7 Tips for Natural Anxiety Relief

 

Everyone gets anxious. It’s a normal reaction to the stressful world we live in. But, sometimes, anxiety pops up for no apparent reason. Your heart rate may increase, you may have trouble breathing, or you may experience other physical symptoms including nausea or vomiting. Regardless of how your symptoms manifest, over time, chronic anxiety can take a toll on your physical and mental health. Certainly, there are medications that can help you find relief from anxiety, and you should discuss these with your health care provider. But if you are looking for help with natural anxiety relief, just keep reading for some of our most effective suggestions.

1. Get Moving

As it turns out, exercising regularly can provide both short-and-long-term anxiety relief. Plus, it gets you in better shape, which is a bonus for your physical well-being, not just your mental health. Why is exercise such an effective natural anxiety treatment? Physical activity stimulates the release of endorphins (your brain’s natural pain killer) in your body. And, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, you don’t have to go all out to get relief: even five minutes of aerobic activity could start fighting anxiety in your body.

2. Ditch the drink

Many people turn to alcohol when they’re stressed or anxious—after all, it’s got some powerful sedative properties. Unfortunately, this calming effect is temporary. And, once the alcohol gets out of your system, your anxiety symptoms will come back—oftentimes, even worse than before.

3. And Stub Out, Too

Just like alcohol, cigarettes provide temporary stress relief. But, over time, your smoking habit could actually worsen anxiety symptoms. In fact, for some people, smoking could actually be the cause of the problem: studies suggest that early smoking may increase your risk for anxiety disorders. Not to mention, nicotine changes pathways in your brain—and some of those pathways are linked to anxiety. So make today your quit day.  Especially if you’re already struggling with anxiety.

4. Prioritize sleep

Many people with anxiety have trouble sleeping. But working on your sleep habits can actually help you find relief. If you want to improve sleep, reserve your bed for sleeping: keep devices, television watching and even book reading out of there. You should also avoid naps, and only go to bed, at night, and when you feel tired.  Keep your room dark (this includes light from clocks and electronics), and lower the room temperature before bedtime. Make sure to cut off big meals, caffeine, and nicotine several hours before bed. And try creating a nightly routine, including set daily bedtime. Keep a worry journal, and write down concerns before heading to bed. Finally, if sleep eludes you, get out of bed and go to another room. Only return to your bed when you feel ready to sleep.

5. Practice deep breathing and meditation

With all the possible ways you could naturally combat anxiety, these two powerful tools require nothing but your focus. Think about it: when you’re feeling anxious, your breath comes in fast and shallow gulps. This can increase your heart rate, leave you dizzy or lightheaded. It could even trigger a full-blown panic attack. But you have the ability to combat this symptom: deliberately slow down your breath, and keep breathing deeply and evenly. Simply by focusing on this pattern, you can quickly relieve your anxiety symptoms. And, if you make deep breathing a regular practice, your body will gradually enter a more relaxed state.

The same is true of meditation. When you meditate, you focus on keeping your brain in the present. Your work is to push aside negative thoughts—which is also the main goal of anxiety treatment. It’s not surprising, then, that research points to 30 minutes of daily meditation as an effective, natural way to relieve anxiety symptoms.

6. Play to your senses

For years, herbal medicine has promoted the healing power of aromatherapy. We know that certain essential oils have positive impacts on your body (in fact, that’s one of many reasons we keep hemp oil terpenes in our full-spectrum cannabidiol CBD.) Studies suggest that using bergamot for 10-15 minutes of daily aromatherapy drastically reduces people’s anxiety symptoms. And you don’t have to stop with just one oil. Experiment and find the mix that works for you. After all, aromatherapy can also improve your sleep and relaxation, and lower your blood pressure and heart rate. In addition to bergamot, lavender, grapefruit, and ylang-ylang are all great options for increasing your relaxation and providing natural anxiety relief.

7. Consider a supplement.

If the previous methods aren’t sufficiently helping your natural anxiety relief, don’t assume that your next step is prescribed medication. Some people are able to find anxiety relief from plant-based supplements. In fact, while much of the evidence is anecdotal, research points to ginseng extract as a way to control stress and anxiety. Ready to give it a try? Consider Tanasi’s high-quality Korean Red Ginseng extract. And while you’re at it, check out this study regarding CBD and anxiety.