Are you looking for natural remedies to help with anxiety? Look no further! This article explores commonly used natural remedies for anxiety, including those prescribed by a naturopathic doctor (ND), and when they might be most effective. I'll also discuss the importance of understanding lifestyle factors that contribute to anxiety and how adjusting these factors can help you feel less anxious.
Understanding Anxiety
Before prescribing a remedy for anxiety, most naturopathic doctors will first seek to understand how your anxiety affects you and how long you’ve been experiencing it. Anxiety can manifest differently for everyone. Some effects are noticeable, while others might not be as apparent. Anxiety symptoms can range from mild discomfort to severe, debilitating symptoms that interfere with your life.
Severe anxiety can prevent you from leaving home, going to work, or engaging in social settings, effectively paralyzing you. In contrast, mild to moderate anxiety may create discomfort without significantly interfering with your daily life.
Anxiety doesn’t just affect your mind—it can influence your body, too. For some, it manifests as heart palpitations (an awareness of your heart beating). For others, it may cause gastrointestinal symptoms like irritable bowel syndrome, acid reflux, or even ulcerative colitis. The severity and specific physical symptoms vary from person to person. How does your anxiety affect you?
Types of Anxiety
If anxiety has been interfering with your daily life for more than six months, you may have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). If it's been persistent but isn’t interfering with your daily function, it might be classified as mild to moderate anxiety, or an unspecified anxiety disorder. Anxiety related to specific situations or triggers, such as social settings or heights, may fall under phobia-related disorders like social anxiety disorder or acrophobia.
Answering questions such as, "Is my anxiety linked to specific circumstances?" or "Does it interfere with my daily life?" is essential before determining whether natural remedies or more aggressive options like pharmaceuticals are better suited for your situation. In cases of anxiety disorders, consulting a psychotherapist and a primary care provider in addition to your naturopathic doctor can be beneficial.
Lifestyle Matters
In my experience, addressing lifestyle factors is more impactful than focusing on natural medicines or drugs. If your anxiety stems from behaviors, relationships, or your living situation, modifying these aspects can bring significant, rapid relief. However, lifestyle changes aren’t always immediately possible. For example, if you’re in a rigorous graduate program or are under a high-stress period in your career, there may be little that you can change until your circumstances shifts. In these cases, natural remedies can be an extremely valuable ally in managing anxiety.
As a naturopathic doctor, I always start by asking about your lifestyle. Understanding your habits, environment, and personality allows me to identify the underlying causes of your anxiety and work with you to create small but sustainable changes to reduce your stress and anxiety levels. This approach addresses the true cause of your symptoms, which often lies in your psychology and lifestyle.
Why Your Nervous System Feels Overwhelmed
Anxiety is often a result of an overactive stress response. The response that your nervous system has to perceived threats and dangers, whether actual (impending physical harm), or perceived (poor work performance), are essentially the same. The stress response is non-specific and leads to symptoms like a racing heart, gastrointestinal distress, or excessive sweating regardless of the actual stressor. These responses stem from your perception of life events and how you respond to them. This is why techniques like meditation and mindfulness work.
Many people mistakenly believe their anxiety is caused by a physical issue when, in most cases, a lifestyle circumstance or negative perception are at the root.
By adjusting your lifestyle and gaining healthier perspectives through counseling, dream interpretation, and homeopathic medicines—a unique approach that I take—we can address these stressors effectively. To support this process, I often prescribe natural remedies to regulate your nervous system to calm you down and make you more receptive to counseling.
Effective Natural Remedies for Anxiety
Here are some key herbs, therapies, or substances I frequently recommend for managing anxiety:
Lavender: This familiar herb contains compounds shown to calm the nervous system. Special preparations can be taken internally and have shown benefit, in some cases, near the equivalent of pharmaceuticals.
GABA: This is a chemical messenger your body naturally produces to help you relax. If you've been anxious for a long time, sometimes GABA might be low. In that case, supplementing with GABA can provide immediate relief for some individuals.
Phosphatidylserine: A brain-supporting fatty acid molecule that regulates cortisol (the stress hormone) and helps improve resilience to stress. Your body uses it to keep the structure of your cells intact.
Eleuthero (Siberian Ginseng): A milder version of ginseng root traditionally used to support those experiencing chronic stress. The person who needs Eleuthero is typically overworked and exhausted, with frequent common colds or mild infections that aren't resolving. They may also have with a mild case of anxiety as a result of lowered resilience to stress.
Ashwagandha: A well-known adaptogen that helps regulate the stress response and balance cortisol levels. Ashwagandha has grown tremendously in popularity in the last few years on social media and for good reason. It can have a sedating effect on your body and mind, but not one that will make you tired. Keep in mind that the dose is important and, like most herbs, it's only effective at the proper dose.
Homeopathy: these medicines can be used to help change how you perceive and respond to stress in your life. For that reason, they can be one of your greatest allies in helping to reframe your perspectives and view situations in a different way. Homeopathy can help change your belief systems.
All of these options can complement lifestyle changes to provide holistic support for anxiety relief. For a more individualized approach, I also offer advanced testing, such as ZYTO scans or neurotransmitter testing, to better understand your unique needs.
Need help?
If anxiety is interfering with your quality of life, addressing its root causes and making meaningful lifestyle adjustments can lead to lasting relief. Natural remedies like lavender, GABA, and ashwagandha can help calm your nervous system and support your overall well-being.
Take the first step by evaluating your habits and stressors. Consulting a naturopathic doctor can provide a personalized approach to managing your anxiety and restoring balance. Reach out today to explore how natural remedies and tailored lifestyle strategies can help you feel more at ease and in control! www.drpistoia.com/contact
