How to Relieve Anxiety Without Medication & Therapy

Anxiety is caused by factors including stress, trauma, chemical imbalance or even eating certain foods. It is a prolonged negative reaction to unwelcome stimuli, such as the fear of losing one's home. Anxiety is a complex emotional response that affects the brain and the nervous system, triggering and firing impulses that emit warning signals that cause psychological and physical pain. Anxiety is a highly distressing experience, to say the least.

Instructions

• 1

  Remove caffeine from your diet, including coffee, teas and diet pills. Caffeine, a stimulant, produces a negative effect on the nervous system. It increases heart rate and causes jittery feelings, which increases agitation and promotes anxiety. If you're prone to worry, stay away from from caffeine, since it's harmful to the nervous system.

• 2

  Take a yoga class; yoga decreases anxiety and promotes inner peace, which is the opposite of what anxiety does to the body and mind. Search for a good yoga studio and practice regularly in order to see benefits. Don't expect results too soon, just stick with it.

• 3

  Eat a meal of complex carbohydrates and turkey. Carbohydrates trigger the release of serotonin to calm the nervous system and promote feelings of well-being. Turkey has tryptophan, which triggers the release of serotonin; turkey is also lower in fat than red meat.

• 4

  Record your feelings about anxiety in a journal. Write down any thoughts that you can remember when you started to grow anxious. Monitor and record these thoughts and feelings in an attempt to address your worry the next time it surfaces.

• 5

  Include meditation in your lifestyle. Keep it simple. Just sit in a comfortable chair, close your eyes, practice deep breathing and visualize any scene that soothes you. Meditation helps to lessen worry.

• 6

  Talk to a friend about your worry or anxious feelings. Stay connected to others to maintain a sense of well-being and lessen the harmful affects of anxiety. Refuse to isolate or hide your pain from those around you. Friendship releases dopamine in the brain; it's a hormone that causes feelings of well-being, and thus lowers disquiet or anxiety.