Top Natural Alternatives For Anxiety & Stress
Millions of people are moving away from allopathic medicine toward natural alternatives for anxiety and stress. More and more people are turning to natural therapies and remedies to support their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Approx 1/3rd of cancer sufferers use some sort of complementary therapy as part of their treatment or rehabilitation. And much more are using holistic and natural alternatives for anxiety and stress.
With so many side effects associated with prescription medication, even Doctors are encouraging their patients to find healthier alternatives. They know it is not just about treating the symptoms. But that medicine and well-being should be about helping clients get to the core of their problems.
More people are being encouraged to take up mindfulness, meditation, or yoga. And being encouraged to look at their life and lifestyle. Because most mainstream medicine approaches are not aimed at prevention but at putting a plaster over the damage.
Sadly, most anxiety and stress disorders are caused by unhealthy thought patterns and lifestyle choices. The way we look at and approach our health and well-being needs to change. We can see this in the demand for more natural alternatives to anti-anxiety and stress medication.
Some Natural Alternatives For Anxiety and Stress
There are a variety of readily available natural alternatives for anxiety and stress. But obviously actually getting to the core issues of your anxiety and stress will always be the best way to eliminate it.
Learning how to manage your anxiety and stress will help prevent and reduce your risk of chronic anxiety and stress.
Learning how to relax deeply to encourage the relaxation response helps us become more naturally resilient to chronic anxiety and stress. That is why visiting a Relaxation Therapist or going to a Relaxation Class can be highly beneficial.
Stress Management offers various strategies to help identify, analyse, and manage your stress effectively. Just like anxiety management helps identify, analyze and manage your anxiety effectively. Chronic anxiety and stress can be hugely disabling. Both seriously impact a person’s well-being so it is important that it is treated, managed, and reduced as quickly as possible.
As a holistic therapist as well as anxiety and stress management I am fortunate enough to be trained in a variety of holistic and alternative therapies. So other than being able to teach my clients and students a variety of relaxation, meditation, and stress management techniques. I can suggest a variety of holistic alternatives to treat anxiety and stress.
Holistic And Natural Alternatives For Anxiety And Stress
Aromatherapy And Essential Oils
Aromatherapy essential oils have various therapeutic benefits to support the reduction of anxiety and stress. Essential oils when blended suitably and applied to the skin can help the physical, mental, and emotional body.
Oils commonly used as a natural alternative for anxiety and stress are ylang-ylang, frankincense, lavender, vetivert, and valerian. All are useful essential oils to help relax, unwind, and encourage a deep restful sleep when feeling stressed or anxious.
Ayurvedic Medicine
Ayurvedic Medicine works by focusing on balancing your body type otherwise known as Doshas. The different doshas are Vata (Air), Pitta (Fire), or Kapha (Earth). Ayurveda uses a variety of treatments, natural medicine, and food types to support the individual’s constitution. Common ayurvedic remedies used to treat symptoms of anxiety and stress are Ashwagandha, Peppermint (Pudina), and Maca.
Ashwagandha is reputed to be an adaptogen for the body that reduces the stress hormone cortisol it is generally safe but should be avoided during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and hyperthyroidism. Peppermint is commonly used in the pharmaceutical and natural medicine industry. and natural remedies it is useful in the treatment of IBS and as an aid to calm the nervous system. Avoid Maca if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or have high blood pressure.
Bach Flower Essences
Bach Flower Essences are flower essences used to mostly treat different mental and emotional states, issues, and challenges. Which include various types of anxiety, worry, shock, and trauma. They are completely safe and can be taken internally as a tincture and can be taken with prescription medicine.
Bach’s Rescue Remedy is Bach’s most popular natural remedy blend. It is mostly used for anxiety, stress, exams, tests grief, shock, and trauma. I passed my driving test on my 10th time using the help of Bach Rescue Remedy.
Counselling
Counselling is still one of the most common ways people use to get help when they are not coping. Counselling offers a supportive environment to discuss your difficulties in a safe and therapeutic environment. Ensure your Counselor is suitably qualified.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy CBT
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a popular form of psychotherapy used by the NHS that helps address unhealthy thinking that causes and increases anxiety and stress.
Herbal Medicine
Herbal Medicine includes various forms of natural plants, resins, shrubs, or flowers. Kava Kava and Valerian are both used for insomnia and anxiety. St Johns Wort for Depression. Lemon Balm for anxiety and nervousness. Skullcap for stress, anxiety, and worry.
Meditation
Meditation– is now extremely popular. Learning the right meditation skills helps slow our distorted thinking. It helps to loosen our attachment to our fearful thoughts or worries that feed the chronic anxiety or stress state. I believe meditation is the most powerful tool you can teach anyone.
The key is finding the right teacher and meditation style for you. If you are someone up to now who has struggled to meditate, my less than 5 Minute Meditation is extremely powerful and easy. In fact this has been the most popular meditation technique I have taught over the last 20 years. It is popular with students of all ages even children, teenagers beginners, and advanced meditators.
Nutritional Therapy
Nutritional Therapy is now recognised for its benefits in building anxiety and stress resilience. As they say, let Food be thy Medicine. Adequate nutrition is so important for the body but sadly many people’s eating habits get seriously poorer when feeling stressed or anxious.
This often leads to a variety of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, dehydration, poor digestion, and absorption. Eating the wrong foods, and dehydration adds stress to the body, it lowers levels of iron and b12 which can lead to fatigue, poor concentration, and more anxiety.
Relaxation Therapy
Relaxation Therapy is a powerful way to move the mind, body, emotions, and spirit off the stress response into the relaxed response. It helps the body let go of stress, anxiety, and muscle tension. We teach our Relaxation Teachers over 20 anxiety and stress management techniques which include a variety of relaxation therapy techniques.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine uses plant, mineral, and animal extracts. TCM works on the principle of the body’s Qi, energy flow, blood flow, the main body’s organs, and meridians. That is why traditional Chinese herbalists also usually offer acupuncture to work on the Qi flow in the organs and meridian lines. In TCM anxiety, depression, and stress are viewed as suppression of Qi in the liver, usually, you would be prescribed mixed herbs sometimes required to be boiled as tea…Magnolia Bark is used to move Qi and resolve stagnation, Hoelin Mushroom calms the spirit.
The Benefits Of Natural Alternatives For Anxiety And Stress
The most common benefits of many natural alternatives for anxiety and stress are they tend to have fewer side effects. But like all-natural remedies and natural approaches, they all have different properties and contra-indications. Always ensure you get proper advice from a fully qualified practitioner such as a Herbalist, Naturopath, Aromatherapist, Ayurvedic Doctor.
Always check with your holistic practitioner about their level and years of training. Sadly today someone stating they have a Certificate or Diploma in a certain subject means very little. A lot of very poor fast-track training schools are now giving out Certificates in as little as a week or weekend. In some subjects that would normally take 1-3 years. So check your practitioner has the right training and qualifications to safely advise or treat you.
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