Skip the Salt - Sodium Causes Emotional Turbulence

As a kid, my brother and I naturally competed. I’m not sure he was aware of our many competitions, but for me, my big brother was - as I saw it - my antithesis. This was fantastic for development, giving me an anchor point, a milestone, and someone to help me question things. You know that saying, “Do not walk behind me, I may not lead. Do not walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”? Well, my brother, growing up, managed all three.

My brother loved salt, therefore I didn’t. It wasn’t some secret passion I forcibly put away out of a reaction to my brother. It was just my natural reaction to a strong preference he had. The only two times I would eat salt were 1) in ready-made dishes (including baked goods) and 2) on avocados. Because that’s just delicious.

Now I’m an adult and no longer compete with (or speak to, come to think of it) my brother. My habit of eschewing salt stuck, though, and I tend to not salt food. In fact, even when I make sauces or soups, they tend to be under-salted. I think it’s at least in part because of this that the people I often cook for (namely, my daughter) will add salt to food.

Salt and Mental Health

As a fan of mental health, I often look for ways that what we eat influences our moods and mental health. I know that sodium, most often eaten in salt form, messes with blood pressure. That got me to wondering if salt intake is related to other stressors like anxiety.

Salt and Stress

Yes, sodium (as one study showed, in the form of sodium lactate) can actually be a stressor. An additional study on panic attacks and sodium showed that it isn’t the lactate that can trigger the panic associated with panic attacks. Sodium is the panic attack link.

I know that salt is associated with increased blood pressure and potential heart disease, but who are we kidding? Kids run and jump and have so much energy that it’s very unlikely for active kids to have sodium-caused heart disease issues. However, high blood pressure can affect moods and that’s independent of age.

Reducing Salt to Reduce Anxiety

I recently reduced sodium intake for my daughter and, since humans aren’t meant for experiments with a subject base of one person, I’ve also changed a few other habits, but I can tell you she does seem less stressed since we made these changes. Certainly, salt reduction is not working against us. I plan to replace our regular salt with potassium chloride and see what that does - see if some of the heightened alert/stress levels return.

In fact, I recently got us some low-sodium salt. For me, the flavor is less tongue-stinging than regular table salt. Given that and my recurring issues with Ruffles cheddar and sour cream potato chips and associated kidney problems, I find the potassium-based salt generally more appealing. I’ll still boil pasta with regular salt and use it in baked goods, but when it comes to adding salt as a condiment to a dish, this potassium-based salt is what I’m going with now.

There’s nothing wrong with a little salt, but there sure seems to be something wrong with a lot of it - for adults and for kids. Just because kids can handle it better because they often engage in more physical activity than adults, that doesn’t mean they’re impervious to the effects of sodium as it relates to elevated anxiety.