Use These Amazing Tips To Relieve Anxiety Naturally

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If you are among the millions of people struggling with some form of an anxiety disorder, you may know very well that this can affect your quality of life. The good news is, you have stumbled upon this article- Yay! By implementing the tips in this article, you can find ways to naturally reduce your anxiety. The huge bonus here is that you can help ease your anxiety without requiring medication. There are many circumstances where medication IS required to alleviate symptoms caused by anxiety. It is ALWAYS a good idea to talk with a mental health expert or a physician before self-diagnosing or using any type of remedy at home.

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According to Our World in Data,

Globally an estimated 284 million people experienced an anxiety disorder in 2017, making it the most prevalent mental health or neurodevelopmental disorder. Around 63 percent (179 million) were female, relative to 105 million males. In all countries women are more likely to experience anxiety disorders than men.

Mental Health – Our World in Data

When looking at that number, we can say that is a notably huge number. We need to start fixing mental health issues and not ignoring them. There has always been a stigma around mental health and to be honest, we need to start talking more about it. The more we talk about what is bothering us, the less of a stigma mental health will be.

Firstly, let’s define anxiety…

There are many different anxiety disorders but in general, an anxiety disorder is defined as symptoms of intense anxiety or panic that are directly caused by a physical health problem. Generalized anxiety disorder includes persistent and excessive anxiety and worries about activities or events – even ordinary, routine issues. (source)

Now let’s go over some ways to reduce your anxiety symptoms naturally without using medication. When I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I couldn’t go to the gym, I couldn’t walk down the street alone, I couldn’t do everyday activities that I was normally able to do prior to my diagnosis. I was always overthinking every little thing. Here are some tips that helped to naturally relieve (and eventually get rid of) my anxiety for GOOD!

1. Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing

The first most important thing you can do if you have anxiety is to practice deep breathing throughout your day. No- I do not mean a deep breathe IN and a deep breathe OUT. I’m referring to deep breathing that engages your diaphragm. The muscle that spans across your mid body located underneath your lungs. Deep breathing will also help you stabalize your breathing if you are experiencing the onset of a panic attack. This is vital in order to prevent yourself from experiencing respiratory alkalosis which can occur when you start to hyperventilate.

How To Do It…

Take a deep breath in all the way, hold it in for at least 4 seconds, then breathe out all the way. Continue this technique for a few cycles. This will help ground you, give your body the oxygen it needs and help distract you from your worries momentarily.

2. Exercise

It is no surprise that being active can benefit your mental health. I know personally, this was a big reason why my GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) symptoms were alleviated so quickly.

 A recent meta-analysis in the journal Anxiety-Depression found that people with anxiety disorders who reported high-level physical activity were better protected against developing anxiety symptoms than those who reported low physical activity(source).

This study basically indicated that the more exercise a person did, the better the outcome of treating anxiety! Not only is exercise FREE (and who doesn’t love free stuff?), it can help boost your self-confidence and obviously help you be more healthy. It’s obviously a win-win.

3. Mindfulness

I use to hear about mindfulness all the time but I never knew exactly what it was. After heading to my Natropathic doctor, full of questions as usual, I finally became enlightened! She had suggest mindfulness to help with my anxiety and stress. This tip for helping with anxiety was HUGE! Mindfulness differs from meditation in a few ways. Both practices are very hard to implement when first getting into either one. Eventually, after practising often, there will come a point where something goes off in your head and it just clicks.

Mindfulness is a bit less formal and encompasses being aware of something. Meditation is more rigid in terms of really focusing on the awareness of nothing. The point is to clear your brain of negativity and to calm your sympathetic nervous system down so your parasympathetic nervous system can shine through calming your state of mind.

There is a FREE 8- week Mindfulness Course I completed when I was a newbie to the whole, using the breathe to push chaos out of my head thing. It was literally a breathe of fresh air and i’ll let you in on a secret…it doesn’t take 8 weeks. You can do it in half the time- just a FYI!

Mindfulness eliminates stress, reduces anxiety and can really change your life for the better, as long as you open your mind up enough to let that happen.

4. Distraction

This tip may seem obvious but really, it’s something you wouldn’t think of if your head was filled with anxious thoughts. A quick tip to help when you feel your anxiety coming on full force is, to simply focus your attention on another task. Yes- easier said than done! I know this all too well, but it does work. Try and shift your mind to anything else. Change your environment by going for a walk. Pick up the phone and call a friend. You can change your mood by putting on some of your favourite music. In the end, this strategy does work by telling your brain to shift gears, even if it is a subtle change.

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5. Eliminate Caffeine & Alcohol

I know what you are thinking and no you do not have to get rid of your coffee completely. I know I would be pretty frightful if I didn’t have my coffee. The bad news is…the experts have found that drastically reducing your caffeine in-take does help to relieve anxiety symptoms. I gradually (and I mean gradually!) reduced my caffeine intake down to 1 cup of coffee per day and I most certainly felt a change in my symptoms. I replaced my regular coffee with this inexpensive Organic decaf alternative from Starbucks. YUM!

In addition to that, leaning on your nightly glass of wine to help ease your nerves, may end up causing your anxiety to worsen. Not only is it possible for you to develop some sort of dependence on your red or white friend, it will cause your system to crash after the alcohol has worn off. Remember, alcohol has sedative effects. It will ease your stress temporarily, just not in the best way. Your anxiety can come back roaring pretty loud once it is out of your system. Therefore, don’t put yourself in a worst position by consuming alcohol.

6. Get Some Zzz

Getting a good night’s sleep is beneficial to your body in so many ways. Always being stressed can really defeat your adrenal glands and zap your energy. It can cause spikes in stress hormones that store fat and just flat out put you in a miserable mood. Anxiety requires a lot from your mind and body, this is why sleep is so important to help with anxiety symptoms. Having restorative sleep for at least 7 to 8 hours a day, will do wonders for mental health and your physical health. It is also known in the world of mental health that, anxiety can also come with insomnia. To help with healthy sleep habits:

• Make your bedroom a place to sleep only, remove distractions like your TV
• No caffeine in the evening (at least a few hours before bed)
• Put your phone down and stop scrolling social media in bed
• If you have too many thoughts in your head, write them down before you sleep and tell yourself to address them in the morning. Leave your thoughts on that piece of paper and expel them from your mind before hitting the hay!
• Use blackout curtains and make sure your room isn’t too hot (setting the temperature of your room slightly cooler has shown to ameliorate quality of sleep)

Take steps to ensure your sleep is on the top of your priority list. Sleep is VITAL to your health and well being!

7. Watch What You Eat

When it comes to your diet, eating to nourish your body will not only help you be healthier, it has major pros in relieving anxiety symptoms. Eating too much processed foods, will throw your body out of wack. This can make it difficult to feed your brain with the right nutrients it needs to combat your anxiety. Eliminate the junk from your food and you will see and feel a difference in your cognition AND maybe even drop some unwanted pounds- bonus! You also want to get rid of as much sugar in your diet as possible. Like caffeine, it can give you highs and lows, spike your blood sugar and overall it can amplify your anxiety symptoms.

8. Schedule in Relaxation

As mentioned above, stress can damage your body and it actually doesn’t take much time for this to happen either. I’m speaking from experience…it gave me negative physical symptoms in less than a few months. So much so, that I needed to take time off work to get better. Whether you work full-time, you take care of your kids full-time, manage your household, have side hustles that require your constant attention, life can cause you to become overwhelmed with stress. A tip to fight the imminent weight of life that creeps up on you, is to relax. Yes- I am totally aware that this is NOT easy to do, but you need to do this to avoid your anxiety to get the best of you.

My doctor (who happens to be my friend), suggested to schedule in time for me to relax and unwind. Write it down in your calendar. Be specific about what you will be doing to relax. Snuggle up and have a cup of chamomile tea. Get a massage. Take a bath. Use essential oils. Paint your nails. Read a book. Allow yourself to have some time for self-care. If you need some more ideas, here are a few ridiculously easy ways you can sneak in some self-care!

Let’s Sum It All Up…

Now you have some tools to really take your anxiety into your own hands. Using these tips can really make a huge difference in the severity of your anxiety and if practiced consistently, ease your anxiety in the long term.

If you are looking for more resources on using yoga and meditation in your daily anxiety-reducing routine, check out Yoga teacher, Eva’s Yoga and Meditation blog here!

If you are struggling with managing your anxiety disorder symptoms, use these effective tips to naturally relieve your anxiety and finally get your life back. These steps helped me get off my anxiety medication quickly- for good!