Anxiety Awareness: The First Weapon of Protection

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological disorder characterized by the excessive and exaggerated degrees of worry on common life events, which are often irrational or are without sufficient reason. People with anxiety disorders often tend to expect the worst from every situation; continuously anticipates bad or disastrous events; and will always find the time to worry about family, money, work, health and school issues. But the sad thing is, their worries are more often than not irrational and blown out of proportions.

Anxiety disorder affects both a person’s physical and mental health and hinders proper sociological functions. Its onset affects a person’s thinking but prolonged and untreated anxiety disorder will lead to physical symptoms like muscle tension, excessive sweating, nausea, easy fatigability, trembling, trouble in falling asleep, irritability, constant need to go to the bathroom, restlessness and difficulty in concentrating. In addition to this, general anxiety disorder (GAD) may develop into, or come as a symptom of, far more serious psychological disorders like depression, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and alcohol and substance abuse.

There has been no specified reason for the development of general anxiety disorder. But medical experts will point at environmental stressors and at the person’s brain chemistry and genetic markers as the possible contributors.

• In genetics, researchers have observed that people with a family history of anxiety have higher risk of developing the disorder.
  
  
• The brain chemistry of one person will vary from one to the other and anxiety can be associated with the abnormal behavior of neurotransmitters. These chemical messengers are responsible for sending the message across, from brain cell to another brain cell. If this process is altered in any way, the brain may react inappropriately when faced with difficult situations.
  
  
• Environmental precursors are thought to have the strongest influence over the development of anxiety disorders. These are traumatic events like physical and mental abuse, divorce or legal separation, death of a loved one and changing of jobs. The symptoms may also be aggravated by episodes of stress, and withdrawal from addictive substances like alcohol, nicotine and caffeine.

A Review:  How Herbs Remedy Anxiety

A recent scientific review of herbal supplements has shown the efficacy of kava and passion flower in alleviating general anxiety disorder. These two herbal supplements have shown significant indications of reducing the symptoms of anxiety, and in helping patients recover from the disorder. The result of the research conducted by the Peninsula Medical School’s Complementary Medicine was published in the Nutritional Journal. Its conclusion stated that herbal and nutritional supplements are effective methods of alleviating the symptoms of anxiety and other conditions related to anxiety without having the patient experience the serious side-effects caused by other pharmaceutical drugs. However, the head of the research team, Edzard Ernts, emphasized that the discoveries of the study are interesting but will need further research at a larger scale.

Previous reviews on herbal supplements have been published by different medical journals. But Ernst said that none of them had given sufficient evidence to suggest the effectiveness of the herbal cure that they are proposing. His research consisted of 24 other previous studies that investigated the effects of alternative therapies, combination treatments and herbal supplements against anxiety disorder.

The researchers looked at lysine, passionflower, St. John’s Wort, kava and magnesium and the other studies that have previously established their potential curative values against depression and anxiety. They reported that 15 out of the 21 trials that they reviewed showed sufficient evidence that the supplements indeed help in alleviating the symptoms of anxiety and provided a stable platform for establishing their potential to help cure the disorder. They added that the side-effects of the supplements were mild to moderate.

Kava was the most researched supplement with 11 dedicated studies. The reviews showed that out of the all the trials testing the efficacy of kava, 63 percent showed significant reduction of anxiety symptoms. The results made prescribing kava supplements recommendable.

A Race towards Finding the Natural Cure

Anxiety and depression affects around 55 million people in the United States alone and it is considered to be one of the most common mental disorders which can happen to anyone, regardless of their age. Though the disorder is common in adults, adolescent teens are also commonly faced with anxiety disorders. Psychological disorders like anxiety require long-term therapy and medication, and this makes the complicated nature of anxiety disorder makes it hard to fight.

The central nervous system is a complex system and any disorder rooted to it may even be harder to understand and cure. It is not surprising, therefore, to have several studies racing over finding a natural cure to the disorder.

Despite the integrity of the new research, Ernst remains open to the disputability of their findings saying that placebo effects has a significant influence over the effectiveness of any herbal supplement.

Placebo effect happens when a person experiences temporary or permanent relief from a certain disorder after receiving medical treatment which he believes to be effective in curing his health condition. Since general anxiety disorder is psychological in nature, the impact of a placebo effect can significantly affect the results of the research. Ernst also stated in his report on the Nutritional Journal the limitations of their study, including limited resources, since part of the studies they reviewed were printed in different languages other than English.

Natural Relief for Anxiety

Nature has many things to offer in a person’s fight against different diseases. If you are one of the many who are worried about the serious side-effects of taking pharmaceutical drugs, you can go green and try herbal remedies against anxiety. The treatment for general anxiety disorder is not only limited to drug prescriptions. Medical experts will also suggest patients to undergo therapies to help them overcome the disorder. Note there are limited indications as to the effectiveness of alternative medicines for anxiety. So it’s important to always take herbal supplements as complementary help.

• Kava has been observed to help in promote sleep in anxiety cases when combined with relaxation exercises.  But the supplement is not recommended for prolonged use since the body may become dependent to the supplement in order to fall asleep.
  
  
• Valerian is also a known herbal remedy for insomnia and anxiety. It is also known to be a natural painkiller and sedative and can prevent the panic attacks when taken before sleep.
  
  
• Passion flower is used as an ingredient for herbal supplements against hyperactivity, insomnia and nervous tensions. It has a calming and soothing property and passion flower can also be used to lower blood pressure and prevent hypertension.
  
  
• The good effects of exercise does not simply end with the physical – apparently, it does wonders to the mind as well.  Doing cardio exercises, such as jogging and brisk walking; and performing exercises that needs you to focus and concentrate, such as lifting weights, releases endorphins, or your “feel good” hormones.  This allows you set aside negative thoughts and concentrate on the task at hand.
  
  
• Drinking Green tea helps soothe the nerves and calm the mind.  Because it contains the amino acid L-theanine which counteracts the stimulating effects of caffeine, a cup of green tea promotes relaxation and helps in relieving anxiety.
  
  
• Peace and quiet can be found in one corner of your room.  Lock the door and spend a few minutes each day alone and meditate.  Force yourself to concentrate, and focus, on the good things even just for a while – in time, you will realize that there is a lot to be thankful for.

Sources
nutraingredients.com
medicinenet.com
nativeremedies.com
stop-anxiety-panic-attack.com
medicalnewstoday.com