Spend Time In Nature And With Animals
Why is it that we feel so refreshed and happy after spending some time outside and amongst nature?
Well, a key reason is that nature including waterfalls and streams are known to release negative ions into their air.
Once Negative ions reach our bloodstream, they produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of serotonin in our brain. This is said to help alleviate depression, relieve stress and boost our daytime energy.
Negative ions also balance out toxic positive ions and electromagnetic radiation that has been released into from electronic devices into the atmosphere.
So, if youre feeling stressed or anxious take a moment to get outside and go for a walk in a nature reserve or park. Youll feel so much better for it.
In addition to getting up and personal with nature, pets are also great for reducing stress. They offer companionship, love, and support.
Research has shown that pets can be beneficial to people experiencing a variety of mental health issues, including anxiety.
While many prefer cats, dogs, horses, and other small mammals, people with allergies will be pleased to learn that the pet does have to be furry to provide support. Even something like a pet bird could provide you with an additional friend to care for.
Natural Remedies For Anxiety: Berries
Delicious berries are one of the tastiest ways we’ve found to help your anxiety – a natural remedy that we can serve with ice cream – that works for us!
Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries all contain plenty of vitamin C. Various studies published in Psychopharmacology show vitamin C rich foods may help to regulate cortisol, which is a stress hormone.
Throw a handful of berries into your yogurt or onto your cereal each morning, or blitz with some apple or orange for a tasty smoothie.
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Natural Remedies For Anxiety: Have A Bath
There is something so relaxing about having a hot bubble bath, and not just for your physical wellbeing anxiety charity Calm Clinic suggest that a bath can be incredibly beneficial in reducing anxiety symptoms as well.
Like many natural treatments for anxiety, this is not by any means a long-term cure for anxiety disorders but it is a short-term relief for when your anxiety is peaking on a particular day.
In those circumstances, having a bath is a great way to manage your anxiety. Besides who doesn’t like a nice soak?
So run yourself a nice hot bath and add bubbles, essential oils or anything else you fancy and soak for as long as you like. Try to fit in a couple of baths a week to benefit the most and use other anxiety-reducing aids like lavender oil, magnesium or baking soda. You could even try turning your bathroom into a mini spa!
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Also Check: Can Social Anxiety Be Cured
Meditate And Practice Mindfulness
A main goal of meditation is full awareness of the present moment, which includes noticing all thoughts in a nonjudgmental way. This can lead to a sense of calm and contentment by increasing your ability to mindfully tolerate all thoughts and feelings.
Meditation is known to relieve stress and anxiety and is a primary facet of CBT.
Research from John Hopkins suggests 30 minutes of daily meditation may alleviate some anxiety symptoms and act as an antidepressant.
Eat More Whole Foods Less Processed Foods
We all know that a balanced diet helps us feel better and can protect us from a huge array of diseases.
But if you feel like you need to diet, this can cause you more anxiety! Instead, experiment with nutrient-dense whole foods that you truly enjoy, and focus on eating those as often as possible.
Lean proteins such as fish, organic chicken, beans, and eggs provide fuel for your body and brain to keep your energy levels constant.
Asparagus, leafy greens, meat, and avocado contain nutrients that can reduce the symptoms of anxiety, as can omega-3-rich foods like fish, green leafy vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
Even when youre eating a healthy diet, it can still be difficult to get all the nutrients you need, which is why it can be helpful to take natural supplements for anxiety.
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How To Sleep Better If You Have Anxiety
Getting enough shut-eye every night is vital for both our physical and mental health. When we sleep, our bodies perform a variety of functions, from repairing damaged cells to strengthening our immune systems.17
Sleep is also crucial for our brain as its when it processes all the information weve soaked up during the day and consolidates it into long term memories.18
If you dont get enough sleep every night, youll likely feel lethargic the following day, much more irritable and probably have poorer concentration levels. These can all have a big impact on your everyday life and may make any anxiety youre experiencing seem much worse.
Where Do You Apply Essential Oils For Anxiety
You cant just apply them anywhere and everywhere, no matter how keen you might be for them to help with your anxiety or how good they smell.
There are certain rules to applying essential oils.
For example, oils that are okay to put on your arms and legs, may not be safe to put inside your mouth, nose, eyes or private parts.
Lemongrass, peppermint, and cinnamon bark are prime examples.37
You should never apply essential oils to injured or inflamed skin, as it may make your skin react and worse overall.
Generally speaking, diluted essential oils can be safely applied to the crown of your head, behind the ears, to your neck and to your temples.38
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Natural Remedies For Anxiety: Mindful Meditation
Taking a little time out of your day seems difficult for lots of people, especially if your anxiety is fuelled by feeling overwhelmed with what you need to achieve during the day, but mindfulness is a great natural remedy for balancing feelings of anxiety.
At first you may find it hard to concentrate but persevere and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can turn a few spare moments into a little piece of pure calm with meditation.
To meditate, choose a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Sit in a position comfortable for you try lying down, standing, sitting or even walking. Once you’ve found your ideal posture try to focus on being deeply calm and your breathing pattern. Once you feel you have settled into your meditation it’s then time to examine the four foundations of mindfulness.
These are, mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of physical feelings and sensations, mindfulness of mental states and mindfulness of the consciousness.
For mindfulness of the body: Focus on each body part separately, like your head, heart, stomach, while continuing to keep your breathing deep and steady.
For mindfulness of physical feelings and sensations: Concentrate on whether what you’re feeling is nice or not and mentally let go of any physical discomfort you might be feeling to reduce tension.
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Herbal Remedies For Ocd And Anxiety Disorders
Alternative medicines such as herbal remedies have been growing in popularity especially as treatments for anxiety disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder . When you examine the science behind each treatment, it’s important to take research quality and the consistency of research results in mind. It’s also smart to consider potential side effects and safety concerns.
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Try 6 Meditations To Help Reduce Anxiety
Looking for more meditations to help you feel calm? The Headspace app offers subscribers several courses and single meditations on topics related to anxiety, including:
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Managing Anxiety 10-day course. Cultivate a new perspective on fear and anxiety.
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Unemployment Anxiety single meditation. Recognize and release stress about job loss and the future.
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Letting Go of Stress 10-day course. Enjoy a healthier mind by developing your awareness of stress and learning how to reframe negative emotions.
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Stressed single meditation. Notice what you’re holding onto and how to drop the preoccupying storyline.
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Why can’t I sleep? single meditation. This exercise will help you practice calming the mind and body during the day, so you feel more ready for sleep when bedtime comes.
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Difficult Conversations single meditation. The prospect of a difficult conversation can drive feelings of anxiety and fear, but by lesseing habits of reactivity and developing a calmer, more patient mindset, you can both listen and express yourself more clearly.
Natural Remedies For Anxiety: Chamomile
For hundreds of years chamomile has been used as a natural remedy for lots of common conditions, everything from soothing tummy aches to relaxing people and reducing anxiety, in those few tense moments.
Some elements of chamomile act in the same way as sedative drugs like Valium, binding to the brain receptors and relaxing your mind. You can buy whole dried chamomile flowers to brew in hot water as tea, or buy pre-made tea bags in the supermarket . Alternatively, if you don’t enjoy the flavour, you can take chamomile supplements, available to buy from chemists and health food shops.
Even Peter Rabbit’s mum gets her baby bunny back to bouncing health with a little cup of chamomile tea, and they do say mums know best.
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You Probably Haven’t Even Heard Of The First One
Anxiety affects millions of people every single day, including at work. In fact, anxiety disorders are the sixth-leading cause of disability, prompting reflective pieces like Joni E. Johnston’s “Anxious at Work: Is It Me or This Damn Job?” at Psychology Today.
Whether you experience panic attacks from time to time or suffer from chronic anxiety, it can be scary, especially when it impacts your professional performance .
Many of those who suffer from anxiety don’t seek treatment for it, in part because they don’t want to take pharmaceutical medication. However, there are a number of natural remedies for anxiety that can make a significant difference.
Here are some natural remedies for those who would prefer to avoid medication for anxiety:
How To Help Kids With Anxiety
Parents have an important and essential role in helping children deal with anxiety disorders. One of the vital ways that parents can be instrumental in reducing a childs anxiety is by not inadvertently reinforcing it. Childrens natural response to anxiety is to rely on parents for help and that is a normal way that human beings respond to fear or anxiety when they are young, Lebowitz explains While an adult might respond to fear primarily with self-defense, the fight or flight response, children dont have that capacity. They are programmed to respond to fear by signaling their parent so that the parent can protect and soothe the child until the perceived danger has passed, says Lebowitz. Parents, in turn, are naturally hardwired to detect cues of fear in their children and to step in to provide that protection and emotional regulation, he says.
However, a child with an anxiety disorder experiences anxiety even when the situations or circumstances dont warrant that heightened response. And what that happens the parent responds to the childs distress through accommodation, explains Lebowitz. What that means is that to help the child, the parent responds differently to the situation than they normally would.
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How K Health Can Help
Stress and anxiety are among the most under-reported and under-treated diseases in America.
Nearly 20% of adults in the US suffer from mental health illness and fewer than half receive treatment. Our mission is to increase access to treatment for those suffering in silence.
You can start controlling your stress and anxiety and get access to the treatment you need with K Health.
Starting at $19/month get prescriptions for mental health medications plus unlimited doctor visits through the K Health app. Start your free assessment here.
K Health articles are all written and reviewed by MDs, PhDs, NPs, or PharmDs and are for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute and should not be relied on for professional medical advice. Always talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of any treatment.
K Health has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references.
Why Does It Happen At Night
Anxiety is a normal human emotion characterized by feelings of nervousness and worry. You may find yourself experiencing anxiety during stressful situations, such as a first date or job interview.
Sometimes, though, anxiety may linger around for longer than usual. When this happens, it can interfere with your daily and nightly life.
One of the most common times when people experience anxiety is at night. Many clinical trials have found that sleep deprivation can be a trigger for anxiety. Historically, research also suggests anxiety disorders are associated with reduced sleep quality.
Treating your nighttime anxiety and addressing your sleep issues are important steps in improving your quality of life.
There are many symptoms of anxiety. Everyone experiences anxiety differently. Symptoms can happen anytime of the day, morning, or night. Common symptoms of anxiety include:
- feelings of nervousness, restlessness, or worry
- trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
- gastrointestinal problems
Another symptom a person with anxiety may also experience is a panic attack. A panic attack is an episode of extreme and intense fear, often accompanied by physical manifestations. The common symptoms of a panic attack include:
- a sense of impending doom
- increased heart rate and chest pains
- shortness of breath and throat tightness
- sweating, chills, and hot flashes
- dizziness or lightheadedness
- a feeling of detachment, or like nothing is real
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Natural Remedies For Anxiety: Exercise
We’re not talking training for a marathon, but gentle regular exercise can improve feelings of anxiousness, by allowing mindfulness, taking time out and focusing on your breathing.
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America suggests that regular exercise can actually be just as beneficial as medication, and the good news is that apparently a 10-minute walk could be just as good as a 45-minute work out. Phew!
Try starting with a 10-minute walk in the morning before the rest of your usual routine or taking half an hour at lunchtime for a jog around the nearest park, if possible. Exercise also increases energy levels so you’ll be doing yourself more than one favour if you keep up the good work.
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Herbal Remedy Research Standards
There are special considerations to take into account when looking at scientific studies that investigate the effectiveness of herbal remedies for OCD, anxiety disorders, or any other mental health condition. Sometimes, study results sound impressive because basic research standards were compromised.
First, studies using herbs which are not in a standardized form may have varying activity levels of chemical components. Studies must take into account the accurate identity of the plant as well as whether the active constituents come from the leaf, root, seed, or stem of the plant.
Studies evaluating the effectiveness of medications should also include a placebo treatment group that receives a sugar pill that is inactive and could not possibly account for any reduction in symptoms. By using a placebo treatment, it is possible to tell if the actual drug had an effect or not.
Lastly, it is important that neither the researchers nor the study participants know who is receiving what treatment until the study is over to avoid bias. A medical study in which neither the patient nor the physicians know who is using the medication or supplement and who is receiving a placebo is called a double-blind study.
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