Natural anxiety treatments play a vital role in helping people with this mental health condition get the most out of life. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, approximately 18% of the population struggles with anxiety. While there are many different options for treatment available, these five have demonstrated success for helping people overcome their symptoms.
Exercise For Anxiety Treatment
Getting your heart rate up has long been recognized as a way to treat anxiety as well as other mental health conditions. This is because exercise releases natural endorphins that improve your mood. It is also believed that the increase in body heat that is experienced during exercise affects neural circuits that are involved in the production of serotonin, which is a hormone associated with relaxation.
Eliminate Caffeine and Alcohol
While most natural anxiety treatments involve doing something new, this one if fairly simple. Both caffeine and alcohol are known to increase feelings of anxiety due to their stimulating effect on the nervous system. For those who use these items on a daily basis, however, it may be necessary to cut back slowly since quitting cold turkey could contribute to the anxiety. In addition to these drinks, quitting smoking and any other unnecessary drugs also helps to lower your levels of anxiety.
Step Into the Sun
Spending time outdoors has several benefits for anxiety, but one of the biggest is the increase in exposure to sunlight. Your body needs sunlight to stimulate its production of vitamin D, and deficiencies of this vitamin have been associated with anxiety. Due to the increased awareness of skin cancer prevention, this deficiency is becoming increasingly common. To get the most out of this treatment, try to get your sunlight exposure before you apply sunscreen. However, make sure to limit your time outdoors without sunscreen to only 15 minutes during the less harsh times of the day such as early morning or evening. Spending time in green spaces also has a relaxing effect upon the whole body, so it is important for anyone with anxiety to aim for getting outdoors every day.
Practice Mindfulness
Treating anxiety also involves learning how to train your mind not to worry so much. For this reason, many people find that practicing mindfulness helps them to learn how to focus on only the moment or activity with which they are involved. Mindful meditation is one tool that you can use to increase your ability to recognize when your mind is beginning to wander towards thoughts that increase your anxiety. One of the best things about this treatment is that it can be combined with others. For instance, you could practice mindfulness while you are walking outdoors.
Make Dietary Changes
Things such as low blood sugar or nutritional deficiency sometimes cause anxiety. There are also many types of food that have been found to alleviate feelings of anxiety. For example, omega-3s help to promote relaxation, and these fatty acids are common in walnuts, fish and avocados. Drinking chamomile tea also helps to calm the mind because it contains compounds that are known for helping with anxiety. While it may take some trial and error, experimenting with adding nutritious foods to your diet is an easy and enjoyable way to find relief.
When anxiety strikes, it is always important to have a doctor rule out any underlying physical conditions that can affect your mood. Once you know that you are truly just dealing with chronic worry, then you can take action by experimenting with treatments until you hit the one that works. By adding natural anxiety treatments to your daily routine, you can find relief and start enjoying life again
