Can omega-3s help fight anxiety?

The view I had in St Barths did a pretty good job...

I started the year off with a bang–two big trips (the Caribbean, then Utah. Rough, I know) with just three days in between. The experiences themselves were incredible and I felt so lucky to get them, but oh my gosh the times before each were intense in terms of work.

Here’s something I tried, though, that I swear did something: I upped my omega-3 intake. I’m a big believer in the omega-3 mood connection, and recently, I read a new study published by the American Psychological Association that linked the fatty acid to a calmer, less nervous state of being.

Specifically, mice who had been fed a diet of omega-3s exhibited much less startled and alarmed reactions to a short, soft noise followed by a loud one than did mice who’d been fed none of the fatty acid. In other words, having been warned with the soft noise that more noises might follow, the omega-3 mice’s nervous systems prepared a buffering mood response that was absent in the non omega-3 mice.

The study is just one piece of evidence, of course. But in its favor are not only the fact that mice happen to share a lot of fundamental chemical stress responses with us, but also the notion that it seems pretty in synch with what we know about the ways that omega-3 helps boost mood (by strengthening neural pathways; something thought to be at work here too).

I decided that was enough can’t-hurt-might-help evidence to get me to eat more salmon (click here for a recent SG post on easy ways to prepare) and nuts for a while. And while I’m totally aware that this could be a placebo effect (there’s no doubt that the sense of taking some extra action gave me a boost), I honestly did feel better after I made that diet change. Bottom line: this is a trick I’m going to keep trying–and research I promise I’ll stay on top of here.