These days, it’s not uncommon to know someone who deals with anxiety, or maybe you’re the one with anxiety. People with anxiety are not alone; it’s estimated that over 275 million people have anxiety issues yearly. Whether your anxiety is situational or something you deal with regularly, there are many things to help. Many things can worsen your anxiety, but much more may help you, from pharmaceuticals to natural methods. If you’re ready to start living with less nervousness and tension each day, keep reading for some natural ways to eliminate your anxiety.
Regular Exercise
Feeling tightly wound and stressed out? One of the best cures for anxiety is free! Regular physical exercise has been shown to have profound benefits for anxiety sufferers. Research has shown that aerobic exercise is particularly helpful for alleviating anxiety, but any form of regular exercise will help. From the benefits of mindfulness and movement in yoga to the endorphins you’ll get from a high-intensity workout, try getting into regular exercise to see an immediate reduction in anxiety.
Healthy Eating
While all healthy habits typically lead to reduced anxiety, the adage “you are what you eat” is something to consider if you’re dealing with a season of worry and anxiety. While many people are aware of the connection between highly processed foods and poor physical health, they may be less aware of these foods’ impact on their mental health.
Excessive salt intake can also cause high blood pressure, increasing the heart’s workload, producing more adrenaline, and impacting anxiety levels. If you struggle with healthy eating, it’s worth meeting your GP or a dietician to help you get on the road to healthier food habits and decreased anxiety.
CBD Products
Many natural supplements on the market have been shown to help with anxiety, from Magnesium, Passionflower to homeopathic flowers like Mimulus. But none of these is quite the silver bullet that CBD is. The great thing about CBD is that it’s not psychoactive, so you get all the calming and relaxing benefits without feeling out of control.
CBD has been gaining traction over the last few years and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere for two main reasons. Its ability to help with a variety of issues from pain to anxiety, and the ease at which you can take it. There are various ways to take your CBD for anxiety, from tinctures, gummies, and even CBD isolate powders. Finding the right dosage for your anxiety and ways to take it can be easy with the help of someone in a CBD dispensary, natural food store, or reading product information online.
Mindful Coloring
A few years ago, adult coloring books burst onto the scene, and everyone from tweens to seniors took things back to their childhood roots and started coloring again. If you’re a parent and have some coloring books of your children lying around, try sitting down and coloring a picture the next time you’re filled with dread or anxiety. Studies have shown that coloring can have the same mental health benefits as meditation, and it’s much easier to focus on than breathing for many people.
Regular Sleep
As mentioned earlier, with a healthy diet and regular exercise, another fundamental habit to lessen your anxiety levels is prioritizing getting enough sleep. These days it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and like you’re burning the candle at both ends, but one of the last things you should put on the back burner is your sleep.
Curate nighttime routines conducive to falling asleep quickly, like ditching screens two hours before bed, taking a warm bath, and reading a good book. Investing in the highest quality mattress you can afford can take some saving and budgeting, but as we spend one-third of our lives sleeping, it’s an investment worth making. Create a regular sleep routine and stick with it, and you’ll quickly see a reduction in your anxiety.
Other ways to naturally manage anxiety include reducing caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol intake, deep breathing, and aromatherapy. Finding ways that work for you may take some trial and error, but they’re worth experimenting with to get relief. If you try natural ways and still struggle, you should always reach out to your GP or another professional, as therapy and medication are also effective. Here’s to your health!
