There are days when stress feels like it came out of nowhere. Sleep was decent, work wasn’t overwhelming, yet the mood dips. It is easy to blame the pace of modern life, but the story is often more layered. What sits on the plate every day can quietly shape how the brain feels and functions.
Doctors are increasingly seeing a pattern: people struggling with anxiety, irritability, or low mood, only to later discover gaps in essential nutrients. The brain, after all, is not just emotional, it is chemical. And those chemicals depend on vitamins and minerals to stay in balance.
As Medanta specialist Dr Saurabh Mehrotra explains, “While stress, anxiety, and mood changes are typically blamed on busy lifestyles, lack of sleep, or emotional stressors, nutritional deficiencies are also known to be possible contributing causes in some cases. I always tell my patients that the brain needs vitamins and minerals in sufficient amounts to make neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, which control mood, concentration, and emotional stability.”