5 Ways to Reduce Anxiety Naturally
Anxiety can be very hard to cope with. Some of us are living with a lot of stress and anxiety daily unfortunately. This fast world doesn’t help obviously.
Anxiety can lead to bigger problems like depression and thoughts on ending life.
There are good medication to help fighting anxiety and stress. However, in this article we want to talk about 5 ways to reduce anxiety naturally.
Try these ways and see if it works for you. We recommend you to take a notebook and write about the way you feel after having tried one or all these ways.
Sometimes you just need to do the right thing for you.
Meditate and breathe
It’s not a secret that meditation and deep breathing can help to reduce anxiety naturally. Tons of studies have been made on this topic. And they all showed that it can reduce and prevent mental diseases.
Doing some yoga and stretching can be also a great way to reduce stress and anxiety.
Having a healthy morning routine with a bit of stretch and meditation can help you a lot to start the day well. Being positive and reduce your anxiety level. All it takes is 20 minutes.
There are some great apps which can help you to meditate as Calm or Headspace. You can also find some great videos on youtube for stretch or yoga routine.
You can read the study about meditation published by the JAMA Network Journal at the end of this article.
Read –> Why Meditation is good for your health
Reduce caffeine, alcohol, nicotine
Caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol are stimulants. That means they will stimulate your brain. Goodly or badly, like sugar they do yo-yo with your mind and body.
Some tolerate the effects more than the others. It’s like some people can smoke cannabis constantly and feeling nothing. Compare to one which is not used to, will smoke one puff and sleep all day.
Anyway, one sure thing is that these 3 are also considered to be psychoactive drugs as cannabis. Which can be the cause of paranoia and other diseases as anxiety disorder.
As a study from Cambridge reports: “Excessive caffeine ingestion leads to symptoms that overlap with those of many psychiatric disorders. Caffeine is implicated in the exacerbation of anxiety and sleep disorders, and people with eating disorders often misuse it.” Find it at the end.
Also, stimulant will increase the brain activity, and then lowing up fast. That can cause yourself feeling bad after his effects have passed. So then, you’ll need for more and more. And this is never ending. Thus, you’ll find yourself up and bad all the time. And also being irritated easily.
Coffee, cigarettes and alcohol can also increase your cortisol level which is the hormone of stress. Thus, stopping or reducing this kind of addiction can help you a lot to reduce your anxiety and your stress levels naturally.
You can read more about how caffeine can cause anxiety in the article of psycom in the sources.
Read –> What’s a stimulant and its effect on you
–> A great way to stop an addiction
Having a healthy diet
Indeed, your body is your vehicle. You don’t put bad stuff in your vehicle as you need to go to work right? So, same for your body then. Learning how to eat healthy and avoid sugar could reduce your anxiety naturally as well.
As seen before on the stimulants like coffee, cigarettes or alcohol. Sugar and fast food do exactly the same yo-yo to your body. Fact which can make you feeling bad after eating them.
You have to make yourself happy and working to fulfil your life and people you care about. So, eating healthy food and adopting a healthy lifestyle will help you to reduce your anxiety. Also, making yourself more positive and happy.
Read –> How to organise and build a healthy meal
–> What are superfoods and their benefits for your health
Doing some exercise
Making some activities and yourself moving as eating healthy will reduce your stress as well. Indeed, doing some exercises will reduce the cortisol level and increase the happiness hormone as serotonin, endorphin and dopamine. These hormones are drug free, with no bad effects.
That’s why many people become addicted to sport or to the gym for instance. They actually become addicted to the sensation of feeling well that the hormone will deliver in their body.
Also, doing sport with friends will help you to see people which can definitely reduce your anxiety. As human being we all need sociability but good ones (as we are going to see in the next point).
Read –> The top psychological health benefits of sports
–> 7 health benefits of sports
Avoid toxic people
Some of your friends, colleagues or other people can actually be the cause of your anxiety. It can also be your partner or one of your family member unfortunately.
You should avoid everyone which can be the cause of your stress or anxiety as much as you can. Learning to say no to things that you’re not feeling can also lower your anxiety.
Prefer to stay with people which can make you happy. Stay by yourself for sometime if needed to read, watch movies, or anything that you want to do. There is no shame to be alone at sometimes. It actually can ressource yourself and make you feel better.
Quit your job
Indeed, your job fill up a lot of time in your life. If you don’t feel good at work this can be the cause of your anxiety. Maybe you’ll say to yourself « yes but quitting this job will make me more anxious ».
This is actually just a “maybe”. One sure thing is that you don’t like your job and this is a fact. Thus, it’s better for yourself and your life to take the risk to find another job which will make you happier and fulfiller.
Read –> How to relieve stress in one minute daily
Sources and Further reading :
Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/health/natural-ways-to-reduce-anxiety#4
Health Harvard: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindfulness-meditation-may-ease-anxiety-mental-stress-201401086967
JAMA Network: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1809754
Psycom : https://www.psycom.net/anxiety-and-caffeine