An introduction to Natural Anxiety Treatments
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.
