Anxiety, stress how can a natural approach help?

Stress and anxiety is something that many of us deal with on a regular basis including myself. When we get stressed the things we usually do to help manage these situations go straight out the window. I feel that anxiety, depression and stress is something that can be managed really well and then one little thing can set it off and you fall into a big rut. I really wanted to share with you some advice on how I believe these conditions can be managed and how it requires a multi-disciplined approach.

Supplement regime

Activated B vitamins

- Anxiety and depression is common with people who have issues methylating their B vitamins. When we are also stressed we also use a lot more B vitamins, so supplementing with the activated form allows us to absorb the B vitamins easily. I have had very successful results in clinic with clients taking an activated B vitamin, they have been able to cope with their day to day stresses better and have seen an increase in energy.

Withania

- Withania is an adaptogen herb that helps our body cope and adapt to the stresses that are going on in our lives. A study in 2012 saw results with taking 300mg of withania twice a day. The study saw anxiety levels dropped within two months and every helped to reduce serum cortisol levels. For those that don’t know what cortisol is, it is the stress hormone that goes up when we are very stressed, but it also can cause long term fatigue, mental fogginess and throw our body clock out of whack.

Lavender

- Lavender works a little differently to withania and rhodiola, it is more of a calming herb. Lavender helps with restlessness, nervousness and insomnia. So if you are struggling with sleeping, lavender may be the herb for you. You can take it in many way, tablets, liquid tinctures, soaking in a bath with ½ cup of lavender flowers or even adding a few drops of lavender essential oil to your pillow.

Rhodiola

- Rhodiola is also an adaptogen. It is a mild antipressant but it works well with those suffering from anxiety. How does it help relieve anxiety, well it decreases sympathetic nervous system activity, increase parasympathetic nervous system activity, increases serotonin and increases memory and focus.

Exercise

Although you may feel not like exercising, I cannot stress enough about getting some movement every day. I really enjoy running, but when I’m feeling so tired and fatigued I just can’t bring myself to running, so I opt for walking, and yoga. Running and high intrensity exercisers can actually have in impact on our nervous system so when stressed yoga, walking, pilates can be the better option. After you start to feel better you can definitely start to run again. As you know there is so much evidence out there showing that exercise is beneficially for our mental health, so it’s important to get moving, ask a friend to go for a walk with you then it won’t feel so much like exercise.

Support network

Make sure you tell your friends and family how your feeling, it does a world of good talking about how your feeling. Sometimes it’s enough for someone to speak family but if you feel that you’re still struggling I suggest you go see your doctor and they will be able to refer you to see a councillor or psychologist.

Diet

Your diet is so important. When you’re feeling tired, ran down and stressed you search for those comfort foods, these could be fried foods, sugar, refined carbohydrates or anything that comforts you. I cannot stress this enough that removing sugar from your diet is going to help feel less anxious, along with refined carbohydrates, you are going to feel a lot better removing them from your diet as they are they both turn into sugars in the body. I would suggest having a good balance of good quality fats, protein and none starchy veggies with each meal and ensuring you have great gut function. So look at good quality probiotics or probiotic rich foods, along with anti-inflammatory foods.

I hope this advice helps you and helps you better understand how natural medicine can help you improve your anxiety, depression and stress. If you are needing help managing your stress and anxiety, please send me a message and I can help you get your health back on track.