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Healthy Ways To Combat Anxiety

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Explore effective strategies to naturally manage anxiety, with expert insights into lifestyle changes, dietary adjustments, and mindfulness practices for improving mental well-being and reducing stress levels.

Learning about anxiety is a vital component in achieving not only mental but also physical health. Primary care disorders, including generalized anxiety, and social anxiety, have the potential to significantly interfere with daily living, social interactions, and work. 

Untreated symptoms can escalate to serious conditions like depression and anxiety, chronic stress, and heart problems. Recognizing the signs early and looking for the right medication for anxiety, therapy, or dietary changes is key. Reduction of stress and anxiety leads to improvement of life quality, interpersonal relationships, and health in general.

Natural Remedies for Anxiety

Mental health is a significant part of physical health and you need to take care of it for an optimal healthy life. Another important aspect of health is diet; there are so many foods that have Omega-3 fatty acids diet like green leafy vegetables, nuts, and fish among others have been known to contain the ability to reduce the level of anxiety.

Best herbal supplements for improving cognitive performance like Cogniultra have effective ingredients with calming properties and can be consumed as capsules to ease brain discomfort. Also, aromatherapy, using essential oils such as lavender and bergamot, helps in managing anxiety by providing instant relief. These natural remedies for anxiety help to maintain the optimum of health and freedom from the anxiety condition.

Lifestyle Changes to Reduce Anxiety

Benefits of Regular Exercise

  • Raised mood through the effects of natural opium releases of endorphins.
  • Decreases the level of stress as adrenaline and cortisol which are stress hormones are minimized in the body.
  • Enhances disrupted sleep patterns caused by anxiety symptoms.
  • Builds up confidence and self-esteem through some factors related to fashion and health.

Strategies for Better Sleep Hygiene

  • Make a point to always have a fixed bedtime and wake-up hours during the day and at night in your busy schedule.
  • Set up a consistent bedtime routine for the child.
  • These items, such as laptops, TVs, and mobile phones, are best avoided right before bedtime.
  • Make your sleeping conditions favorable by stating that your accommodation is comfortable, dark, and quiet.

Techniques to Calm the Mind

  • Practice deep breathing exercises
  • Another relaxation procedure is known as Progressive Muscle Relaxation.
  • Techniques such as guided meditation applications or audio can be utilized including practices such as yoga, and others as part of a lifestyle.

Cognitive and Behavioral Techniques

Among the commonly used approaches to address anxiety, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been proven to be quite useful. It is based on techniques to ensure that the individual changes the way he or she thinks about something to come up with a positive view of it.  You can also try other natural ways to improve your memory power

Writing enables self-disclosure and understanding of behaviors and meeting causes. Positive affirmations boost self-confidence, reduce stress, and cut anxiety, aiding emotional well-being and rational perception in stressful situations.

Social and Environmental Factors

The growth and nurturing of mental health involve considering the social and environmental factors. One must develop a goal of friends and family to help the individual feel encouraged to belong. 

To cultivate a stress-free zone, tips include cleaning up the home, new additions of elements of nature, and keeping the work area clean and a bit messy. 

Also, practicing such things as a mindful approach to work and taking control over the circumstances that separate work from the rest of life can effectively decrease the general level of stress and promote mental and physical health.

Technology and Tools

Mobile Apps For Anxiety Management

  • Headspace: This one is a meditation guide and practice session that aims to help the user lower his/her stress level to improve mental health.
  • Calm: Popular for its large collection of sleep and relaxation stories along with sounds for better sleep and focus, Calm assists people in falling asleep better.
  • Breathe2Relax: This stress management and anxiety cure application was created by the Department of Defense and it includes several breathing techniques.
  • Moodfit: Moodfit records the mood of an individual and generates solutions based on its evaluations in enhancing therapeutic solutions.

Online Therapy: Pros & Cons

What We Like?

  • Accessibility: It allows patients or clients to receive therapy from their preferred practitioners without necessarily being physically present in the therapist or counselor’s physical location.
  • Convenience: Allows for custom working schedules without wrecking the necessity for commuting.
  • Anonymity: This can offer a degree of privacy that will help make the user more comfortable, depending on circumstances.
  • Variety: Therapists are available and several therapeutic orientations they can choose from.
  • Cost-Effective: For some people more accessible than standard face-to-face therapy appointments and frequently cheaper too.

What We Dislike?

  • Technical Issues: Of course, there are some difficulties such as the reliance on an always available reliable internet connection and technology.
  • Limited Non-Verbal Communication: One limitation occurs in case the therapist is not able to be physically present with the patient, thus they can be unable to observe the physiological signs of the patient.
  • Emergency Situations: Online therapy may therefore not be good for patients in need of constant care, or patients who urgently require attention.

Professional Help

One should see a specialist if it turns out that the anxiety symptoms harm normal living, or if it is impossible to control them. Focus on clear, persistent worry, panic, or fear that hinders work, social activities, or self-performance. 

The prescribed treatments include brainwashing and counseling for root causes, counseling for present issues, and medications for anxiety. The best approach therefore is to consult a health care provider for advice when coming up with a treatment plan.

Holistic Practices

It can also be noted that holistic practices appear to offer a level of benefit for lowering anxiety. Yoga and Tai Chi are movement techniques accompanied by a subject concentration and thus have a synergistic effect on the well-being of individuals by lessening stress. 

Like other therapies from traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture has been considered to offer an approach to anxiety cure through the application of pressure on certain points of the body to normalize the flow of energy. 

One of the techniques that help people cope with stressors. specific self-regulation techniques is biofeedback where patients learn the basic principles of stress and, accordingly, their organism’s reaction to stress.

Long-Term Strategies

Some of the long-term solutions include finding healthy ways to deal with Social Anxiety Disorder and also learning how to strengthen oneself. Aim at including practices such as mindfulness, exercising, and going out with friends to deal with day-to-day anxiety. 

With practice, such attitudes will build up mental resilience against anxiety-laden situations in your life. Positive thinking can also be achieved through working alongside a therapist to help in the discovery and combating of negative thoughts. 

When these strategies are used together, this approach enhances emotional health and also increases self-confidence in interpersonal communication.

Conclusion

Therefore, it is crucial to know about anxiety and conduct preventive measures regarding one’s health. The discussed methods, such as lifestyle changes, therapies, environmental adjustments, and holistic practices, all emphasize the idea that anxiety requires a multifaceted approach for effective management. 

They include maintaining exercise routines, taking naps at the right times, and utilizing Technology and professional assistance to regulate sleep can all enhance the quality of life. Through adopting these approaches, people can build mental health enabling them to become more resistant to stress and everyday pressures in life.

Additional Resources

Books and Articles on Anxiety Management

  • The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne
  • Dare New Freedom from Anxiety & Panic: The Effective Solution to Overcome Anxiety & Ways to Calm Anxiety Attacks by Barry McDonagh
  • The Highly Sensitive Person: Facing Your Fear Culture Shock, Trauma, and the New Normal with Elaine N. Aron
  • Rewire Your Anxious Brain: it gives practical advice on what is known as the neuroscience of fear and how it can be effectively applied to terminate anxiety, panic, and worry by Catherine M. Pittman and Elizabeth M. Karle.

Support Groups and Online Communities for Anxiety Sufferers

  • Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA)
  • National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Support Groups
  • Reddit: /r/Anxiety
  • Anxiety Support Groups on Facebook
  • 7 Cups: Online Therapy & Free Counseling

FAQs

Q: What is social anxiety? 

A: Social anxiety is when someone feels uneasy in social situations, which can lead to avoiding them.

Q: How can social anxiety affect daily life? 

A: It can have ill effects on one’s job prospects, friendships, and manner of living because of possibilities missed and loneliness.

Q: Are introverts more likely to have social anxiety? 

A: There is no contradiction between them because introverts refer to individuals with low self-esteem and extroverts refer to people who are outgoing but can suffer from social anxiety.

Q: What physical symptoms are associated with social anxiety? 

A: Symptoms range from blush, sweaty, and hot sensations as well as palpitations or the feeling of having a racing heart.

Q: Is social anxiety treatable? 

A: Absolutely, social anxiety can be effectively treated through approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and occasionally medication for anxiety.

Sources-

Natacci L, M Marchioni D, C Goulart A, Nunes MA, B Moreno A, O Cardoso L, Giatti L, B Molina MDC, S Santos I, Brunoni AR, A Lotufo P, M Bensenor I. Omega 3 Consumption and Anxiety Disorders: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). Nutrients. 2018 May 24;10(6):663. doi: 10.3390/nu10060663. PMID: 29882923; PMCID: PMC6024589. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6024589/#

Ebrahimi H, Mardani A, Basirinezhad MH, Hamidzadeh A, Eskandari F. The effects of Lavender and Chamomile essential oil inhalation aromatherapy on depression, anxiety and stress in older community-dwelling people: A randomized controlled trial. Explore (NY). 2022 May-Jun;18(3):272-278. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2020.12.012. Epub 2021 Jan 9. PMID: 33454232.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33454232/#

 

Barati F, Nasiri A, Akbari N, Sharifzadeh G. The Effect of Aromatherapy on Anxiety in Patients. Nephrourol Mon. 2016 Jul 31;8(5):e38347. doi: 10.5812/numonthly.38347. PMID: 27878109; PMCID: PMC5111093.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5111093/#

 

Chand SP, Marwaha R. Anxiety. [Updated 2023 Apr 24]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470361/



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