Natural Anxiety Remedies

Passiflora complex is perhaps one of the least known about, yet most effective natural anxiety remedies. You might know this plant better as the ‘Passion Flower’, which is a climber native to South America but easily grown in Europe too.

Passiflora complex is extracted from the Passion flower

Passiflora works for reducing anxiety specifically by binding itself to benzodiazepine receptors in the brain and automatically calming us down. There is a risk of addiction to passiflora complex as there is with man made benzodiazepine drugs, yet because passiflora is completely natural, being addicted to it is not harmful at all. It can make you feel drowsy but this often means it’s simply working well to relieve anxiety and users should choose whether they’d prefer to feel drowsy when they take it, or anxious when they don’t. Perhaps only taking this natural anxiety remedy when you know you don’t need to drive or work would be a good idea.

As well as being one of the most effective natural anxiety remedies, passiflora complex can work against depression associated with anxiety and also the exhaustion that so many of us feel after a whole day of being anxious. For anyone suffering from anxiety who is really considering prescription medication I would recommend trying passiflora complex first. According to reports it can often take the edge off anxiety and depression enough so that you can seek cognitive behavioural therapy and the courage to get to the route of your problem without risking side effects from synthetic drugs.

If you or anyone you know has tried passiflora complex, which can be bought from most health food stores, please leave a comment telling us of your experience. It seems that this is a relatively unknown natural anxiety remedy and it’s certainly one we’d like to investigate further. What does it taste like? How long does it take to work? You tell us, we’d love to know!

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Did you know that eating foods containing oats can be great natural anxiety remedies? Neither did I, until my Mum bought home a herb guide leaflet from our local health food store.

Also known as ‘Avena Sativa’, oats have lots of medicinal properties, including being anti-inflammatory and helping skin conditions like eczema and hives. Additionally they have been used to help bad nerves for centuries, as well as helping you deal with stress, easing depression, giving up alcohol or drugs and calming hyperactive children.

You may already know that vitamin B is a great natural anxiety remedy because it helps to repair and protect the central and peripheral nervous systems. Oats are high in vitamin B, so they’re especially good for people suffering from stress, anxiety, depression, withdrawal, exhaustion and hyperactivity. You could simply start the day off with a bowl of porridge, or if that’s not to your tastes, eat a piece of flapjack as a snack before lunch.

For those who really don’t like the taste or texture of oats, there are still some natural anxiety remedies that contain avena sativa that you can use and they are smoothies. Simply put a tablespoon of oats into a smoothie maker/blender, add half a banana, a cup of milk, a few drops of lemon and a teaspoon of honey and blend them together. Add some ice cubes to make it deliciously cold and you won’t be able to taste the oats at all.

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Whichever natural treatment for anxiety works best for you depends entirely upon your individual physiology and what kind of anxiety you are suffering from. For example, those suffering from panic disorder will benefit from regular exercise and perhaps acupuncture to keep their adrenaline levels down at all times, whereas someone with social anxiety would be better off doing cognitive behavioural therapy involving exercises to boost the confidence, used only in those situations which make them nervous.

Tea made from dried chamomile flowers is one of the best known natural anxiety remedies

Many people use essential oils as natural anxiety treatments on a daily basis, for subtle yet positive effects. Lemon grass oil, bergamot and lavender are among some of the best and you can dab them onto a hanky to sniff wherever you go, add a few drops to a warm bath, mix them with massage oil or burn them in an oil burner. In a very similar way herbal teas are a wonderful natural treatment anxiety is often kept at bay with. If you suffer from nausea when you are nervous this can often make you feel worse, particularly if you have emetophobia (the fear of vomit/vomiting) and a vicious cycle starts. If you feel nauseous then ginger, peppermint and nettle teas are very effective at calming the stomach down. If you need a quick fix when you’re out and about, suffer from travel sickness and are pregnant and have morning sickness then eating crystallised ginger or sipping flat ginger beer can help too. For those suffering from an inability to calm down, even in the home or having trouble sleeping at night then chamomile tea is also a good natural treatment for anxiety. Please note that drinking caffeine (tea, coffee, fizzy drinks and even sometimes green tea) in even small amounts can make some anxiety sufferers ten times worse.

There are, of course, ways to exercise that are much less stressful than going for a run or doing aerobics. Some health anxiety sufferers are particularly worried about raising their pulse and this is where exercises such as Tai-chi, yoga and pilates can help. Even those with agoraphobia can take part, by ordering yoga kits and DVDs from the Internet.

Swimming is good for working every muscle but still allowing you to relax and even 20 minutes walk each day is plenty. Try to have a warm bath with essential oils following your exercise to round off the relaxation and leave you feeling refreshed afterwards.

If you are suffering from anxiety you should always talk about it to your GP or doctor first, before attempting to treat your own symptoms with natural anxiety treatments. Remember that treating symptoms leaves the underlying cause of your worries there to cause damage in the long term and therapies such as hypnotherapy, CBT and counselling can be far more beneficial to your condition.

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Using an oil burner is an easy way to enjoy the benefits of essential oils

The easy and truthful answer to that question is yes. Essential oils have been proven, scientifically, to have a significant effect on the activity of the central nervous system and the brain. This means that our reactions to stress and anxiety-inducing situations can be altered by using them as natural treatment for anxiety too.

Clinical trials on the effects of essential oils may be inconclusive, or show that they have very little effect, but when you think about how essential oils are used their calming effects begin to make sense. One of the best ways to get the benefits from essential oils is through massage. This way the oils are absorbed into the skin, which radiates heat and pulse points pump the scent out into the surrounding air. Massages as natural anxiety treatments relax the muscles and allow the recipient to wind down too, so you could argue that oils have more of a chance to get deeper into the nervous system this way. Another way to administer essential oil is in a bath. Here the pores are opened and oil can penetrate them and moisturise the skin. At the same time the steam from the bath traps oil within it, sending the scent into the humid air and the hot bath relaxes the muscles. This is the ideal combination for anyone suffering from anxiety; particular after they’ve taken part in exercise to use up their excess adrenaline.

So exactly which essential oils should you be using? Both lavender and bergamot are perfect, but is readily available in different forms than just oil. It’s easy to grow lavender in your garden, but many people (not just anxiety sufferers) mix the oil with emulsifying wax to make a ’sleep balm’. Lavender and bergamot oil smell quite good together and because their effects are quite similar a bath with drops of each oil in it will work wonders. If you’re anticipating an event where you need to stay focused, yet don’t want to be stressed and ‘over anxious’ then lemon grass oil is great too. Simply put 4-5 drops on a handkerchief and take it with you to sniff every now and then. Lemon grass oil will refresh your senses, making you feel ready for whatever is coming and with a positive attitude.

So before you dismiss essential oil as a natural treatment anxiety simply won’t respond to, try doing some personal research. You may find that some aspects of your nervous system are particularly susceptible to them. Having only mentioned 3 of hundreds of different oils you’ll find so many more that could be beneficial to you as well. Find them sold at most health food stores in handy 10ml bottles with droppers in the lids.

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There are hundreds of natural treatments for anxiety available all over the world, some growing in your back garden and some already prepared and packaged for sale in stores. The ones that you choose should depend entirely upon yourself, what type of anxiety you are suffering from and what feels right to you.

The main and most effective natural anxiety treatments are all derived from herbs, plants, flowers, fruits, vegetables, leaves and roots which grow by themselves in the wild. It’s often beneficial to grow your own, if you have the time and the space in your garden to do so. Some of these remedies might need cooking, mixing or preparing but many can simply be used as they are and have a wonderful calming effect.

Bergamot and lavender oil have calming properties

One particularly effective natural treatment for anxiety comes from the bergamot flower. It’s actually probably far easier (and cheaper) to buy bergamot oil from a local health food store or online, rather than try to get an extract from your own flowers in the kitchen. A 10ml bottle will set you back around $5 and should last 2-3 months. Bergamot oil is great for people suffering from all kinds of anxiety, because if affects the central nervous system directly, calming you down almost immediately.

It’s not simply oils, herbs and plants that can be used as natural treatments for anxiety however. Most experts will recommend breathing exercises, including breathing in through the nose for 4 seconds and out through the mouth for 5. This might seem like the last thing you want to do when you feel nervous but it actually does work, as does a slightly more bizarre method of breathing out as far as your breath will allow, then breathing in to the same degree and then breathing out as fast and as deeply as you possibly can. This is a great remedy for those suffering from ‘air hunger’; a chronic symptom of anxiety associated with hyperventilation. This ‘resets’ the body’s breathing and should stop you feeling breathless.

Along with exercise, massage, yoga and meditation there are many other natural anxiety treatments. You may have to give a lot of them a go before you find the right one, or indeed the right combination as a lot have subtle effects that only make a difference when persevered with. Always remember that natural remedies can have adverse effects when used in conjunction with prescription medication, so ask the doctor who prescribed them to you if you’re going to try any significant natural treatment for anxiety.

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Before you begin using natural anxiety treatments, it’s important to have a good understanding of what it is you’re actually suffering from. Of course you are more than aware of how it feels to have anxiety; the shallow breath, the weak feeling, dizziness, nausea etc., but you also need to know exactly why it’s happening.

Firstly your brain notices the cause of stress (for a person with a phobia of dogs this might walking through a park with dog walkers) and in turn it releases a number of chemicals. These chemicals are designed to induce the ‘flight or fight’ response, which is at the heart of an anxiety attack. Millions of years ago this response was vital; running away from danger could save your life, just as staying to fight it could too. The chemicals released are necessary to give you the stamina to do either of these things. Today this response is almost completely unnecessary, but it’s an evolutionary trait that we still possess.

Now when you think of how to deal with this response using a natural treatments for anxiety it makes sense to start at the beginning. If you are able to calm yourself as much as possible when the cause of stress is introduced then you are at an advantage. This is the kind of thing that behavioural therapies such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), hypnotherapy and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) will help greatly with, but these can be enhanced with other natural anxiety treatments too. The key here is to learn the individual properties of the essential oils and how to use them. Lemon grass oil is a good natural treatment for anxiety when you cannot avoid the cause of stress. It helps to clear your head, give you energy and focus through a stressful time. Alternatively, if you are trying to relax at home and simply can’t then try burning bergamot or lavender oil in an oil burner (3-4 drops in a well of water), sitting down and breathing it in. All of these oils will have a much stronger effect if you exercise first, to use up the excess adrenaline that your body has created. This could be light; a 20 minute walk or a full workout. After exercise have a warm bath and add some drops of oil to that too.

These are just a few of the natural anxiety treatments that are available today, many of them costing next to nothing and can be found almost anywhere. As James Wong from the BBC’s ‘Grow Your Own Drugs’ show explains, the western world is the only culture on earth to have ditched the ancient natural and herbal remedies for mental and physical ailments. We now favour man-made medicines over those that grow naturally and for free in our back gardens. Instead of those we are here to give you that knowledge back and help you find the right natural treatment anxiety will succumb to.

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