5 Steps to Lower Your Anxiety Now
How to Balance Hormones and Calm the Mind
You can feel it rising. Like water it begins to pool around your feet. Then it slowly rises up your body until you are fully submerged, unable to breathe, drowning in your own fears.
This is how I describe my experience with anxiety. It is a feeling that I am too familiar with and one that many of you have suffered as well. Many people face regular bouts of anxiety that can profoundly affect their lives. They may be unable to work or have healthy social lives. For others, anxiety may be brought on by high pressure situations such as taking a test.
The good news? You can beat anxiety in 5 steps! You can cut the chains that bind you and set yourself free for a life full of positivity and success!
There can be many underlying factors behind anxiety. Traumatic life events such a death of a loved one or financial problems can trigger anxiety in people who formerly led a happy productive life! This stress induced anxiety can snowball and disrupt the body to the point that hormonal changes and body imbalances begin to occur. Once specific hormones such as cortisol are out of balance, it is much like throwing gasoline on a fire. The frequency and strength of anxiety begins to increase and take over a person’s life.
Many people also struggle with anxiety, but because the symptoms don’t manifest in the more obvious ways such as irrational fears or impending doom, they don’t realize that anxiety is the culprit behind their health problems. When we stuff our feelings and don’t let them out, the built up stress can lead to anxiety which manifests in ways such as:
- Tachycardia
- Digestive issues
- Difficulty focusing
- Sleep disorders
These symptoms often resolve themselves once the underlying stress and anxiety is properly addressed. Stress itself is the cause of 75-90% of all disease! It is imperative to address and relieve stress in order to live a healthy long life!
The Role of Cortisol with Anxiety
Addressing the root cause and imbalance behind anxiety can calm the mind and body to bring true relief from symptoms. One of the most common body imbalances that occurs with anxiety has to do with cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone released by the adrenal glands in response to fear or stress as part of the fight-or-flight reaction.
Often referred to as our stress hormone, cortisol is responsible for three major functions that keep our body in balance during times of stress:
- Raising blood sugar
- Increasing blood pressure
- Regulating inflammation
Cortisol and anxiety have a cyclical relationship. When you experience anxiety, which is a form of stress, you automatically release cortisol. However, having excess cortisol in the body can cause anxiety and contribute to anxiety attacks! Your cortisol imbalance may have caused your anxiety, but your anxiety may also have caused your cortisol imbalance.
When cortisol levels build up in the blood, your mind and body are profoundly affected. If you struggle with anxiety, I’m sure those symptoms sound very familiar!
- High levels of cortisol can lead to a nervous stomach, jitters, feelings of panic, and even paranoia.
- High levels of cortisol also suppress the production of serotonin, which leads to feelings of loss of hope and depression.
Failing to manage stress in your life will lead to increased cortisol production and ultimately cause anxiety.
When anxiety sounds the alarm, our body releases cortisol and becomes ready for action. However, without an actual release of a physical flight or fight action, cortisol builds up in the blood. Over time, chronically high cortisol levels begin to negatively affect our bodies. Some of the most common symptoms of high cortisol levels include:
- Digestive issues
- Impaired circulation
- Disrupted sleep/wake cycles
- Extreme fatigue
- Low sex drive
- Depressed mood
Lowering Your Cortisol Levels Naturally
Bringing your cortisol down to a healthy, balanced level is key in overcoming anxiety.
There are 5 steps to lower your cortisol levels that are both safe and extremely effective. Adding even one of these steps into your daily routine can make a big difference. However, incorporating all 5 of these steps will help you achieve maximum anxiety reducing results.
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Relax your mind
Your mind is incredibly powerful. So powerful that it can control anxiety even if the anxiety is related to a hormonal imbalance! Prayer, meditation and even listening to calming music can greatly reduce your stress levels and leave you feeling less anxious.
Wholetones Chroma, a combination of both sonic and visual frequencies is an extremely effective way to bring your body into balance and a sense of calm to your mind. Simply watch this DVD on your TV or computer and relax, letting these body-balancing frequencies do their work. To learn more and also to purchase this product, click HERE.
2. Regular exercise
Exercise is one of the best ways to combat anxiety. During bouts of anxiety, however, getting up and moving is the last thing that person wants to do. But pushing through the difficulty is truly worth it!
Regular exercise not only reduces stress levels, but it also releases endorphins that elevate our mood! Many people find that yoga works well at reducing stress because it not only provides exercise, but incorporates breathing techniques that calm the body and lower stress as well.
Any sort of exercise provides stress reducing benefits. Whether it is a 30-minute walk or an hour session of lifting weights, getting the body moving and working on a daily basis provides an outlet for stress and boosts your mood.
3. Earthing
This practice, otherwise known as grounding, is a very effective way of restoring the body’s natural hormonal rhythm. Studies showed that practicing grounding produced measurable improvements in which cortisol levels significantly reduced during night-time sleep. Twenty-four hour cortisol profiles also displayed normalization in levels after grounding. Also, symptoms such as sleep dysfunction, pain, and stress, were reduced or eliminated in nearly all subjects!
Earthing is the practice of allowing your bare skin to come into direct contact with the earth’s surface. Positive electrons in the form of free radicals can build up in our bodies. When we have direct skin contact to the ground, it balances our bodies with a negative grounding charge.
Earthing can be performed by walking barefoot outside or swimming in lakes or in the ocean. If you aren’t able to make direct contact with the ground regularly, there are many different earthing products that bring the earth’s negative energy into your home. Earthing mats and earthing sheets are the most popular and help to balance your body while you sleep.
4. Essential oils
Using essential oils is another great way to lower anxiety levels. Once essential oils are inhaled, they are converted to an electrical charge, which is sent to the olfactory bulb. These signals impact brain chemical production thereby affecting both mental and physical health.
Looking to try out essential oils for yourself? I suggest adding calming essential oils to a diffuser or simply inhaling them straight from the bottle when you begin to feel anxious.
The 3 best essential oils for stress include:
- Lavender: It is such a calming and attractive scent. Add it to your bath water, your perfume or even to your deodorant! It is a deeply relaxing scent.
- Orange: Orange is an essential oil that cannot only help improve anxious feelings but also boost your mood. When diffused, it brings a sense of happiness and well-being.
- Frankincense: Frankincense activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxious feelings.
5. Herbs and supplements
There are a plethora of fantastic herbs and other supplements that have a profound effect on lowering anxiety levels. Many of these supplements are safe substitutes for common, potentially addictive psychoactive drugs used for anxiety.
Some of the best herbs and supplements for managing anxiety and lowering stress and cortisol levels include:
Holy Basil
Often referred to as Tulsi, holy basil is a plant that originated in India. It contains strong adaptogen compounds to help the body adapt to stress: eugenol and caryophyllene. These two compounds lower cortisol levels and improve the way the body reacts and responds to increases in stress.
You can take holy basil to reduce the amount of stress hormones your body will produce when it is under stress. Holy Basil can also help improve mood and mental clarity.
L-Theanine
This amino acid is found in green tea and has the ability to lower stress, enhance relaxation and promote normal sleep patterns. It is a GABA supporting compound that promotes relaxation by lowering neuron activity in the brain.
Studies have noted L-theanine’s ability to lower anxiety levels. Results showed that highly anxious students receiving the L-theanine had a slower heartbeat, improved concentration, and better reaction times compared to members of the same group receiving a placebo. Unlike pharmaceutical drugs, L-theanine did not result in increased drowsiness, slowed reflexes, or impaired concentration.
To reduce anxiety, take 100-200 mg a day of L-theanine daily.
GABA
This important neurotransmitter is a precursor to dopamine and the primary inhibitor in the brain for excitatory activity. Essentially, GABA helps to calm the mind and body. Low levels of GABA can be associated with anxiety, making its supplementation very helpful in alleviating anxiety symptoms.
A dosage of 350-500 mg a day is best for alleviating anxiety.
Rhodiola
Undoubtedly, rhodiola is one of the best adaptogen herbs on the planet. Rhodiola has the ability to lower stress levels and calm the mind by lowering cortisol levels in the body. It contains a phytochemical known as salidroside to alleviate anxiety. Rhodiola also helps maintain appetite and sleeping after stress, and fights fatigue. Rhodiola can also slow your heart rate during anxiety and increases your use of oxygen.
I have found relief using many of these supplements. A combination called Theanine Serene by Source Naturals contains a combination of nearly all the listed supplements making it a convenient, price effective combination.
Having battled anxiety myself, I have found that incorporating these 5 steps into my life has made a significant difference. I encourage you to try these steps for yourself. When you feel the tide rising, and the waves of anxiety begin to threaten your shores:
- Take the time to calm your mind.
- Step outside and walk barefoot in your yard.
- Inhale calming essential oils.
- Exercise at least 3-4 times a week.
- Begin taking adaptogen supplements to lower anxiety and prevent it from occurring.
These 5 steps changed my life and they can change yours as well! Take these steps down a path towards clear, happy and hopeful thoughts.
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