Anxiety And Worry In Women – Causes, Symptoms And Natural Relief
Anxiety relief: natural treatments for anxiety
Relief from chronic anxiety comes from restoring your body’s natural, healthy equilibrium. You can do that through change in a number of factors: lifestyle, diet, allergies, exercise levels, hormonal balance, general physical health, and your emotional history.
At our practice, we treat anxiety with nutrition and nutritional supplements, some prescription medications, emotional work and bodywork. Let’s review these methods for anxiety relief in detail.
- Good nutrition is the foundation of natural treatment for anxiety. If you are serotonin-deficient you will crave sugar and simple carbohydrates. But those foods cause your insulin levels to spike and crash, further destabilizing your mood and creating that “bottoming out” feeling. Eat real whole foods; organic when possible, that will help maintain stable blood sugar levels. Avoid all processed, artificial products, trans fats, artificial additives, simple sugars and carbohydrates (or “white” food). Add multiple servings of fiber-rich vegetables or fruit to every meal and drink plenty of filtered water.
- Take a medical-grade nutritional supplement to fill in any nutritional gaps. A daily supplement that includes necessary fatty acids is an important part of supporting natural neurotransmitter balance and general good health. Women to Women offers high-quality, pharmaceutical grade supplements to enhance your health.
[banner id=”single-banner-multi-essentials”]
- Take our Hormonal Health Assessment (it’s free). It will help you understand if your anxiety is actually a symptom of perimenopause or menopause. Using progesterone cream or bioidentical HRT may be a useful way to rebalance your hormones and soothe your anxiety.
- Talk to your doctor about taking a neurotransmitter test and discuss the results. Ask to see the results for yourself. Examine your diet for potential food allergies or sensitivities. If you are experiencing anxiety-related gastrointestinal problems, you may want to follow an elimination diet.
- Physical activity is the single best anxiety medication I know. It’s essential to hormonal balance. In one study, people who engaged in 30–60 minutes of moderate exercise every day reported less anxiety than a similar group on anti-anxiety meds who did not exercise. Start slow and build up to at least 30 minutes a day. Find a friend or a neighborhood group to exercise with — it’s more fun and you’ll be more likely to stick with it.
- Get enough sunlight and fresh air. Fifteen minutes of sun exposure (without sunscreen) in the early morning and late afternoon stimulates the production of vitamin D in your body. Vitamin D deficiency is related to depression, SAD, and other mood disorders. Deep breathing helps calm the senses and relax the mind — so combine both!
[banner id=”single-product-vitamin-d-2000″]
- Get enough sleep. Adequate sleep is paramount to brain health. Women should get 7–9 hours a night. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid all caffeine (including chocolate and green tea) and set a bedtime for yourself that you stick to. Practice a calming technique like meditation or deep breathing before bed.
- If you can afford it, find a counselor to talk to about your emotional experience. Ask for a referral from a doctor, family member or friend. The local Y, religious institution, or grief counseling center may have a list of therapists they can offer. Interview several to make sure you find someone you really like and trust. Many of our patients have had life-changing experiences enrolling in the Hoffman Quadrinity Process, which helps individuals “unlearn” negative emotional patterns.
Try using the Emotional Freedom Techniques, widely known as EFT. My patients report great success with EFT. I like it because unlike conventional relaxation methods, EFT gets at the root causes of anxiety rather than masking them.
Investigate integrative manual therapy (IMT). Using gentle applied pressure, IMT opens up blocked energy channels to help the body do what it does best — heal itself. Anxiety is in a sense blocked energy, and bodywork helps redirect that energy constructively.
If you are paralyzed by catastrophic thoughts and debilitating physical symptoms of anxiety, talk to your healthcare professional about the usefulness of short-term medication. If your doctor does not offer additional support techniques to help you in the long term, look around for an alternative or integrative medical practitioner. Long-term use of anti-anxiety medication will not cure you.
Bringing it all together
It’s my hope that some of this advice will help you get a handle on your feelings of anxiety before they manifest into health concerns. If you are already in the grips of chronic anxiety, don’t worry! By supporting your body, examining your past, and rebalancing your body and mind, your anxiety will get better.
Just imagine how powerful you could feel if all that energy that is consumed by anxiety and fear were unleashed in a life-affirming, positive way! As my friend’s mother once said, “Life demands a warrior, not a worrier.” I know that may be easier said than done, but today is a perfect time to try.