Stress is ubiquitous in contemporary life,1 and the word gets tossed around as if we all understand what it means. Most of us routinely talk about the daily kinds of stress we experience—in our work, finances, parenting, commuting, and social concerns. Then there is the stress we experience from larger issues, such as life changes, unexpected challenges, or tragic events. In all these situations, we tend to think of stress primarily as an emotional experience—specifically, the worry or tension we feel in a difficult scenario. But stress isn’t just emotional; it’s also physiological.
Understanding Stress as a Physical Response
When you experience emotional stress, your brain alerts your body that there’s a threat. Your body doesn’t know the difference between a real or perceived threat—whether the threat is a charging bear or an upcoming work presentation—so it picks up on the signals of unsafety and responds accordingly. Maybe your heart rate speeds up, your blood pressure spikes, or your digestion slows. During an acutely stressful situation, you might start to sweat or experience shallow, rapid breathing.
How Stress Triggers the Body’s Survival Systems
As unpleasant as these physiological responses might be, they are a good thing—evidence that your body is responding to your brain’s cues and taking action to protect you. However, your stress response also takes a toll on your body. That same release of adrenaline that enables you to escape a threat can also lead to hormonal imbalances and digestive distress. And when short-term stress becomes prolonged stress, it can lead to nutrient depletions.
Why Stress Requires Nourishment Beyond Food
Primary and Secondary Nourishment: The Antidote to Stress
I love the word nourishment and speak of it often when I give talks, teach classes, and coach clients. At its most fundamental definition, nourishment is “the food or other substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition.”2 When most of us consider nourishment, we tend to think of food. But look at that definition again. It mentions food or “other substances.” Our primary nourishment doesn’t come from the food we eat. Our primary nourishment comes from our most foundational relationships.3
Primary Nourishment and Stress Relief Through Connection
Primary nourishment is the sustenance we receive when we feel securely attached to God, others, and ourselves. Primary nourishment restores safety to the body and brain by providing positive answers to questions such as, Do you feel safe and connected in the world? Do you have what you need to respond to threats? Do you feel that your relationship needs are met? When you feel safe in your relationships—when you know you are fully seen and fully loved—your brain is better able to filter out threats. When you know your purpose, feel supported, and understand your role in a larger story, your stress response changes.
Secondary Nourishment That Calms Stress in the Body
Secondary nourishment is the sustenance we receive from nourishing food, enjoyable activities, hydration, sunshine, rest, and movement. Secondary nourishment brings physiological safety to the body, and it helps to counter the effects of both emotional and physiological stress. Meeting such basic human needs is essential for better emotional regulation. I don’t know about you, but I get an extra dose of brain fog if I don’t sleep well. When I’m not engaging my body in regular movement, my anxiety increases because I don’t have an outlet for it. And don’t even talk to me if I haven’t had some uninterrupted alone time on the weekend to read in my cozy bed. Those are all ways I receive secondary nourishment.
The body won’t feel safe to heal if it’s not in a well-nourished environment—an environment in which you are fueled by your relationship with God first, but also by healthy relationships with others and yourself. Patterns of overscheduling, constant activities, negative self-talk, pushing through, ignoring symptoms, suppressing emotions, and neglecting spiritual practices will never foster the nourishment your soul truly craves.
Just as deficiencies in primary nourishment can impair the body’s ability to receive secondary nourishment, the reverse is also true. When secondary nourishment needs aren’t being met and there are imbalances (such as a poor sleep schedule, lack of movement, or lack of nutrients), the body won’t get the signals it needs to support healthy emotional balance and positive relationships.
Your heavenly Father is the water of life and the nourisher of your soul. He longs to meet you in your stress desert and bring you to life. It may take some time, but I can promise that he longs to restore, refresh, and renew you from the inside out—no matter where you find yourself today.
How to Respond to Stress with Intentional Nourishment
How to identify your primary and secondary nourishment:
Identifying Stress Support Through Daily Nourishment
Use your journal or a pad of paper to make a list of all the ways you receive nourishment.
Divide the page into two columns. Write “primary nourishment” at the top of one column and “secondary nourishment” at the top of the other.
Under the primary nourishment heading, list the relationships, as well as the social activities, events, and practices that help you manage your stress load. Who and what is truly nourishing for you?
Under the secondary nourishment heading, list the ways you receive secondary nourishment. For example, specific meals or food items; time in nature; movement practices; or an item of comfort in your home, such as a weighted blanket or cozy spot. I often do this activity with my clients in session, and sometimes it brings aha moments when they realize they aren’t as limited on helpful resources as they thought.
Take a picture of your lists or type the items into the notes app of your phone. Refer to them when you feel overwhelmed by stress. Your lists provide great answers for when you ask yourself, How can I nourish myself right now?
1. Stress is so common today that one study estimated up to 90 percent of chronic disease is stress related. See Yun-Zi Liu, Yun-Xia Wang, and Chun-Lei Jiang, “Inflammation: The Common Pathway of Stress-Related Diseases,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 11 (June 20, 2017): 316, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00316.
2. Oxford Languages, s.v. “nourishment,” https://bit.ly/3LLCNiw.
3. This idea is closely connected to the concept of “primary food,” a term coined by Joshua Rosenthal, founder and director of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which I attended. For more, see Joshua Rosenthal, The Power of Primary Food: Tools for Nourishment Beyond the Plate (New York: Integrative Nutrition Publishing, 2015).
Adapted from Live Beyond Your Label: A Holistic Approach to Breaking Old Patterns and Rediscovering a Healthier You in Mind, Body, and Spirit by Erin Kerry, releasing in September 2025.
