Spotty fingernails? You’re suffering from stress

WHITE spots on your finger nails, bleeding gums and cracked lips may seem like everyday complaints.

But in fact they are all warning signs that your body is suffering from chronic stress.

Other symptoms include jaw grinding, pimples at the top of arms and thighs and frequent throat and chest infections.

Nutritionist Charlotte Watts warns: ‘Periods of stress use up nutrients more quickly.

‘This is because our whole system – includ- ing energy, brain responses, hormones and immunity – is working at a higher and faster rate.’ As a result, symptoms associated with vitamin or mineral deficiencies can also be a warning sign of the deeper, long-term effects of stress.

However, you can combat these signs by changing your diet, she reveals in her book The De-Stress Effect: Rebalance Your Body’s Systems for Vibrant Health and Happiness. Miss Watts says that cracked lips are a sign the body is low on vitamin B and can be helped by eating foods such as carrots, chicken, spinach and avocados.

Writing on the Healthista website, she said: ‘Those unpleasant little sore fissures we can get at the corners of the lips are a sure sign that B vitamin status is low and particularly B6. B vitamins are important for the health of the nervous system and are needed to get energy from the carbohydrates, fats and proteins that we eat, so we use them up during the energy-rich stress response.’

White spots on our nails are caused by a lack of zinc and can be tackled by making sure to eat foods such as nuts, cheddar cheese, sunflower seeds and fish.

And bleeding gums indicate you are low on vitamin C, and should stock up on berries, citrus fruits and green vegetables.