Stress relief: How diet and lifestyle can help reduce stress and anxiety

Okra

This green veggie contains folate, a B vitamin that is a precursor to dopamine, the get-happy hormone. “The effect of this hormone on the brain induces a feeling of pleasure,” Devje says. Your brain releases dopamine when you experience pleasure. A 2017 study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research found that people with depression had lower levels of folate in comparison to those without depression. The study can't prove that the low folate was the cause of the depression—just that the two were linked—but it may help to make sure you have an adequate intake.