Hello, Friend! Happy Tuesday!
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Let’s talk about anxiety.
(Warning to anyone who may be reading this that I give examples of potential anxiety-inducing situations, and reference about my own experiences with anxiety, so don’t read if you know this won’t be constructive for you.)
Anxiety, as defined by the American Psychological Association (APA), is an emotion characterized by apprehension and bodily symptoms of tension and the anticipation of impending danger. In anxiety disorders, the feelings of fear, dread, and uneasiness are persistent and can be overwhelming. Anxiety presents itself differently for different people and can increase or decrease over time.
Maybe situations like this, and their abilities to produce anxiety, sound familiar:
You have a regular checkup with your doctor and start thinking about all the things that “could be” wrong with you.
You’re starting a new job and are worried that you won’t perform well or won’t fit into the community.
You worry you don’t have enough money saved for retirement and worry you’ll end up homeless as a senior
Despite running all the numbers, you drive yourself crazy worrying you won’t be able to afford the house you just bought.
If you don’t fall asleep RIGHT NOW you won’t get enough rest and will be dead tired tomorrow.
All the sudden you start thinking about all the car crashes that occur on a daily basis and then don’t want to leave your house.
You always find yourself worrying about the worst thing that could happen in any given situation.
Things like that… Oh, the many forms and causes of anxiety!
Are some of those examples partially tied to personal experience? Yup! Do I also imagine that they’re at least a little bit relatable, or understandable to most humans? Also, yup!
So, what can we do about these anxieties?
First of all, as a reminder, I am NOT a doctor, and am merely presenting my own research, resources, and learnings in this blog post. With that being said, if you suffer from anxiety, talking to a professional or your doctor about it can be incredibly helpful and can give you further direction on how to best support yourself—also speaking from experience here! I used to think I was somehow above therapy or that my problems weren’t “real enough” to talk to a therapist about… WRONG. These supports are incredibly valuable; talk to someone if you need it.
Secondly, I’ve seen a lot of content out there suggesting that we can completely “heal” ourselves from anything we suffer from solely with our food or supplement intake, and that is NOT true. Yes, food quality matters in relation to our health, but blanket statements like this are not constructive. So, while some of these suggestions and things to consider that I’ll bring up in this post are food based, that does not mean that these are medications or will suddenly “heal” you from all anxieties. No.
Lastly, these ideas are more for times when you are experiencing general anxiety or are looking to reduce the overall amount of anxiety you experience, not necessarily more acute instances or anxiety attacks.
Okay, okay, okay… let’s (finally) jump into things you might consider, or simply know exist.
Ashwagandha (Say: ash-wa-gan-da)
Ashwagandha, a shrub that grows in Africa and Asia, is a bit of an up-an-comer in the supplement space. This study showed “a significant reduction in scores on all the stress-assessment scales on Day 60, relative to the placebo group. The serum cortisol levels were substantially reduced in the Ashwagandha group, relative to the placebo group.” This was from 2 pills of 300 mg of high-concentration full-spectrum extract from the root of the Ashwagandha plant per day. It’s worth noting here that this supplement was shown to help stress-related anxiety specifically, not so much of social anxieties or other types.
Lavender
Orally administered Lavender Oil has shown to reduce impacts of anxiety in users (as well as improve their sleep and general mental health) compared to a placebo. (PMID: 20512042)
Mindfulness
This meta-analysis shows us that the use of mindfulness activities can help with “small to medium effects on anxiety and on depression.”
What kinds of activities might you try?
Perform a body scan. Start at your toes and work on relaxing and “breathing into” your muscles and joints all the way up to your head.
The Five Senses Exercise. Notice 5 things you can see. Notice 4 things you can feel. Notice 3 things you can hear. Notice 2 things you can smell. And notice 1 thing you can taste. This can help recenter us in our situation and focus on what is actually going on around us.
Go on a mindful walk. Take a few minutes and simply walk around, distraction free. Notice what’s around you, how you feel, what your body is doing, etc.
Journal. Write down whatever is coming to mind and how you feel in a stream-of-consciousness pattern. Sometimes getting our thoughts onto paper and out of our heads can help manage anxiety.
Kava
This is something I’ve only just heard of recently on the Tim Ferriss Show Podcast. He interviewed Dr. Andrew Weil (episode linked here) and discussed all kinds of supplements, plants, and psychoactives and their medicinal properties. Cool episode to listen to if you’re into that kinda thing or would like to learn more. Anyway, kava. It’s a plant from the Pacific Islands that has been used traditionally for centuries. In the episode, Dr. Weil says:
“[Kava] functions as a social stimulant and lubricant, but it is a natural sedative and calmative, and probably the most important anti-anxiety natural product out there, extremely useful and essentially no toxicity. And it does not interact with alcohol. It does not interact with other sedatives. It’s quite safe, and I recommend it very frequently to people.”
This study showed that 150 mg of kava extract per day has been employed successfully for the treatment of anxiety disorders. “In the active treatment group, the total score of the Hamilton anxiety scale, showed a therapeutically relevant reduction in anxiety versus placebo (more than 4 points).”
Breathwork
Breathing practices have long been discussed as supports for calming, re-centering, and pauses before acting, so this might not be new news. However, in that same podcast episode mentioned above, Dr. Weil discusses the 4-7-8 breathing method, aka, Box Breathing. This process of inhales, holds, exhales, and holds helps to replenish oxygen, allow us to think about the process of breathing as opposed to the thing that may be worrying us, and also to calm our central nervous system. Here’s an article with more information and guidance on this breathing practice.
Essentially, you breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, and breathe out slowly for 8 seconds. I’ve also seen versions where you hold for an extra second after you’ve finished breathing out. Personally, I like to use this whenever I’m having trouble falling asleep (and especially if that difficulty falling asleep has anything to do with racing, worrying thoughts) as it helps literally calm my body but also distract from whatever my mind has got going on. Give it a try any time you feel amped up or need to calm yourself quickly!
Meditation
While meditation may not be for everyone, it might be worth a try if you experience anxiety. Headspace, a guided meditation app, which I have used, shares this about meditation and anxiety: “Research shows that a consistent meditation practice reprograms neural pathways in the brain and, therefore, improves our ability to regulate emotions. Through meditation, we familiarize ourselves with anxiety-inducing thoughts and storylines. We learn to see them, sit with them, and let them go. In doing so, we learn 2 important things: thoughts do not define us, and thoughts are not real. Within this newfound perspective, we’re able to gradually change our relationship with anxiety, differentiating between what is an irrational episode and what’s true.” Powerful stuff.
Okay, I hope you found one or more of these suggestions helpful, or at least learned something new!
Before starting to use/do any of these things, or using any supplements, speak with your doctor first! They can help you figure out how much to take for your personal situation.
Also, before using any vitamin or supplement, make sure they’re verified by a reputable testing company like USP, NSF International, Consumer Labs, or the Natural Products Association. Each has a certification seal and you can search their websites for lists of verified products.
If you have questions about any of this, or have another health topic that you experience challenges around and would like a post like this about, please let me know in the comments or send me an email at sara@nutritionforlifeproject.com!
If this post can benefit someone you know, please share!
As always, thank you for reading,
xoxo,
Sara