Surfing Stress

Estibalitz Laresgoiti
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Surfing Stress is where stress science meets real life. I’m Dr. Estibalitz Laresgoiti, a physician with a background in immunology, neuroscience, and health psychology. In this podcast, I break down the science of stress and turn it into practical tools you can actually use. We’ll explore what stress does to your brain, body, and immune system and what the evidence says about managing it better. From sleep, exercise, nutrition, and relaxation to emotional regulation, social support, coping, and resilience, each episode gives you science-backed strategies for real life. Because stress happens. You can’t eliminate every stressor, but you can learn to regulate your stress response and change the way you cope. That’s what it means to surf stress.

Episodes

  1. 4d ago

    Exercise for stress: Why you don't need to push harder

    Welcome back to Surfing Stress! Exercise is one of the most effective things we can do to manage stress, and the good news is that we don't need to spend hours at the gym or exercise at high intensity to benefit from it. In this episode, I talk about why moderate exercise can make such a difference in how we respond to stress, both physically and psychologically. We'll look at what happens in the body when we exercise, including how regular physical activity can influence the HPA axis, cortisol regulation, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein involved in brain plasticity. I also explain how exercise can improve mood, support better sleep, increase our confidence in our ability to handle challenges, and help interrupt repetitive, stressful thoughts. There's quite a bit of research on this. Large studies and systematic reviews have found that people who are more physically active tend to have a lower risk of depression, and exercise interventions can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety. Even relatively small amounts of physical activity can be beneficial. We’ll also talk about some common misconceptions. Do you need to sweat a lot? Does exercise have to be intense? What actually causes the runner's high? And can exercising too much sometimes become another source of stress? I explain how to recognize moderate intensity using the talk test or heart rate, and go through the general recommendations for physical activity, including 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week and strength training at least twice a week. We'll also discuss different ways to incorporate movement into everyday life, from walking, cycling, and dancing to yoga, tai chi, and short periods of activity throughout the day. Even a 10-minute walk or a few minutes of movement between tasks can be a reasonable way to start. And since knowing that exercise is good for us doesn't necessarily mean we'll do it, I share some ideas for dealing with common obstacles, especially when we're tired, stressed, or simply don't have much time. The idea is to find a type of physical activity you enjoy, start at a level that works for you, and gradually make it part of your routine. I hope this episode helps you understand why exercise is such a useful part of stress management and gives you a few ideas you can put into practice this week.   Here are the links to the studies I talk about: Harvey SB, Overland S, Hatch SL, et al. Exercise and the prevention of depression: results of the HUNT cohort study. Am J Psychiatry. 2018;175(1):28-36. https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.16111223 Li X, Huang J, Zhu F. The optimal exercise modality and dose for cortisol reduction in psychological distress: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Sports. 2025;13(12):415.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12736704/ Singh B, Olds T, Curtis R, et al. Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews. Br J Sports Med. 2023;57(18):1203-1209. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/18/1203 Noetel M, Sanders T, Gallardo-Gomez D, et al. Effect of exercise for depression: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 2024;384:e075847.  https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-075847 Kredlow MA, Capozzoli MC, Hearon BA, Calkins AW, Otto MW. The effects of physical activity on sleep: a meta-analytic review. J Behav Med. 2015;38(3):427-449. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25596964/ Szuhany KL, Bugatti M, Otto MW. A meta-analytic review of the effects of exercise on brain-derived neurotrophic factor. J Psychiatr Res. 2015;60:56-64.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25455510/ Siebers M, Biedermann SV, Bindila L, Lutz B, Fuss J. Exercise-induced euphoria and anxiolysis do not depend on endogenous opioids in humans. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021;126:105173. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33582575/ Fuss J, Steinle J, Bindila L, et al. A runner's high depends on cannabinoid receptors in mice. PNAS. 2015;112(42):13105-13108. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1514996112 Stamatakis E, Ahmadi MN, Gill JMR, et al. Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA) with mortality. Nat Med. 2022;28:2521-2529. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02100-x

    Exercise for stress: Why you don't need to push harder

  2. Oct 20

    Sleep and stress: What's happening in your brain while you sleep?

    Welcome back to Surfing Stress! Why is it that after a bad night's sleep, even the smallest things can irritate us? We have trouble concentrating, we're more emotionally reactive, and dealing with everyday stress seems harder than usual. In this episode, I explain what happens in our brains while we sleep. We go through the different stages of sleep (N1, N2, N3, and REM), what happens during each one, and why those last hours of REM sleep in the morning are important. I also talk about the fascinating glymphatic system, which helps clear waste products from the brain while we sleep. We’ll look at cortisol and melatonin, how their daily rhythms are connected to sleep, and what happens when those rhythms are disrupted. I also discuss research showing how sleep deprivation affects the amygdala, increases emotional reactivity, and makes it harder to regulate our responses to stressful situations. Of course, we'll also talk about what you can do to improve your sleep. Things like managing light exposure, noise, and bedroom temperature, keeping a regular wake-up time, being mindful of caffeine and alcohol, and paying attention to screen use before bed. I also explain a few relaxation techniques, including slow breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation. And what if you're doing all of this and still sleeping poorly? We’ll discuss when it's worth getting a medical evaluation, including possible sleep apnea and other conditions that interfere with sleep. I also explain why cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is recommended for chronic insomnia. This is the first of two episodes on sleep and stress. We’ll cover quite a bit, from how sleep supports memory and emotional regulation to its role in metabolism and immune function. I hope this episode helps you understand a little more about what your brain and body are doing while you sleep, and why protecting your sleep is such an important part of managing stress.   Here are the links to the studies I talk about: Xie L, Kang H, Xu Q, et al. Sleep drives metabolite clearance from the adult brain. Science. 2013;342(6156):373-377. (glymphatic clearance, mice) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1241224 Human study of sleep and brain clearance of amyloid-beta and tau. 2026 (PubMed PMID 41593094). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41593094/ Experimental findings questioning sleep-related brain clearance (discordant results). Nat Neurosci. 2024. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01638-y Yoo SS, Gujar N, Hu P, Jolesz FA, Walker MP. The human emotional brain without sleep: a prefrontal amygdala disconnect. Curr Biol. 2007;17(20):R877-R878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.08.007 Sleep, REM, and emotional memory processing (review). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4182440/ The circadian system modulates the cortisol awakening response in humans. 2022 (PubMed PMID 36408390). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36408390/ Chang AM, Aeschbach D, Duffy JF, Czeisler CA. Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. PNAS. 2015;112(4):1232-1237. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1418490112 Ferracioli-Oda E, Qawasmi A, Bloch MH. Meta-analysis: melatonin for the treatment of primary sleep disorders. PLoS One. 2013;8(5):e63773. (~7 min faster sleep onset) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0063773 Prather AA, Janicki-Deverts D, Hall MH, Cohen S. Behaviorally assessed sleep and susceptibility to the common cold. Sleep. 2015;38(9):1353-1359. https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.4968 Edinger JD, Arnedt JT, Bertisch SM, et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder: an AASM clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(2):255-262. (CBT-I first-line) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7853203/

    Sleep and stress: What's happening in your brain while you sleep?

  3. Oct 14

    Can stress really make you sick? Stress changes your immune system

    I am glad you are here! You’ve probably heard that stress weakens your immune system. There’s some truth to that, but it doesn’t explain everything. The effects of a stressful afternoon can be quite different from those of months of ongoing pressure. In this episode, I use three dominoes to explain the connection: your nervous system, your hormones, and your immune cells. We look at how brief stress moves immune cells around the body. But chronic stress changes the rules... here cortisol patterns can go up, go down, or become blunted, and immune cells can become less sensitive to cortisol. That combination can mean less antiviral defense and, paradoxically, more long-term inflammation. I share research on common colds, slower wound healing in caregivers, and vaccine responses, with a closer look at cortisol and why its effects aren’t as straightforward as we sometimes hear. There are concrete, realistic steps that help. Prioritize sleep (aim for regular bedtimes and more than six hours if possible), move your body in ways you enjoy, and allow recovery if you train hard, eat a varied balanced diet, and get practical or emotional support when you can. If stress is overwhelming, talking to a professional or trying evidence-based approaches like CBT can improve both well-being and some measures of immune function. There’s a lot of advice to “manage your stress.” Understanding what’s happening in the body helps give that advice some meaning... I hope you enjoy it and it is useful!   Here are the links to the research papers and articles: Dhabhar FS. Effects of stress on immune function: the good, the bad, and the beautiful. Immunol Res. 2014;58(2-3):193-210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-014-8517-0 Segerstrom SC, Miller GE. Psychological stress and the human immune system: a meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry. Psychol Bull. 2004;130(4):601-630. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1361287/ Miller GE, Chen E, Zhou ES. If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans. Psychol Bull. 2007;133(1):25-45. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.25 Cohen S, Janicki-Deverts D, Doyle WJ, et al. Chronic stress, glucocorticoid receptor resistance, inflammation, and disease risk. PNAS. 2012;109(16):5995-5999. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1118355109 Cole SW. Human social genomics. PLoS Genet. 2014;10(8):e1004601. https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004601 McEwen BS, Stellar E. Stress and the individual: mechanisms leading to disease. Arch Intern Med. 1993;153(18):2093-2101. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8379800/ McEwen BS. Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. N Engl J Med. 1998;338(3):171-179. https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJM199801153380307 Cohen S, Tyrrell DA, Smith AP. Psychological stress and susceptibility to the common cold. N Engl J Med. 1991;325(9):606-612. https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJM199108293250903 Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Marucha PT, Malarkey WB, Mercado AM, Glaser R. Slowing of wound healing by psychological stress. Lancet. 1995;346(8984):1194-1196. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(95)92899-5 Marucha PT, Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Favagehi M. Mucosal wound healing is impaired by examination stress. Psychosom Med. 1998;60(3):362-365. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006842-199805000-00025 Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Glaser R, Gravenstein S, Malarkey WB, Sheridan J. Chronic stress alters the immune response to influenza virus vaccine in older adults. PNAS. 1996;93(7):3043-3047. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.93.7.3043 Prather AA, Janicki-Deverts D, Hall MH, Cohen S. Behaviorally assessed sleep and susceptibility to the common cold. Sleep. 2015;38(9):1353-1359. https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.4968 Spiegel K, Rey AE, Cheylus A, et al. A meta-analysis of the associations between insufficient sleep duration and antibody response to vaccination. Curr Biol. 2023;33(5):998-1005.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.02.017 Glaser R, Kiecolt-Glaser JK. Stress-induced immune dysfunction: implications for health. Nat Rev Immunol. 2005;5(3):243-251. https://www.nature.com/articles/nri1571 Song H, Fang F, Tomasson G, et al. Association of stress-related disorders with subsequent autoimmune disease. JAMA. 2018;319(23):2388-2400. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2685155 Furman D, Campisi J, Verdin E, et al. Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med. 2019;25(12):1822-1832. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0 Shields GS, Spahr CM, Slavich GM. Psychosocial interventions and immune system function: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020;77(10):1031-1043. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2766707 Nieman DC, Wentz LM. The compelling link between physical activity and the body's defense system. J Sport Health Sci. 2019;8(3):201-217. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6523821/

    Can stress really make you sick? Stress changes your immune system

  4. Oct 7

    How stress affects your gut...

    If your gut tends to act up when you’re stressed, you’re not imagining it! Your brain and your gut are talking to each other all the time through the vagus nerve, hormones, immune signals, and the microbiome. And when stress becomes chronic, that communication can change. Acute stress is normal. You have an exam, a difficult meeting, or an emergency; your stress response turns on and then comes back down. The problem is when that response keeps happening over and over again or stays around for months. And your gut notices. Stress can change how quickly food moves through your digestive system, intestinal secretions and mucus, immune activity, and the environment where your gut microbes live. Some bacteria can even sense stress hormones and change their behavior. Add changes in sleep, food, and physical activity, and you can see why chronic stress can end up affecting the whole gut ecosystem. Can your microbiome affect your stress response too? In animals, we have pretty convincing evidence that changes in gut microbes can change stress reactivity. In humans, we don’t know nearly as much yet. So I’ll talk about what we know, what comes mostly from mouse studies, and where we still have questions. I also talk about eating a greater variety of plants, fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, or sauerkraut, cutting down on ultra-processed foods, and sleep and regular movement. I also get into antibiotics, probiotics, and microbiome stool tests. Probiotics, for example, are strain-specific, so saying “take a probiotic” doesn’t tell you very much. And I have a little recommendation for you: for one week, pay attention to how many different plants you eat. Beans, oats, berries, vegetables, nuts, herbs...because they all count. Add a fermented food you actually like, keep one sleep habit consistent, and try to move most days.  One last, essential thing. Not every digestive symptom should be blamed on stress. Blood in your stool, unexplained weight loss, severe pain, or new symptoms later in life deserve a medical evaluation. There is so much interesting biology connecting stress, the brain, the immune system, the gut, and the microbiome, and I had a lot of fun putting this episode together. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful!   Here are the links to the studies I mention in the episode: Mayer EA. Gut feelings: the emerging biology of gut-brain communication. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2011;12(8):453-466. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3071 Sender R, Fuchs S, Milo R. Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body. PLoS Biol. 2016;14(8):e1002533. https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533 Berthoud HR, Neuhuber WL. Functional and chemical anatomy of the afferent vagal system. Auton Neurosci. 2000;85(1-3):1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1566-0702(00)00215-0 Bravo JA, et al. Ingestion of Lactobacillus strain regulates emotional behavior and central GABA receptor expression in a mouse via the vagus nerve. PNAS. 2011;108(38):16050-16055. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1102999108 Tracey KJ. The inflammatory reflex. Nature. 2002;420:853-859. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01321 Yano JM, et al. Indigenous bacteria from the gut microbiota regulate host serotonin biosynthesis. Cell. 2015;161(2):264-276. https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(15)00248-2 Cryan JF, Dinan TG. Mind-altering microorganisms: the impact of the gut microbiota on brain and behaviour. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2012;13(10):701-712. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3346 Cryan JF, et al. The microbiota-gut-brain axis. Physiol Rev. 2019;99(4):1877-2013. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/10.1152/physrev.00018.2018 Lyte M. Microbial endocrinology in the microbiome-gut-brain axis. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2014;817:3-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0897-4_1 Foster JA, McVey Neufeld KA. Gut-brain axis: how the microbiome influences anxiety and depression. Trends Neurosci. 2013;36(5):305-312. https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/fulltext/S0166-2236(13)00007-6 Knowles SR, Nelson EA, Palombo EA. Investigating the role of perceived stress on bacterial flora activity and salivary cortisol secretion. Biol Psychol. 2008;77(2):132-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.09.010 Sudo N, et al. Postnatal microbial colonization programs the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system for stress response in mice. J Physiol. 2004;558(1):263-275. https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2004.063388 Lackner JM, et al. Improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms after cognitive behavior therapy for refractory irritable bowel syndrome. Gastroenterology. 2018;155(1):47-57. https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(18)30419-6/fulltext Drossman DA, Hasler WL. Rome IV — functional GI disorders: disorders of gut-brain interaction. Gastroenterology. 2016;150(6):1257-1261. https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(16)00223-7/fulltext McDonald D, et al. American Gut: an open platform for citizen science microbiome research. mSystems. 2018;3(3):e00031-18. https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mSystems.00031-18 Wastyk HC, et al. Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate human immune status. Cell. 2021;184(16):4137-4153. https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00754-6 Benedict C, et al. Gut microbiota and glucometabolic alterations in response to recurrent partial sleep deprivation in normal-weight young individuals. Mol Metab. 2016;5(12):1175-1186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2016.10.003 Allen JM, et al. Exercise alters gut microbiota composition and function in lean and obese humans. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2018;50(4):747-757. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001495 Dethlefsen L, Relman DA. Incomplete recovery and individualized responses of the human distal gut microbiota to repeated antibiotic perturbation. PNAS. 2011;108(Suppl 1):4554-4561. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1000087107 Kelly JR, et al. Lost in translation? The potential psychobiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1) fails to modulate stress or cognitive performance in healthy male subjects. Brain Behav Immun. 2017;61:50-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.11.018 Allen AP, et al. Bifidobacterium longum 1714 as a translational psychobiotic: modulation of stress, electrophysiology and neurocognition in healthy volunteers. Transl Psychiatry. 2016;6(11):e939. https://www.nature.com/articles/tp2016191 Systematic review of 29 randomised trials of lifestyle and psychobiotic interventions measuring stress and microbiome outcomes. September 2026. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42739081/ [ESTI: completar autores/revista] Rome V. Gastroenterology. 2026. https://els-jbs-prod-cdn.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/article/S0016-5085(26)00145-9/fulltext Liu RT, Walsh RFL, Sheehan AE. Prebiotics and probiotics for depression and anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019;102:13-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.023

    How stress affects your gut...

  5. Sep 29

    Magnesium for sleep and stress: Does it actually work?

    Magnesium is everywhere right now. It’s recommended for sleep, anxiety, stress, muscle relaxation, and even brain health. But how much of that is actually supported by good evidence? In this episode of Surfing Stress, I wanted to take a careful look at magnesium, because the science is much more interesting than either “magnesium fixes everything” or “it’s all hype.” I’ll explain what magnesium actually does in the body, why getting enough of it matters, and what the clinical trials really tell us about sleep and stress. We’ll look at a recent trial of magnesium bisglycinate that found a real, but small, improvement in insomnia, and no significant improvement in perceived stress. We’ll also talk about magnesium L-threonate and the claims around sleep and brain health, where the evidence is interesting but still limited. I also want to help you make sense of all those different bottles on the supplement shelf. Citrate, oxide, glycinate, malate, L-threonate… do they really do all the different things the labels suggest? Not quite. And there’s an important safety side to this conversation. Magnesium supplements aren’t appropriate for everyone, particularly when kidney function is reduced, and magnesium can interfere with the absorption of some medications. I’ll explain what you should know and when it makes sense to discuss supplementation with your physician or pharmacist. My main message is a simple one: chronic stress is not a magnesium deficiency. Magnesium is an essential nutrient, and there is some evidence that supplementation may modestly improve sleep in some people. But that is very different from saying that magnesium treats chronic stress. My goal with this episode is not to tell you whether you should or shouldn’t take magnesium. It’s to give you enough of the science to understand what we know, what we don’t know, and what questions are worth asking before you decide. I’ve included links below to the scientific papers and sources I discuss in the episode, so you can look at the evidence for yourself. Magnesium may be useful. It just doesn’t need to be magical to be useful. Sleep Mah J, Pitre T. Oral magnesium supplementation for insomnia in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2021;21:125. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33865376/ Schuster J, Cycelskij I, Lopresti AL, Hahn A. Magnesium bisglycinate supplementation in healthy adults reporting poor sleep: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Nat Sci Sleep. 2025;17. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12412596/ Hausenblas HA, et al. Magnesium-L-threonate improves sleep quality and daytime functioning in adults with self-reported sleep problems: a randomized controlled trial. Sleep Med X. 2024;8:100121 (corrigendum 2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleepx.2024.100121 Lopresti AL, Smith SJ. The effects of magnesium L-threonate (Magtein) on cognitive performance and sleep quality in adults: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Front Nutr. 2026. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1729164/full Anxiety, stress and mood Boyle NB, Lawton C, Dye L. The effects of magnesium supplementation on subjective anxiety and stress: a systematic review. Nutrients. 2017;9(5):429. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28445426/ Afzal S, et al. Examining the effects of supplemental magnesium on self-reported anxiety and sleep quality: a systematic review. Cureus. 2024. https://www.cureus.com/articles/237565 Moabedi M, et al. Magnesium supplementation beneficially affects depression in adults with depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs. Front Psychiatry. 2023;14:1333261. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1333261/full Forms & bioavailability Firoz M, Graber M. Bioavailability of US commercial magnesium preparations. Magnes Res. 2001;14(4):257-262. [oxide vs chloride/lactate/aspartate] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11794633/ Walker AF, Marakis G, Christie S, Byng M. Mg citrate found more bioavailable than other Mg preparations in a randomised, double-blind study. Magnes Res. 2003;16(3):183-191. [citrate vs oxide] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14596323/ Slutsky I, et al. Enhancement of learning and memory by elevating brain magnesium. Neuron. 2010;65(2):165-177. [rats / L-threonate] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20152124/ Abraham GE, Flechas JD. Management of Fibromyalgia: Rationale for the Use of Magnesium and Malic Acid. J Nutr Med. 1992;3:49-59. https://doi.org/10.3109/13590849208997961 Deficiency, safety & interactions NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Magnesium — Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/ U.S. FDA. Drug Safety Communication: Low magnesium levels can be associated with long-term use of proton pump inhibitor drugs (PPIs). 2011. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-drug-safety-communication-low-magnesium-levels-can-be-associated-long-term-use-proton-pump   Educational information only, not medical advice and not a dosing guide. Talk to your own clinician before supplementing, especially with kidney disease or if you take medications.

    Magnesium for sleep and stress: Does it actually work?
  • 5 Episodes

About

Surfing Stress is where stress science meets real life. I’m Dr. Estibalitz Laresgoiti, a physician with a background in immunology, neuroscience, and health psychology. In this podcast, I break down the science of stress and turn it into practical tools you can actually use. We’ll explore what stress does to your brain, body, and immune system and what the evidence says about managing it better. From sleep, exercise, nutrition, and relaxation to emotional regulation, social support, coping, and resilience, each episode gives you science-backed strategies for real life. Because stress happens. You can’t eliminate every stressor, but you can learn to regulate your stress response and change the way you cope. That’s what it means to surf stress.

Information

  • Creator
    Estibalitz Laresgoiti
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Surfing Stress