Hello all.
Are you feeling anxious? I think a lot of us have felt some anxiety of some sort in the last several months. We are definitely living in different times. I will be honest, I was pretty anxious in the beginning of all of this. I won’t say that I don’t have times of anxiousness that arise. I have had quite a bit of anxiety in my life and I completely understand what that feels like. It is so draining, although you feel so wound up.
My body basically collapsed 7 years ago under the weight of trauma, stress, and anxiety. I was told that I was an adrenaline junky. That’s not really something that you want to hear, because it’s not like the cause could be taken away from me physically. I have had to make major lifestyle changes, dietary changes, and learn ways to help me reduce stress. To give you an idea of where I have come from in my own journey of living a life of anxiety, I was in bed for almost a year. I could not get up without shaking horribly and heart racing crazy. Even when I was laying down, I felt miserable. I felt like I always had an electrical current running through my body. However, in saying all of this, I am healthy and well today. It took me two years to function pretty normal again. By year three, I would say I was back to myself. All of the trauma, stress, and anxiety lead me to adrenal fatigue. I cannot stress enough how important it is to find ways to reduce stress and anxiety in your daily life. These two things alone can cause other physical conditions. There is a lot of research out there showing how stress affects the body.
Anxiety is caused by many things. A few of those are as follows: stress, hormone imbalance, issues with seratonin, traumatic life experiences, thyroid problems, sugar and caffeine intake, and family history. We have the power to work on so many of these things, but we choose to ignore the things we need to work on. It’s worth it to evaluate what your life looks like and what changes need to be made. Some stresses we can eliminate, others we cannot. Let’s work on the things we can change.
Let’s talk about the things we can change.
- The stresses we can change. If our schedule is to busy, we have the power to run our schedule, not let our schedules run us. We can choose to find time to rest and be still for a short time every day. We can choose to stop and take deep breaths. We can exercise which reduces stress and relieves anxiety. Remember we all have choices.
- Sleep. Sleep plays a huge roll in anxiety as well. Sleep is a time for the brain to detox and heal. When we don’t allow enough time for sleep, we suffer in various ways.
- Food/Nutrition. The foods we eat can either help us or hurt us. There have many studies done on the effects of nutrition and moods/anxiety. There are certain foods that can cause or ramp up anxiety. Some of those foods are: Caffeine, alcohol, sugar, flour, and other refined carbohydrates, gluten can also be a trigger for anxiety. Foods that you may be sensitive to can also be a trigger for anxiety. Foods from the nightshade family have also been anxiety causing for some people. Those foods are potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant. This is because of the natural pesticides they contain called glycoalkaloids. These can overstimulate the nervous system in some people triggering anxiety.
- Supplements and Essential Oils. There are several natural supplements and essential oils that are really helpful for those who suffer from anxiety. Some of my favorite essential oils to use are: lavender, serenity, rose, vetiver, naouli, holy basil, and roman chamomile.
- Teas. There are herbal teas that are also helpful for those who struggle with anxiety. Some of my favorites are holy basil, chamomile, and chamomile and lavender.
I hope these few things I have listed will be helpful to you as you continue to work toward being a healthier version of yourself. Anxiety can be debilitating and affect us so much in our daily lives. Know that you are not alone. I have had my fair share of anxiety as well. When I write these things, these things are also things that I continue to work on as well. It is hard to slow down in the busyness of life, but we will all be healthier if we make the choice to do so. If you need help in your journey to being healthier, whether it’s working on your nutrition, exercise, anxiety, overall lifestyle changes, please reach out to me. I would love to work with you on this journey. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
In health,
Erika Barnhill/pfhliving@gmail.com