To Relieve Anxiety Consider Natural Options
It’s estimated that just 33% of people with anxiety disorders receive treatment, and the many who do resort to Rx drugs. Prescriptions for benzodiazepine anxiety drugs including Valium, Ativan and Xanax 3X’d from 1996 to 2013.
The rate of overdose deaths increased more than 500% during the same frame.
Treatment does not have to mean drugs.
People that suffer from anxiety have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by applying lifestyle modifications before trying Rx medication.
Lifestyle changes can lessen anxiety naturally.
For those who feel anxious or have panic attacks try the following:
- Exercise: In addition to the creation of new neurons, including those that release the calming neurotransmitter GABA, exercise boosts levels of potent brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which may help buffer some of the effects of stress. Many avid exercisers also feel a sense of euphoria after a workout, sometimes known as the runner’s high. It can be quite addictive, in a good way, once one experiences just how good it feels to get your heart rate up and the body moving.
- Optimizing Gut Flora: The gut and brain work in tandem, each influencing the other. This is why intestinal health can have such a profound influence on mental health and vice versa. It is also the reason why diet is so closely linked to your mental health. Research has shown that the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus had a marked effect on GABA levels in certain brain regions and lowered the stress-induced hormone corticosterone, resulting in reduced anxiety- and depression-related behavior.13 The probiotic known as Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 has also been shown to normalize anxiety-like behavior in mice with infectious colitis. So optimizing gut flora with beneficial bacteria is a highly useful strategy. This is done by eliminating sugars and processed foods and eating plenty of non-starchy vegetables, avoiding processed vegetable oils, and using healthy fats. Additionally, eating plenty of fermented vegetables or taking a high-potency probiotic would be useful to reestablish healthy gut flora.
- Omega-3 Fats: A healthy diet should include a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fats, like anchovies, sardines, wild-caught Alaskan Salmon or krill oil. The omega-3 fats EPA and DHA play an important role in your emotional well-being, and research has shown a dramatic 20% reduction in anxiety among medical students taking omega-3s.
How about this?
When feeling anxious, do you ever tell yourself to calm down and relax? It seems as though this would be a useful strategy, but if you have tried you probably know that it’s not that effective.
When faced with an anxiety-inducing situation, say giving a public speech, your heart is likely pounding and levels of the stress-hormone cortisol rise.
In short, it is a hyped-up state of arousal, and simply telling yourself to relax may be too big of a leap for body and mind to make.
A more effective option, according to Harvard Business School Professor Alison Wood Brooks, involves the opposite strategy: telling yourself you are excited.
Excitement is not too far off from anxiety.
The difference is excitement is a positive emotion, while anxiety is negative. But in terms of the physical changes in the body, excitement and anxiety are hard to distinguish.
So, when anxious, it’s not a stretch for the body to channel those negative feelings into positive ones of excitement instead.
This is not just hearsay.
Professor Brooks conducted a series of experiments in Y 2014 to evaluate reappraising anxiety as excitement. She wrote in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: “Compared with those who attempt to calm down, individuals who reappraise their anxious arousal as excitement feel more excited and perform better. Individuals can reappraise anxiety as excitement using minimal strategies such as self-talk (e.g., saying “I am excited” out loud) or simple messages (e.g., “get excited”), which lead them to feel more excited, adopt an opportunity mind-set (as opposed to a threat mind-set), and improve their subsequent performance.”
Prof. Brooks experiments challenged people to engage in 3 anxiety inducing scenarios, as follows:
- Giving a public speech
- Solving a difficult math problem
- Singing karaoke.
The participants were able to change the outcomes of their performance just by altering their self-talk or mindset.
Results were as follows:
- Public Speech: Participants prepared a persuasive public speech and were told it would be recorded and judged by a committee. Before giving the speech, the participants said either “I am excited” or “I am calm.” Those who said they were excited gave longer speeches and were more persuasive, competent and relaxed.
- Math Problem: Participants read either “try to get excited” or “try to remain calm” then were given math problems to solve. Those in the excited group scored 8 percent higher on average than the calm group or a control group that read neither statement. Similarly, in Y 2010 a study found that reappraising feelings of anxiety into a positive (the participants were told it would improve performance) improved their scores on the math section of the GRE standardized test.
- Karaoke: Participants said they were anxious, calm, angry or sad before singing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” in front of the group. The American Psychological Association reported:“Participants who said they were excited scored an average of 80% on the song based on their pitch, rhythm and volume as measured by the video game’s rating system. Those who said they were calm, angry or sad scored an average of 69%, compared to 53% for those who said they were anxious. Participants who said they were excited also reported feeling more excited and confident in their singing ability.”
Prof. Brooks noted that when a person is anxious it causes them to ruminate and focus on negativity, including potential threats.
By refocusing the mind on a positive outcome by saying I am excited, it leads to real benefits. “Even if they do not believe it at first, saying ‘I’m excited’ out loud increases authentic feelings of excitement,” she said.
Eat healthy, Be healthy, Stay positive, Live lively
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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