If you ask any holistic psychiatrist in the world, they will tell you that the number of people dealing with anxiety is increasing every year. What is even worse is that the use of psychiatric drugs is growing too and the truth is that in most cases they are not needed and even do more harm than good. In the meantime, people who are taking these drugs on a regular basis are not eliminating the effects of anxiety. This is quite logical for people who know what is going on here.
Anxiety is not a disorder that is caused by a lack of pharmaceutical drugs in our system. Our spirit, body, and mind are contributing to this condition, but according to many experts, anxiety is primarily a physiologic disorder. This means that this is a disorder that is affected by our physical state not just our mental side.
The positive thing is that it is not very difficult to make some changes in our physiology. The fact is that each person can do a lot to change their diet and lifestyle in order to suppress anxiety and there is no doubt that these things are safe, more natural, and more efficient compared to standard medications.
Handling Anxiety in a Natural Way
The following is a shortlist of six tips for handling anxiety in a natural way:
1. Keep Blood Sugar Level Stable
It seems that the standard diet in America today encourages rapid ups and downs in blood sugar levels and whenever we are going up or down we feel anxiety. So, when the blood sugar levels are low, the body chooses to activate the stress response. At this moment, the body releases more stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol which signal the liver to produce more blood sugar so we can stay alive.
Of course, we will stay alive, but the response is experienced in the same way as anxiety. So, if we can handle blood sugar levels and make them stable, we won’t feel this stress response and we will lower anxiety.
This is how each of us can stabilize blood sugar levels:
- Stay away from refined carbs and sugar.
- Take more healthy fats and protein like butter, olive oil, ghee, coconut oil, etc.
- Consume three meals and two snacks on a daily basis. Never skip meals.
- Consume coconut oil (one tablespoon) in the morning, after lunch, and before bedtime in order to stabilize blood sugar levels.
- Don’t forget to keep healthy snacks close to you. Some of these healthy snacks include hard-boiled eggs, nuts, salmon jerky, beef jerky, dark chocolate, and almond butter.
2. Try to Stay Away from Caffeine
- We should remember that there is a proven link between anxiety and caffeine.
- In case we get caffeinated, the nervous system is prepared for action. If you include a stressor, the anxiety response will be fast and noticeable.
- So, in case you are dealing with anxiety, you should definitely try to stay away from caffeine for a while.
Of course, this advice may lead to anxiety in some people, but you can always gradually lower the intake of caffeine. Try to replace your coffee with half-caffeinated coffee. After that, replace it with black tea, green tea, and in the end herbal tea. Try to do this in a period of 15 days and you should be able to avoid withdrawal stress. You should be able to witness the lowering of anxiety levels after a few weeks.
In addition, you’ll feel more energetic and stress-resistant. Finally, the quality of sleep will be improved too. In case you’ve managed to get rid of caffeine, but need some other morning ritual, use green tea.
3. Sleep
- Proper sleep is one of the best ways to combat anxiety.
- There is a close relationship between sleep and anxiety. First of all, anxiety leads to insomnia. On the other hand, lack of sleep makes us prone to anxiety.
- So, we should do something to improve the quality of sleep. There is more than one way to do this and we will explain some of them.
- Lower caffeine intake or completely remove caffeinated products from your diet
- Even those who don’t have problems with falling asleep reduce the quality of sleep by using caffeinated products.
- Keep stable blood sugar levels
- Rapid changes in blood sugar levels affect the quality of sleep and lead to awakening during the night.
- Don’t forget the role of light
- During the night the eyes should see dim light and during the morning they need bright light.
- In case your bedroom is not totally dark while you are sleeping, use an eye mask or buy suitable curtains.
- Relax before going to bed.
4. Treat the Gut
If you are following the latest news, you have probably heard that scientists have found an Everyday Health. The microorganisms found in the gut directly affect our mood. Now let’s see how each of us can improve gut health and treat the gut.
First of all, remove everything that leads to irritation in the gut:
- Foods like: artificial sweeteners, certain vegetable oils, sugar, and alcohol.
- Specific medications like antibiotics, antacids, and oral contraceptives. Of course, consult your doctor first.
- Practice things that ease the gut’s state:
- Starchy foods: white potatoes, sweet potatoes, taro, plantain, and yucca.
- Fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, apple cider vinegar, beet kvass, kombucha, miso paste and kefir.
- Bone-based broth: Buy bone broth from your local store or prepare your own broth.
- Supplements: Use probiotic supplements. You can also include collagen and glutamine supplements.
- Help your gut heal: Sleep well.
- Get rid of stress with the help of meditation, yoga, acupuncture, acupressure, breathing techniques, and going outside in nature.
- Heal gut infections. In case you believe that you have a chronic gut infection, consult your doctor.
5. Physical Activity
There is no doubt that physical activity is one of the most efficient medicines for anxiety. In case you are having difficulties with regular exercise, you don’t have to consider triathlons or boot camps. Just try to develop a routine that involves mini workout sessions. Perform a small quantity of exercise in the living room or walk around the block. The main point is to remain active all the time.
Generally speaking, you must sit less and stand/walk more.
- Both Tai Qi and yoga have proven to be great for cases of anxiety, but you can choose any activity that makes you satisfied.
6. Taking more Magnesium
According to many experts, this magnesium is natural Xanax. Unfortunately, there are a huge number of people who lack magnesium because the food we eat is usually cultivated in soil that lacks magnesium too.
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There are a few ways that each of us can use to boost magnesium levels:
- Consume a chelated magnesium supplement like magnesium glycinate
- Enjoy an Epsom salt bath
- Use magnesium gel externally.
Without any doubt, anxiety strongly affects our life’s quality. Keeping normal blood sugar levels, lowering caffeine intake, sleeping well, treating the gut, getting involved in physical activities, and taking more magnesium through our diet are some of the methods that we can use to soothe and eliminate anxiety.
In case you don’t notice any improvement despite using these methods, it is highly recommended to ask a professional mental health professional for advice. Leaving this problem untreated for a long time can lead to even more serious health issues.
Via Insider