Anxiety is an emotion that everyone has experienced but some people find it harder to control their worries than others, with feelings of unease and fear affecting much of their daily lives. This can either come in waves when triggered by certain events or circumstances, or could simply be a lifetime struggle for an individual with a recognised anxiety or panic disorder.
While some conditions should be treated with psychological therapies and medicine, it is wrong to think that these are the only way we can deal with stress and anxiety. Levels and types of treatment will always vary depending on your situation, but several viable strategies can be used to at least reduce the impact of anxiety on our bodies, which can include tension, a racing heart, and even chest pain.
We explore some natural remedies for anxiety that are commonly used alongside more conventional medical therapies.
Meditation and Mindfulness Sessions
Meditation can help to slow racing thoughts, making it easier to manage stress and anxiety. It is less about strengthening your mind to overcome personal challenges and more about restoring balance and avoiding fixation on negative thoughts and feelings.
Relaxation and Anti-Tension Exercises
Anxiety and stress can cause a vicious cycle in our body’s where we tighten our muscles and contract our bodies inwards, leaving us more exposed to the impact of anxiety. Finding ways to actively relax the body and remove tension from certain areas like our shoulder and jaw can help to stop anxiety from spiralling out of control.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese treatment that is often used for anxiety, depression, and other health conditions. During this treatment, a practitioner inserts thin, sharp needles into the upper layers of skin at points of the body that are known to influence your bodily functions and chemical processes. This has been known to release natural painkilling chemicals in the brain, regulate blood flow, balance hormones and more.
Breathing Techniques
Breathing techniques can help you learn to control your breathing, which can help with periods of extreme anxiety. This can help to keep you calm and reduce the onset of tension and hyperventilation.
Pilates
Pilates is more than just a workout for people who want to become more flexible. It is also an incredibly powerful vehicle that can be used to produce a number of benefits in the body and mind. These include:
- Increase sleep quality
- Reduce negative thinking
- More confidence in your body and movements
- Regularity in breathing to decrease anxiety
- Improved blood and oxygen circulation
- Stretch and relax muscles
- Increased body energy
Bodywork Therapies
The physical toll of anxiety is real. What once may have started through your emotions can quickly manifest itself in physical parts of your body through tension, pain, misalignment and discomfort. Various bodywork and hands-on massage techniques can help to unwind targeted areas of the body that have been contracted, bringing more flow and movement into the structure and releasing negative energy.
Want Some Advice?
If you’re looking for some advice about how you can reduce stress or anxiety, we’d be happy to help you craft a holistic program that works for you, based on the experience of our team and our willingness to take a more rounded and multidisciplinary approach to improving wellbeing and reducing pain. Whether you’re looking for acupuncture for anxiety in London, or one of our other treatments, we’d be happy to hear from you.
