NATURAL REMEDY GUIDE FOR ANXIETY

Your ultimate natural remedy guide for anxiety includes focusing on proper nourishment, herbal support and supplemental support.

Anxiety is a difficult condition to live with. For instance, it can present itself at any moment in time, or always arise at the same situations. It is easy to let anxiety control your life. Anxiety can influence the decisions you make, whether you leave the house that day, go to a social outing or chose to pursue a specific career. Whether or not someone has acute or chronic anxiety, severe or mild, natural remedies can have a profound impact on your ability to manage your anxiety.

There are numerous types of natural remedies. This includes food based medicine, lifestyle medicine, herbal medicine and supplemental support. For mild anxiety, adding in one or two natural remedies might be enough. Those with more severe or chronic anxiety will likely benefit from more comprehensive support from all categories. Below is your ultimate natural remedy guide for anxiety. I hope this supports you on your journey to become anxiety free.

Nourishment

Hydration. Above all, having enough fluids in your body is essential to keep your body healthy and balanced. Aim to drink half your body weight (in pounds) in ounces of water or herbal teas throughout the day. In addition, the quality of fluids are just as important as quantity. Focus on filtered water, free of added chemicals and heavy metals.

Eat regularly. Eating well-balanced meals regularly is going to ensure stable blood sugar levels. Significant spikes or dips to blood sugar put stress on the body, therefore it can worsen anxiety.

Foods high in protein. Protein supports healthy neurotransmitter development. Neurotransmitters such as glycine and GABA help people feel a sense of calm, so as a result, they improve anxiety. Foods to include include are organic meats, wild caught fish, beans, legumes, eggs, nuts, seeds, nut butter, and full fat dairy if tolerated.

Healthy fats. Fats are essential for general mental health support, as well as general brain nourishment. Foods to include are nuts, seeds, wild caught fatty fish, olive oil, avocados, eggs, olives, and full fat dairy.

Reduce caffeine. Caffeine is an upper, meaning it excites the nervous system. If you deal with anxiety, your nervous system is already over excited. Adding in additional caffeine will worsen anxiety and cause further nervous excitement. Other options to try instead of caffeine includes herbal adaptogen tea or chicory root coffee replacements.

Lifestyle

Reduce social media exposure. Today, people are constantly surrounded be stressors. Even though social media may seem like a stress relieving break in your day, social media can be a significant cause of stress. When you see happy and carefree people living their lives, it can make you feel less competent in your life. Remember, this is just a glimpse of their life. This does not fully represent people’s lives. People are constantly striving to achieve this ideal that is just not achievable.

Move your body daily. Exercise is an extremely important stress relieving tool, when done properly. Too much exercise or too intense of exercise can be stressful on the body. Focusing on movement over intensity is important to not further stress the body out. Focus on activities that are calming to the body, such as walking, yoga, swimming, hiking, or stretching.

Journaling. Journaling is a great tool for those with anxiety. This is especially the case for those who feel overwhelmed by their thoughts. Taking time to write out the thoughts that stress you out creates detachment. It helps those thoughts feel less of a burden and can help you release them.

Herbal Support

Lavender is a common herb known for its ability to calm the nervous system down, which helps ease anxiety. It is great taken as a tea, but also is great in a diffuser or topically on the wrist.

Holy Basil, also known as tulsi, is an adaptogenic herb. This means it helps nourish the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands respond to stress and can easily become overwhelmed. This herb is great to help reduce anxiety and reduce elevated cortisol levels. It is great taken as a tea or as an herbal capsule.

Passionflower is a beautiful and gentle herb for reducing anxiety. It often works great combined with other herbs. Passionflower can be mildly sedating, so it works wonders for anxiety associated sleep difficulties. It is best taken in tincture form.

Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb that helps the body deal with stress. It is especially helpful for those with stressed induced anxiety. It is great taken as an herbal pill or tincture.

Lemon Balm is a gentle nervine that helps calm anxiety. It is great for those who have a nervous mind, body or stomach. It is great as a tea or tincture.

Chamomile is a gentle anxiety relieving herb that works well for an overactive nervous system. It is also great for those with a nervous stomach. It is great taken as a tea or tincture.

Supplemental Support

Magnesium is a great supportive treatment for anxiety because it calming on the nervous system. It can also reduce the release of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. It is also great for people who get headaches or muscle pain/tightness with their anxiety. My favorite forms of magnesium for anxiety include glycinate, taurate or malate since they are well absorbed by the gut.

GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, which means it decreases the activity of the nervous system. People which anxiety tend to have an overactive nervous system, or have too many excitatory neurotransmitters. Balancing the nervous system with calming neurotransmitters is a great supportive treatment for anxiety.

L-Theanine specifically helps those who experience racing heartbeat which their anxiety. It works directly on the brain to reducing the anxiety response that can be helpful with acute and chronic stress. It will also naturally increase GABA levels.

Summary

I hope that you found improvement in your anxiety using my natural remedy guide for anxiety. For those who do not find benefit after trying a comprehensive natural anxiety support plan, please follow up with your doctor. You could have an underlying medical condition that could be making your anxiety worse. Finding the underlying cause of your anxiety can significantly help you on your road to living anxiety free.

It is important to remember that certain herbs and supplements can interact with medications or make certain medical conditions worse. Don’t forget to consult your doctor prior to starting new herbal remedies or supplements.

Wanting to know the best place to purchase supplements? Check out my supplements page! You can easily order through Fullscript or Wellevate, which are both online practitioner grade supplement dispensaries.