Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States. This particular disorder can be debilitating for those who suffer from it. Anxiety can cause feelings of uneasiness or nervousness, which can actually prevent people from doing normal activities in their day to day lives. If you’ve ever experienced anxiety at any point in your life, you understand how hard it can be to deal with.
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to help with anxiety symptoms. While many turn to prescription medications at the recommendation of their doctors, others seek more natural approaches. If you’re looking for some other options, we’re sharing five natural ways to help calm your anxiety. The next time you’re feeling uneasy about something, give these tips a try and see how they help you.
1. Essential Oils
Essential oils can provide a lot of benefits for both your mind and body. They’ve actually been used for centuries to treat a variety of ailments and that includes anxiety symptoms. The key is choosing the right oils to help combat the feelings you’re experiencing. Here are a few great essential oils to try for anxiety:
- Lavender: The reason lavender is a great essential oil for anxiety is because it’s very relaxing. One whiff of this oil and you’ll be transported to a more relaxed state. It can also be used to promote restful sleep, decrease irritability, and ease panic attacks.
- Frankincense: This oil has been shown to provide people with a tranquil energy, which is soothing when you’re feeling panicked or uneasy.
- Ylang Ylang: To promote feelings of happiness and optimism, you’ll want to use ylang ylang. This is ideal because you’re dealing with the exact opposite feelings during an anxiety attack. Ylang ylang has also been shown to reduce cortisol levels, which is also known as the stress hormone.
2. Supplements
Supplements are another natural way to help calm your anxiety. They work well because they can provide results without increasing your dependence on it, unlike the way many prescription medications work. They’re also less likely to leave you dealing with crazy side effects. When searching for supplements to calm your anxiety, you’ll want to look for ones with these ingredients:
- Green Tea: Green tea contains L-theanine, which can help to steady your blood pressure and your heart rate. Both of these levels tend to increase when in the midst of an anxiety attack and a little green tea will help to bring them down to a normal level.
- Kava Root: This particular ingredient has been shown to relax the muscles, improve cognitive abilities, and can act as a mild sedative. You can take kava root in pill form to promote calm, relaxed feelings.
- Valerian Root: The relaxed feelings that valerian root can provide will help to ease the feelings of uneasiness and distress that anxiety sufferers deal with. Find a supplement with valerian root and take it in the morning or during the day to see the best results.
3. Massage
Have you ever had a massage? If so, you likely chose to get one to help soothe achy, tight muscles. Massages are great for that, but they’re also helpful for those who deal with anxiety.
Getting regular massages has been found to decrease the levels of stress hormones in your body, which can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Plus, the whole process of getting a massage is relaxing, which should help to calm your mind and body. If you suffer from anxiety, you may want to consider incorporating massages into your wellness routine to see if it provides benefits for you.
4. Meditation
When dealing with anxiety, you likely find your mind is often racing with thoughts that leave you feeling worried and uneasy. It’s those very thoughts that can lead to stress and panic. One way to combat this is through meditation. While you might think meditation would be hard to do when your mind is cluttered with so many different things, it really can help.
Meditation promotes feelings of restfulness and relaxation, which can help to calm you down whenever you’re feeling anxious or worried. The best thing you can do is to practice meditation daily and you will get better at it. Then, you’ll be able to use it regularly to prevent anxiety symptoms and can turn to this practice when times are rough.
5. Exercise
We all know that exercise is important to keep our bodies healthy, but it’s equally as important to our mental health as well. Regular exercise has been shown to reduce anxiety and it can lower levels of cortisol, which cuts down on stressed out feelings. For a natural way to calm your anxiety, you should exercise regularly.
You can choose to go for a walk around the neighborhood, do a little yoga, or hit the gym. Figure out what works best for you to eliminate anxiety and turn to your favorite exercise whenever you need help in dealing with anxiety.
Although you should never stop taking anxiety medications without permission from your doctor, these are some alternatives to consider. Each of these natural ways to calm your anxiety should help you see results. All you have to do is give them a try and see what works best for your mind and body.
