Browsing: Anxiety Disorders

Yoga is a complete mind-body experience that has been shown to reduce anxiety and increase inner calm. Yoga for anxiety is more than a set of stretches; indeed, it’s a philosophy of life and a complete system for transcending anxiety (Bourne, 2010). Using fluid postures and stretches, mindfulness, and meditation, yoga connects us to ourselves. In uniting breath, movement and action, thought, emotion, brain, and body, yoga works wonders in reducing anxiety.

Mindfulness is a terrific tool for anxiety. It’s more than a mere tool, however. Mindfulness is a way of experiencing yourself and the world that allows you to live fully and completely without anxiety getting in your head and in your way.

Meditation is a proven means to drastically reduce anxiety as well as the frequency and intensity of panic attacks. Meditation is the act of being still and creating space between yourself and your problems. It has proven therapeutic powers and can noticeably diminish stress, anxiety, and panic (Chopra et al, 2010). It disrupts obsessive and negative thought patterns and then allows us to restructure our thoughts (Bourne, 2010).

There’s a strong relationship between anxiety and insomnia; so much so, Asnis, Caneva, & Henderson (2012) point out, that sleep difficulties are listed as one of the potential criteria for generalized anxiety disorder in the American Psychological Association’s (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Anxiety can cause insomnia, but insomnia can also cause anxiety. Each one fluffs up the other while you fluff your pillow in a frustrated attempt to get to sleep.

Morning anxiety can be a shock to your system that lays the foundation for a long, anxiety-filled day. If you’ve…

One thing is known: “Marijuana affects the brain” (Casarett, 2015, p. 12). According to Casarett, the brain has numerous cannabinoid receptors throughout multiple areas. These bind to components of cannabis and affect conditions like anxiety. It seems that cannabis for anxiety can act on the brain’s circuitry in quite a focused manner rather than providing general relaxation.

The belief that alcohol helps anxiety is common. People often use alcohol as a way to cope with anxiety, stress, and tension, believing that alcohol induces relaxation. Turning to a substance such as alcohol to reduce anxiety is known as self-medication. People don’t use alcohol to treat anxiety because they are weak or “bad” but because they are attempting to deal with the awful experience of anxiety by treating themselves.

Numerous herbs and nutritional supplements have been shown through scientific research to reduce and prevent anxiety. Many people like them not only because they can be effective, but also because they tend to have fewer side effects than prescription anxiety medication. To find and use supplements and natural remedies that improve anxiety safely, without major, lasting side effects would be a great way to get rid of anxiety and thrive.

Supplements are specific nutritional elements that are added to your daily diet. Supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, and other dietary enhancements, and together, they help increase our health and wellbeing. They can improve specific conditions, including anxiety. Taking vitamins, herbs, and supplements can prevent anxiety as well as reduce your anxiety symptoms.

Foods can help anxiety, and foods can hurt anxiety. What we eat directly impacts our body, brain, and even biochemistry. It makes sense, then, given that anxiety has biological components, nutrition plays a vital role in anxiety. Decades of research has consistently shown that some foods help with anxiety and a sense of calm while other foods can cause, or at least contribute to, anxiety and stress (Bourne, 2010).