Stress and anxiety have long been recognized to cause health issues, including physical ailments like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Supplements such as vitamin C can also help alleviate anxiety symptoms. A liquid form called liposomal can be especially effective as it contains tiny lipid spheres to encase its effect.
1. Breathing Techniques
Breathing techniques as energy medicine are highly relaxing, stress reducing and rejuvenating. Anxiety causes us to go into fight or flight mode and shorten our breath and raise the heart rate, further impacting natural energy sources of the body and creating feelings of anxiety and fear that can create a vicious cycle of stress and fear that further depletes it.
Breathing techniques are one of the easiest, safest and most affordable ways to combat anxiety. These techniques involve slowing or deepening breathing with a focus point such as counting breaths or using a metronome as a distraction from negative thoughts in your mind.
Breathing exercises can help alleviate anxiety and sleep issues as well as lower blood pressure and reduce depression or PTSD symptoms. Since our bodies rely heavily on oxygen from breathing, practicing deep breathing techniques can have an enormous impact on how the body operates.
Many breathing exercises rely on the diaphragm – the muscle beneath the lungs that divides chest and abdomen – to control breathing. Unfortunately, during times of extreme stress this type of breathing may become disrupted; often taking shallower breaths while using shoulders for inhaling and exhaling instead of diaphragm control can prolong anxiety and stress symptoms. Hyperventilation is another term for this form of breathing which has long-term negative consequences on health and wellness.
One of the easiest and most effective breathing techniques is known as 4-7-8 breathing, and involves focusing on your breath as you inhale and exhale for several minutes in a quiet setting. This technique has been shown to reduce fight or flight responses often activated during times of anxiety; longer exhalations times may even help modulate activity within parts of your brain such as locus coeruleus which controls emotions and anxiety levels.
2. Meditation
Anxiety can manifest physically through jaw clenching, sweating, fast heart rate and chest or shoulder tension; and can manifest emotionally through fear, forgetfulness and low energy.
Meditation can be one of the most effective tools to combat anxiety. Meditating regularly forces you to tune into both your body and mind, helping you understand why you’re anxious in the first place. Meditation also forces us to face our uncomfortable emotions more directly so we can reframe them more helpfully for ourselves.
Start meditation today using Calm to ease stress and anxiety with nine-14 minute guided meditations designed to relieve it. If you need additional assistance, consult with a mental health professional; anxiety and depression are common conditions which may require therapy such as mindfulness practices and therapy sessions to treat.
Energy healing may also help ease your fears and restore balance to your life. This natural form of treatment brings mind and body together for effective relief of anxiety as well as conditions like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and insomnia.
To practice mindfulness meditation, begin by sitting comfortably and pausing when feeling anxious or nervous. Focus on the sensations in your body with kindness and curiosity; acknowledge where tension resides as well as where relaxation or discomfort exists in your body. Tuning into breathing rhythms to slow them down may also help. If you want a more tailored session consider signing up for Hassle Free HT monthly membership which provides targeted sessions each month.
3. Yoga
Yoga is an ancient Indian mind-body practice developed to improve mental clarity, emotional equilibrium and spiritual well-being. Through physical postures, breathing techniques, meditation and ethical principles it offers practitioners tools for mental clarity, emotional harmony and spiritual wellbeing. Yoga has also proven highly successful at treating various mood disorders including stress anxiety and depression.
Yoga provides an effective means of cultivating self-acceptance and decreasing irritability while increasing optimism. Yoga also teaches one to live in the present, be mindful and attentive to one’s body signals – an especially crucial aspect for those living with life threatening illness, as this creates a sense of calm and control.
Modern medicine can often help treat physical diseases and psychological disorders, but is often unable to reach the deeper layers responsible for initiating them in the first place. Yoga provides a solution by creating a harmonious resonance among all six layers that make up who we are: body, breath, emotions, intellect personality soul.
People often equate yoga with physically impossible postures that they cannot accomplish. But this is only part of what yoga is. Yoga is a technology and art that can alter who you are in significant ways, even changing brain chemistry and genetic content; scientific proof has verified this fact – something truly powerful that should be known and experienced first hand.
4. Relaxation Techniques
Relaxation techniques or exercises (also referred to as relaxation exercises) are practices designed to activate the “relaxation response,” inducing it in order to reduce stress and anxiety. This state is marked by slower breathing, lower blood pressure and heart rate – it’s the antithesis of fight-or-flight!
There are various relaxation techniques, and it may take time and experimentation before finding one that works for you. Some examples include:
Meditation involves quieting your mind by either sitting or lying down, progressive muscle relaxation involves tensing and then relaxing each muscle group in your body; for instance, this could involve tightening and then relaxing facial and neck muscles or shoulders muscles, before deep breathing involves taking slow, deep breaths while focusing on feeling your breath come in through your lungs, through your body and into the toes of your feet.
Self-hypnosis: With this form of relaxation, people learn how to trigger their relaxation response on their own by using nonverbal cues such as mantras or recordings of their own voices. Deep guided imagery: Deep guided imagery allows people to visualize calming scenes or experiences they enjoy through free apps and programs available online that guide this process.
Relaxation techniques are generally safe for healthy adults and most research studies have not reported any side effects from them. However, before trying any new relaxation methods it is wise to consult your health care provider first; some methods may not be appropriate for people who suffer from medical or psychological conditions like epilepsy, trauma or abuse histories.
5. Meditation Techniques
Meditation is a complementary medicine for mind and body, helping reduce stress, relax the body, and clear the mind. Additionally, it may increase effectiveness of other treatments for various health conditions like high blood pressure and heart disease. Before embarking on any meditation practice it is wise to consult your health care provider – certain forms may worsen symptoms associated with certain mental health conditions.
Meditation techniques vary significantly; some can focus on breathing alone; others include repeating a mantra (word or phrase repeated repeatedly to induce relaxation and focus attention), visual imagery or developing spiritual understanding; still others focus more on developing a deeper spiritual relationship to yourself and life itself. Furthermore, some techniques may reduce levels of inflammation-producing chemicals known as cytokines that influence mood and can contribute to depression.
If you’re just getting started in meditation, the best thing is to find a teacher to provide guidance and support. Otherwise, try downloading or listening to guided meditation recordings from the Internet; many offer long quiet moments after each instruction so you can practice using them as instruction comes through. Look for one with practical, straightforward instruction without too much spiritual floweriness in its content.
Simply sit comfortably, either on a chair or cross-legged on the floor, with eyes closed, breathing slowly and deliberately, taking note of every inhalation and exhalation. If your attention wanders, allow it to dissipate naturally – simply bring your focus back to deep breathing again when necessary. Meditation techniques often include body scanning – becoming aware of each part of your body and how it feels – then using breathing as part of this body mapping experience by visualizing that relaxation or warmth are being breathed into each area of your body through this practice.
