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

Oatmeal

Tucking into a warm bowl of oatmeal could make you feel more relaxed and calm, per the 2016 review in the Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences. “Eating complex carbs increases the production of serotonin, a brain chemical that reduces stress hormones,” Devje says. Although oats haven't been studied specifically as a way to help relieve anxiety, they are a good source of tryptophan which the body converts to serotonin.