Anyone who keeps up with the latest health trends will notice that stress related illnesses and issues are constantly on the the rise. A recent survey indicated that there were over 23% percent of respondents, who had various symptoms of clinical anxiety.
It was reported that over 12% percent of the general population will suffer some form of anxiety attack or related disorder, sometime during their working lives. Over 75% percent will visit their doctors for stress related trauma issues, leading to medication.
So how can we as an aging population protect ourselves from these issues. The best natural cure and protection it’s found is through a sensible well balanced diet, regular exercise, getting adequate sleep, being socially active, while taking the right supplements to balance our bodies.
Although these may appear to be typical common sense solutions that most are already doing, they’re usually ignored when faced with stressful conditions, this because of a lack of time or energy.
Maintaining A Stress Free Diet
Managing a regular healthy balanced diet, is a critical step towards effectively insulating our bodies and mind from poor blood sugar fluctuations. Not doing so can drive our stress and anxiety levels higher.
So it becomes vitally important to consume the daily recommended amounts of proteins at every meal. Proteins such as such as fish, soy and nuts, eggs, white meats, or supplementing with a good protein based drink.
Make sure that you also include plenty of fruits and fresh vegetables in your diet, especially during periods when you’re experiencing high levels of stress.
Under stress loads, it becomes awfully tempting to increase the consumption of sweets, caffeinated drinks or alcohol, which worsens the situation.
Decide to substitute the sweets by replacing them with fresh or dried fruits to satisfy that sweet tooth craving. As for caffeine such as coffee or tea, try substituting green tea instead.
Although green tea contains traces of caffeine, what it also contains is the valuable amino acid l-theanine.
Exercising Helps To Reduce Stress
Physical exercise, especially cardio is recommended for reducing anxiety, stress, and depression. What exercising does is it assists in burning off the stress hormones which usually builds up.
What working out, sweating it up does is it alleviates moodiness, which is proven better than psychotherapy or anti-depressant drugs.
The issue however is that those who are down on themselves become either unmotivated or too tired, this to even get up and go for a walk, so force yourself.
There are also other proven forms of exercising such as tai-chi, yoga, or pilates, that especially alleviates stress. Although meditation really isn’t considered an exercise, what it does involve is deep breathing leading to relaxation.
When you have a few moments, taking a few deep soothing breaths during the middle of a stressful period, will work wonders in relaxing your body before it gets to you.
Good Sleep Relieves Bad Stress
Usually, when under stress or feeling anxiety, the first thing that’s deprived is quality sleep. So it’s better to just develop and force good sleeping patterns and habits, especially during those high pressure periods.
Better sleeping techniques include not watching TV or using the computer late, this an hour before you usually go to sleep. Make sure that you keep the bedroom cool as well as dark and quiet during the night.
There are a few excellent natural sleep aids that are available, but keep in mind that they react a little differently, depending on the individual and their mental state.
Some of the most popular of these natural sleep supplements includes l-theanine in a chewable tablet form, along with melatonin and 5-HTP. If chewable, what that does is absorbs quicker, and as a result will take effect a lot sooner.
If you’re someone who wakes up a few times during the night, it’s recommended that you take magnesium before going to bed, as well as taking ‘time-released’ melatonin tablets.
Natural Supplements For Stress Relief
It’s recommended that when searching for a good multivitamin, that it contains all of the B vitamins as well as any additional minerals such as magnesium, which can be helpful during periods of high stress.
What’s also recommended is taking adaptogenic herbs such as ginseng, ashwaganda, or rhodiola. These are excellent natural traditional herbs which helps the body to adapt, as well as cope better with the stresses of life.
They’ve all been well researched and proven to work to increase your mental and physical energy, making sure that your blood sugar levels remain stable, while also stabilizing cortisol levels, which is the stress hormone.
One of the better natural herbs for stress relief is rhodiola. Studies have shown that this particular herb assists in helping to balance the neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and serotonin, which often becomes unbalanced during stress.
To integrate along with testing some of these herbal recommendations, trying them individually is recommended.
By doing so, you should be able to isolate and identify the remedy which has proven to be the most effective, this rather than just relying on all of the solutions combined, this to treat the anxiety condition.
If these natural suggestions don’t help in reducing the elevated symptoms, what’s then recommended is seeking treatment from a certified health professional.
Stay Socially Connected
Studies show having strong social support groups results in fewer episodes of stress or anxiety attacks. This makes sense as having a good conversation with friends or family members, can prove to be therapeutic for relieving everyday angst.
There are some excellent techniques on how you can deal with anxiety disorders or attacks, such as cognitive behavioral therapy. For moderate cases of having that down feeling, psychotherapy at times can be beneficial as well.