Natural Strategies for Managing Anxiety

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Anxiety has been an unwelcome guest in my brain for as long as I can remember. I have vivid memories of lying in bed as a child worrying about someone breaking into my house or my house catching on fire. If anxiety were an Olympic event, I would most definitely earn a gold medal. I have to work every single day to keep anxiety from taking over my brain.

My personal experience with anxiety has helped me develop a great big toolbox of strategies and lifestyle habits that work to minimize my anxiety. Through a lot of research and trial and error, I have come up with a natural way to deal with my anxiety.

A little note before I really get into it: this is strictly informational. In no way does is this information a substitute for medical advice from a licensed professional. If anxiety is something you struggle with, please seek the help of a mental health professional. Therapy and prescription medicines are tools that can be incredibly helpful in managing anxiety. Sometimes, the best strategy is to use a combination of therapy, anxiety meds, and natural lifestyle changes.

Anxiety 101

According to the Anxiety and Depression Society of America, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness affecting 40 million adults in the US. There are different varieties of anxiety: social, generalized anxiety, and specific phobias are some of the most common forms of anxiety.

We all have experienced worry. To me, anxiety is when that worry plays in a never-ending loop in my brain that just won’t quit. My brain falls into this default mode where it tries to tell me that if I am not worrying about something constantly, it is not doing its job of keeping me safe.

The current environment we live in is an ideal situation to breed anxiety. The stressful news of the world has gone from something we would see for hour a day when we watched the nightly news or read the newspaper to 24/7 thanks to our phones and the 24 hour news channels. Social media and cable news make it really easy for you to see scary headlines all day long. This paired with the fact that we are eating a ton of highly processed foods, spending very little time outside and with our community, live sedentary lifestyles, and we sleep way less on average than the recommend 8 hours a night-it is no wonder so many of us feel anxious.

Lifestyle Changes

Some things about anxiety are out of your control. Your genetics may predispose you to being more anxious than others. Trauma and life experiences can also make you more susceptible to anxiety as well. Your daily habits also have a huge impact on your anxiety levels. The lifestyle changes that support your mental health are often the same changes that will support your physical health as well.

Healthy Diet

This is often the most challenging one for people. I am one of those people. I really love foods that are typically unhealthy for me (chips, wine, candy). A couple things that help me with this is to journal about how I feel after I eat. When I can see a direct impact on my mood and energy based on what I eat, it helps me make healthier choices.

Healthy eating can also feel really confusing. Some people tell me I should become a vegan. Others will tell me that carnivore diet is where it is at. One health expert tells me that counting calories or macros is the way to achieve optimal health, another one tells me that calories don’t matter as long as I am eating healthy food that does not spike my blood sugar.

No wonder so many people give up on trying to eat healthy. Confusion never leads to positive change. When it comes to eating for your mental health, I have found it is helpful to follow a few principles instead of trying to stick to a strict diet.

My eating and drinking for mental (and physical health) principles are:

1. Eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods (plants, nuts, seeds, organic meat and dairy, eggs)
2. Limit or eliminate alcohol
3. Be mindful with caffeine. I can’t drink coffee on an empty stomach. It causes my anxiety to spike. This may be true for you too. Try moving your morning cup of coffee until after breakfast to see how you feel.
4. Limit sugar
5. Stay hydrated

Regular Exercise

This is non negotiable. If I don’t walk every single day, I feel incredibly anxious. When I was younger, I ran a lot to help manage my anxiety. Now, daily walks are my top way to manage my mood. Luckily for me, I have three dogs who also need walked every day so even on the days I don’t feel like it I get my butt out the door for them.

Walking is my favorite anxiety reducing exercise but it is not your only option. Swimming, jogging, yoga, strength training, or cycling are all great choices too. Pick the one you enjoy and do it most days.

Quality Sleep

I get it, if you are feeling anxious, sleep may be hard to come by. But I am urging you to do everything in your power to prioritize quality sleep. Sleep is the one healthy habit that has the biggest impact on your health yet it is often the most overlooked.

Some of my best sleep strategies include:

• Get sunlight as soon as possible in the morning to help your body set its internal clock.
• Stop caffeine at noon.
• Limit alcohol and if you do choose to consume it, make sure you stop drinking at least three hours before bed.
• Take magnesium glycinate 30 minutes before bed.
• Stop eating at least two-three hours before going to sleep.
• Get exercise (preferably outside) each and every day.
• No screens (phone, TV, iPad, computer) at least one hour before bed.

Limit Screen Time

Put down that little anxiety machine (your smart phone) and replace it with something that will make you feel less anxious like a conversation with a loved one, reading a book, or taking a walk outside. Seriously, your phone is causing more anxiety than you realize. Set firm boundaries with yourself around screen time. Our brains were never designed to process this much information.

Supplements

Fix your diet first but then you may want to add some supplements into your routine to optimize your body’s reaction to stress. I really love Ashwaganda for this purpose. Just like with your food, the source of your supplements matters.

Mind-Body Practices

This type of stuff used to be considered “woo-woo” but now, thanks to the strong science showing how well it works, people are coming around to how powerful it really is. Just like any of the other changes, pick one or two to incorporate into your life and see how you feel.

Meditation and Mindfulness

Mediation is so hard for me. I don’t know what it is but every time I sit down to do it, I have the strongest desire to stop. I know this means that I need to do it even more because of my reaction to it. The only way I have found to make it stick for me is to make a commitment to myself to do it for five minutes, every single morning. I like the Calm app or free five minute mediations I find on YouTube to make this happen.

I have made a deal with myself that I am not allowed to drink my coffee until I meditate. For the past couple of months, I have meditated for five minutes while my coffee brews. I have yet to see the magic happen but I am committed.

Mindfulness is a little easier for me. One way I have incorporated more mindfulness into my day is to quit multitasking. As a busy mom and teacher, I have a mile long to do list every day so time is at a premium for me like I am sure it is for you too. Focusing on the task at hand has greatly reduced my anxiety and also improved my productivity.

Yoga and Breathing Exercises

I love yoga but I don’t do a great job of making time for it. In a perfect world, I would create time to go to a weekly yoga class. Instead of going to a class, I have learned to incorporate mini yoga sessions into my fitness routine a couple times a week. Again, free YouTube classes are a great way to try out yoga in the comfort of your own home.

Breath work is also a helpful anxiety-reducing strategy. I like breath work because it is something to easily sneak into your daily routine. Stopped at a red light? Take a minute and focus on your breath. Can’t sleep at night? Try the 4-7-8 breathing technique.

Music, Podcasts, and Books

The information you feed your mind is really powerful. If you constantly watch the news, listen to true crime podcasts, and follow fear mongering health influencers on social media, guess what? That is going to increase your anxiety. While it is important to stay informed, it is also crucial that you manage your consumption of stress inducing media.

For me, this means limiting my time on social media and making sure to follow accounts that are uplifting and positive. The podcasts and books I choose to read are primarily positive as well. Sometime I choose to consume content that is not positive but I always make sure to do it with a specific purpose in mind (typically when I am trying to learn more about a topic).

Social and Emotional Support

This is so important. We are lonelier than ever before and it is having a huge impact on our mental and physical health. Be honest with yourself, when was the last time you hung out with your friends just for fun? Chances are it has been a really long time. I know I am guilty of this. Time with friends is one of the first things to get cut when life gets busy. Or maybe you don’t have a strong social network. That is really common too.

Building a Support Network

Think about that one friend you have who makes you feel good every time you spend time with them. That feeling is a reminder to spend time with people who feel like sunshine.

Journaling

Journaling can feel very intimidating for people. I think maybe it brings back feelings of being in school and forced to write something for your teacher. Don’t worry, no one is reading this journal and grading your spelling. The act of writing is a great way to help your brain process your feelings.

There are a couple of ways to do this. I like to sit down first thing in the morning and write for one page. It is amazing to see what flows out of my brain during this process. Other people find it beneficial to set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and write whatever comes to mind.

Another way is to purchase a journal for this purpose. A quick Amazon search for “journals for anxiety” will give you a wide variety to choose from.

My Daily Practices to Keep Anxiety at Bay

As I mentioned before, I am no stranger to anxiety. I have struggled with it for as long as I can remember. Through the years, I have developed a list of daily habits that help me mange my anxiety.

Here are my current habits:

Coffee-limit it to two cups, never on a empty stomach

Alcohol-limit to two drinks a week

Food-eat mainly minimally processed foods, lots of vegetables, very little sugar

Meditate-5 minutes every morning while my coffee brews

Movement-walk at least 2 miles every single day, rain or shine

Screen time– 30 minutes max on social media a day

Just like all of you, I am constantly a work in progress but we all owe it to ourselves to put our mental and physical health at the top of our list of priorities.