How to Handle Anxiety Naturally and Safely

Jen Uncategorized 09/12/202003/02/2021

Anxiety

There are several ways to manage and relieve anxiety naturally safely using herbs, supplements, exercise and sleep hygiene. Many people underestimate the role of the brain in anxiety. Brain chemicals like Serotonin, Dopamine, Glutamate and GABA are neurotransmitters (chemicals that transmit electrical signals across gaps in our brain and nervous system). They all affect how our brains see the world around us and decide whether an event is benign or stressful. If there is not enough of these neurotransmitters’ negative emotional states can occur. This leads to anxiety which can negatively effect every area of our lives.

Herbs and Supplements

Passionflower: has been noted for its effectiveness on anxiety states, whether the anxiety is due to a stressful situation such as surgery or work and the effectiveness on its outcome in hypertension (raised blood pressure). Passionflower has few, if any, side effects, unlike herbs such as Valerian which is known to cause grogginess.
Withania: or Ashwagandha is an adaptogen (an herb that supports the body during stressful events that include emotional, physical, and environmental states). Withania has been studied and found to have “…improved anxiety and stress in all studies undertaken to date”.
Kava: Is a well-known plant in the Fijian Islands that is “…used to treat kidney and bladder troubles”. Kava has been studied for the effect of its lactones (active chemicals) on anxiety and found to be effective especially where anxiety leads to insomnia.
Chamomile: soothing for the nervous system and relaxes the stomach where there is pain/cramping around the stomach area.
B Vitamins: There has been research done to show that anxiety states have been improved by using high dose multi B supplements for the duration of 6 months. B vitamins can be activated before they are ingested – in supplements like Bioceuticals Mega B or Eagle Pharmaceuticals Tresos B. This means that the B vitamin does not require an enzyme to convert it to a useable form to be absorbed by the target cell. That way the B vitamin goes pretty much straight into the cell ready to be used instead of circulating around the body before being made useful by other vitamins or an enzyme or factor like intrinsic factor.
Magnesium: Is widely used for cramping muscles especially when it occurs at night. What is less well known is magnesium’s role in alleviating anxiety symptoms and encouraging sleep. The funny thing here is that magnesium has a role in maintaining cellular energy, the background energy that keeps our muscles from dragging on the ground, and yet it helps to give a deep and sound sleep. When considering how to self-treat anxiety, magnesium complexes with multi B vitamins is a good and easy place to start. Dosage is 300mg of magnesium and around 50mg of each B vitamin, a little more than what you find in an everyday multi vitamin that happens to contain B vitamins and magnesium.
Zinc: Is an amazing mineral that is versatile and has actions across body systems. These include the immune system, reproductive system (especially in men), skin, and the brain. According to Henry Osiecki, founder of Bio Concepts (a natural practitioner support company that produces the practitioner brand Orthoplex) zinc can be used for depression, apathy and where stress causes a zinc deficiency. Dosage should be 25-40mg per day. If you get a metallic taste in your mouth you do not need more zinc, in fact you might be getting too much. Foods that can increase your zinc are pepitas (pumpkin seeds – not salted), egg yolk, sea food, beef, milk and ginger.

Practitioner only products, obtained from either your naturopath or a pharmacy, contain enough of these herbs, vitamins, and minerals to support treatment for anxiety. Practitioner products undergo rigorous quality assurance covering identity and purity – this ensures quality and efficacy. Wherever possible herbs are organically grown and wild crafted.

Wholistic Care

Herbs and supplements help to combat anxiety. They relieve the symptoms that occur because of anxiety and prevent subsequent inflammation and muscle pain from prolonged anxiety or stressful states of mind.

Another way of combating anxiety is to exercise regularly. Exercise helps maintain a positive mood, relieves tension and stress. Choose somewhere that you feel relaxed such as bush walking, walking through a shopping centre or along a beach. Exercise classes such as pilates, gym or aqua also has the added benefit of social interaction.

Good sleep can also help prevent anxiety. It must be no less than 6 hours and no more than 10 hours, or else you will be too tired or not getting quality sleep. If you are not getting quality sleep check with your doctor if you have iron deficiency, sleep apnoea, arthritis, or arthritic conditions. Sleep hygiene includes the area you have designated for sleep – bedroom and bed – are conducive to good sound sleep. The pillow should be supportive but not to high, the bed should be firm but not hard, the bedding needs to be cooling (so no hot blankets in summer and nothing that will cause you to sweat in winter), make sure that the room is dark as this increases melatonin (street lamps have been known to disrupt sleep and any blue light should be removed from the bedroom), even the small green or red light on mobile phones register on our eye receptors so keep those lights covered.

Massage will loosen tight muscles and essential oils help the nervous system to relax – oils such as lavender, rose geranium, and citrus oils like mandarin, lemon, and grapefruit.

By using the correct herbs and supplements along with exercise, sleep hygiene, massage you can manage and alleviate stress. Does your team include a naturopath to ensure balance; utilising optimal lifestyle and correct use of herbs and supplements. Jen Alder is happy to answer questions and help you plan a future with controlled stress.

Chronic conditions

Jen Chronic Conditions 19/10/202005/11/2020

best chronic condition naturopath One of the greatest difficulties in life is when your doctor tells you that you have a chronic condition. A chronic condition can be diagnosed at any time but most often it is the result of years of:

bad eating habits
on and off exercise programs
stress

Our bodies also start to degenerate rather quickly by the time we hit 35 years of age. Chronic conditions include:

Inflammatory disorders like arthritis
Heart disease – Atherosclerosis
Diabetes
Cancer
PCOS
Allergies
Upper respiratory conditions

This list of conditions is not exhaustive and each one is well known by all Australians. We might not be able to cure these conditions but treatment will reduce symptoms, improve life style and even extend life. White Swan Naturopathy aims to treat the cause holistically, so that there is some cessation or resolution of symptoms.

What is a Chronic Condition?

The word “chronic” means that a group of symptoms have been causing discomfort, demonstrating a pattern of symptoms in a patient for more than 3 months.

The opposite to chronic is “acute” or a group of symptoms that have been affecting a patient for roughly 24 hours. The time between acute and chronic can be termed “becoming chronic” or “chronic” simply because it has been persistent for longer than 24 hours.

For many people; they have had a condition that has been slowly developing for years.

How does Naturopathy help people with Chronic Conditions?

Jen Alder at White Swan Naturopathy takes a holistic approach to all chronic conditions. This means the whole person is considered and includes physical, emotional, social and and spiritual well-being. So a holistic approach focuses on a person’s wellness and not just their condition.

Treatments will include different combinations of:

lifestyle,
exercise,
nutrition/diet,
herbal extracts,
supplements,
meditation,
sleep hygiene.

Each person requires a different approach to treatment for any condition because each body produces different symptoms from different sources for the same condition.

For example,someone with diabetes will have the typical thirst, weight loss, thick syrupy sweet urine, and frequent urination. This person may need insulin injections frequently and blood sugar measurements regularly. Another diabetic person may have low blood sugar levels before eating and after exercise but few other symptoms. This person may only need to have dietary interventions and tablets to regulate blood sugar. Both people have difficulty producing insulin and both people have difficulty regulating blood glucose levels. They do differ in the level of insulin in the blood and they differ in their ability to regulate blood sugar levels. These differences make it impossible to give the same treatment to both forms of diabetes.

How does a Naturopath Assess Clients?

The holistic approach addresses such differences in lifestyle, diet/nutrition and individual chemical make-up as presented by the individual.

The presentation of each individuals’ symptoms are observed by the practitioner while the patient is in the clinic.

Observations include:

how they look (their skin colouration if pale or grey etc),
how they act (are they fidgety, slow to answer, forgetful),
signs of fatigue (dark rings under the eyes, slow blinking, slow pupil response),
how they smell (is there a smell of acetone around them or an acidic smell).

These observations give very solid evidence of what is happening inside the body. There will also be clues in what the person says, such as, “I have been urinating a lot but it has a funny smell,” or, “I have lost a lot of weight but I don’t know why because I haven’t changed what I eat.”

As each individual comes into focus, changes in lifestyle become obvious and adjustments in diet can be made. Where necessary herbal extracts are needed to bring the body back to homeostasis (balance) and supplements are used where deficiencies are likely, for instance, where there is stress and inflammation.

In conditions such as diabetes the patient has already been diagnosed by a General Practitioner (GP) or a specialist (endocrinologist). The patient will already be on diabetic treatment from their practitioner so the role of the naturopath in this scenario is to complement the existing medication, make the patient’s symptoms less pronounced and help the GP’s or specialists medications more successful, within acceptable limits.

It is not the place of any naturopath to decide if or when a patient should come off medication supplied by the GP or specialist as this can often be life threatening or impose severe side effects.

Treatment for a chronic condition can often take months or even years. When you consider how long it took for the condition to surface, now it will take at least part of that time for that condition to be brought under control and be tolerable at least, if not disappear entirely. The naturopathic holistic approach is usually gentle but can be forceful where necessary to bring about homeostasis (balance) and comfort for the patient.

chronic condition relief