of caffeinated drinks.
Choose non-alcoholic beverages during social events. Have an order ready in your mind, like “diet soda” or “seltzer with lime”.

Set Up Environmental Cues

Altering the environmental cues associated with unwanted habits can be an effective way to form a new habit. For example:

Place the decaf coffee grounds front and center, so you’ll reach for them first when you’re brewing coffee.
Move sugary snacks to a high, back shelf, and keep healthier snacks at eye level or on the counter.
Move alcohol out of view at home and stock up on non-alcoholic beverages.

Plan Ahead

Plan and prepare meals and snacks in advance to avoid relying on convenience foods and beverages that may be high in caffeine and sugar. Read labels while you are grocery shopping, and look at restaurant menus online before eating out.

Dietary Changes are One Part of Anxiety Management

Reducing intake of caffeine, sugar and alcohol is an achievable goal with significant benefits for your overall health and well-being, including management of anxiety. Your central nervous system will be on a more even keel as you enact these three dietary changes.

Remember to approach these changes with patience, persistence, and self-compassion, and seek support from healthcare professionals or support groups if needed.

In subsequent parts of this series, I will continue to cover ten techniques to manage and overcome social anxiety.

How I Can Help

If you are reading this and thinking, “This makes sense, but I want help making changes to overcome social anxiety,” I encourage you to consider working with a therapist. Therapy can help provide structure, hold you accountable, and offer you expertise around setting and achieving goals towards alleviating social anxiety.

In fact, therapy is one of the ten techniques I’ll cover in this series!

I invite you to reach out to me to discuss working with me in therapy to help you overcome social anxiety. I am authorized to see clients in online therapy in 40 states, and I have helped people with anxiety for over 20 years.

Your first step is to schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation with me. If I’m not available to be your therapist, I can provide you with appropriate resources so that you can find the help you are looking for.

Schedule a Free 15-min. Phone Consultation with Dr. Bobbi Ballard