Anxiety

While occasional anxiety is normal, some people frequently experience intense anxiety or worry excessively about everyday situations. This kind of anxiety can interfere with one’s daily routine and feel very hard to control.

Healthy fear includes all anxiety that accords with natural risks. However, in unhealthy anxiety one begins to fear everything, or fears a specific situation which is unreasonable to be feared off, or becomes preoccupied with slight imperfections.

Anxiety can be a disabling condition that’s accompanied by long-term stress and a decline in overall health. It contributes to many chronic diseases, even when treated with conventional medications. That’s why it is advisable to use natural remedies for anxiety and other mood disorders that will address the root of the problem instead of putting a Band-Aid on your symptoms. 40–60 percent of people with anxiety experience signs of depression, which makes it an even more serious and difficult condition to treat properly.

There are a number of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder and panic disorder.

Anxiety Due to dryness and stagnation (Vata Type)

Anxiety could be described as excess of mental noise.Mental noise is the result of a dried, parched nervous system. Any noise is the outcome of dryness and mobility. Dry leaves make crunchy noise under your shoes. The door creaks when the hinges are dry. Potato chips crisp between your teeth. The same happens in our head, when the nervous system is dry; the mind is racing, both in all directions or round and round and the stream of negative thoughts clutter into commotion.

The nervous system is coated in a fatty layer, called the myelin sheath, which guides nerve impulses and insulates the neuron from hyperactivity. Neurons membrane is also inlaid with fat molecules. The fat is responsible and enables for the smooth transition of electric pulses throughout the central nervous system and the body. The effect of the smooth transition is that thought is continuum and does not stagnate.

When the fatty layer is dried out or deficient, the nerves will be easily agitated and anxious, andwe experience short circuits, stagnated thoughts that repeat, twist and torment us with negativity and anxiety. 

Deficiency of the insulating fat is the root cause of unhealthy anxiety as a chronic pattern. This deficiency could also be described as a stateof dehydration, hypoglycemia and anemia, preventing nourishment for the nervous system. Very often, anxiety and mental noise come together with other signs of dryness, such as indigestion and dry constipation which lead to the formation of phlegm in the body. Phlegm irritates the nervous system, making a person feel anxious and uncomfortable.

This situation may seem confusing, both the presence of dryness and phlegm simultaneously, but it is not contradictive. In fact, phlegm will over time cause more stagnation in the body, preventing proper nourishment of tissues and making depletion and dryness worse.

Anemia means that body tissue, including nerve tissue, is not nourished properly by the irrigating function of the blood, resulting in the decline of tissue and yet again – dryness. Anemia creates anxiety much the same way that a hungry person feels anxious about food.

What causes nerves system dryness?

Dryness is the natural result of movement. Exercising dries the body. The wind will dry wet laundry on the line. Moving through time, old people are dry whereas the young are juicy.

Excess dryness is more common among people who are constitutionally relatively dry, lean and naturally more mobile (Vata constitution). However, any body type may suffer from excess dryness under continues depleting circumstances, such as:

Lack of sleep, night shifts

Excess stress, working too hard, excess driving, flying or travel

No routine and not enough self-care, irregular meal times

Overloading the mind, continues multi-tasking

Suppression of natural urges, unresolved emotions or unwanted past experiences which lead to accumulating internal stress

Exhaustion of the senses, misuse of the senses, exposure to violent content, disturbing images or sounds or worldviews and lifestyles that undermine health & relationship

Traumatic life experiences

A low fat diet, malnourishment, too much weight loss

Excessive alcohol, caffeine or sugar intake, using recreational drugs

Anxiety due to cold and stagnation (Kapha type)

Another cause for anxiety is the depletion of stimulating and motivating energies of the body, which could be described as lack of heat or Yang deficiency, especially Kidney Yang deficiency. Another modern definition is adrenal fatigue and deficiency of the stress hormones adrenal and cortisol. In this case, anxiety results from inability to deal with life’s everyday problems. Continues withdrawal and depression (excess Tamas)will eventually result in anxiety and nervousness.

Resolving this type of anxiety will require building Yang and removing any obstruction that is blocking Yang, such as congested blood, difficult circulation and stagnated phlegm.

Anxiety due to heat and stagnation (Pitta type)

When ambition, charisma, the need for absolute control and perfectionism are on the rise (excess rajas), stress hormones will flood the blood stream and the body will feel like a soaring, burning missile. This kind of situationis very difficult to hold on to, very much tax the liver and results in liver stagnation. Eventually some mental cracks in the ability to boss it all will emerge and confidence will be somewhat shaken. Anxiety is the result of heat in the liver, a feeling of losing control that will be associated with rigidity, criticism and anger.

Calming down the heat and drive, zooming out for a while, just having fun and enjoying the present will subdue the burning anxious mind.

Treatment of dry type Anxiety

Stress management: Take preventative measures to reduce anxiety by avoiding stressful situations. If stress is unavoidable as it often is, reduce the number of activities you partake in on a given day. Be gentle with yourself. Take care of yourself more often than usual, away from the pressures of social life, and conserve your energy.

Routine: regular mealtime and a bedtime routine are essential for building a firm sense of security and grounding. 

Sleep: Go to sleep early and get enough sleep. Aim to get 7–9 hours of sleep every night in order to reduce stress, balance your hormones, prevent moodiness and reduce fatigue.

Indulge one-self: Make your life cozy

Diet: Follow a diet that balances excess dryness and mobility (Vata reducing diet): one major aspect of this diet is the consumption of healthy fats, grains and animal protein:

• Wild-caught fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, white fish and herring
• Grass-fed beef
• Organic chicken
• Organic Eggs
• Yogurt, cream
• Butter and Ghee
• Raw milk (boiled)
• Organic high fat cheese
• Healthy fats like avocado, coconut oil and olive oil
• Nuts such as almonds, macadamia, Brazil
• Grains such as rice, bulgur, oats

Avoid sugary and processed foods:Sugar and refined carbohydrates can give you blood sugar highs and lows throughout the day, increasing anxiety, nervousness and fatigue.

Limit Caffeine and Alcohol: Too much caffeine or alcohol can increase anxiety symptoms like moodiness, nervousness and the jitters. Limit coffee or black tea to no more than one cup per day.

Use relaxing supplements: Ashwaghanda is a staple tonic for treating anxiety as it calms a hyperactive mind, helps the body adapt to stress, builds strength and rejuvenates tissues.GABA is an amino acid that is responsible for decreasing anxiety in the nervous system, and it also helps to relax your muscles.B vitamins help to combat stress and stabilize your mood. Vitamin B6, in particular, serves as a natural remedy for anxiety because it works to boost mood, balance blood sugar levels and maintain a healthy nervous system.

Use essential oils: Anxiety tends to shut down circulation by constricting blood vessels. Aromatic herbs open up blood vessels and restore a sense of natural ease. Lavender oil has been shown to reduce anxiety and help relax the body. Put 3 drops of lavender oil in your palm and rub it onto your neck, wrists and temples. You can also diffuse lavender oil at home or at work, inhale it directly from the bottle for immediate relief, and add 5–10 drops to warm bath water to fight anxiety naturally.

Oil yourself: oiling the body will help immensely to reduce excess dryness of the nervous system and help you unwind and relax. Enjoy an oil massage as often as you can. Oil yourself on a regular basis. Oil seeps into your skin all the way to your nerve endings, delivering the message of stability, warmth, and calm to your mind and body. Read more about Abhyanga and oil pulling.

Physical Activity: People with anxiety can benefit from exercises like yoga and tai chi because they promote relaxation and involve deep breathing techniques that help to reduce stress and muscle tension. Besides yoga and tai chi, you can practice other exercises that help to calm the body. For example, walking, hiking or cycling outdoors, swimming or dancing can help to combat stress.

Meditation: any practice that is done with attention is considered meditation. Washing the dishes or taking care of the garden, if done with the proper intent, is meditative.Guided meditation is available on YouTube and podcasts. Deep belly breathing calms feelings of anxiety and helps restore healthy perspective.

Meditation that involves both body and mind are the safest to practice. Great care must be taken to choose a form of meditation that will be truly supportive. Some forms of meditation advocate complete emptying of the mind, which suppresses the mind and can result in mental confusion. The mind has a purpose, and should not be suppressed. The purpose of the mind is to efficiently lead a person to what is good and healthy for him/her.

Accept that you’ll have some anxiety:although much easier said than done, it will pay off eventually.By accepting that anxiety may occur, or accepting it as it arises, rather than fighting or fleeing from it, you have an opportunity to use it productively. When you feel anxiety setting in, you can remind yourself of its advantages: how it can motivate you or how it can change your perspective over your life and magnify what really matters to you. Channel your anxiety into action while it’s at a manageable level. It’s important to find your optimal level of anxiety—zero anxiety and you may not be motivated to take any action at all; extremely high anxiety and you’ll be too paralyzed to act. When you’re experiencing low levels of anxiety, you can focus on what steps to take to perform optimally. By accepting, reframing, and acting on your anxiety, it can feel more like a helpful friend and less like a disruptive rival.