Feelings of stress and anxiety affect us all at one point another. At the moment especially, with the media’s explosion of the COVID-19 crisis, anxiety can increase.
Things sure feel chaotic and feelings of anxiety might be heightening for many people. As such, we thought we’d share our top 5 tips for how to reduce anxiety during this time and in general.
ANXIETY REDUCING TIP 1: IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP HYGIENE
When your mind is going around in circles, it can make it hard to sleep. Sound familiar? One thing we can do to help reduce anxiety is to improve our sleep hygiene. What is sleep hygiene? The factors, habits or routines that contribute to your quality of sleep. Make sure to take a few hours before bed to avoid blue light/screens, tidy up your sleep environment and perhaps try some relaxation techniques, such as taking an Epsom salts bath. You can also try Insomnitol Chewables, which many of our patients love!
ANXIETY REDUCING TIP 2: TAKE NATURAL SUPPLEMENTS
Magnesium has many important uses in your body including supporting muscle, brain and nervous system function. It’s also known to relax the muscles and calm anxiety. B vitamins help to reduce stress, stabilize your mood and maintain a healthy nervous system. RelaxMax is a TMB favourite that promotes a calm, relaxed, well-balanced emotional and physiological state. This drink is for anyone who feels they need a glass of wine to wind down at the end of the night. Pour this into a wine glass and relax away!
ANXIETY REDUCING TIP 3: PRACTICE MEDITATION
Studies show that meditation activates a parasympathetic response in your body, which slows your heart rate, soothes your nerves, improves blood flow/circulation and improves sleep quality. Studies show meditation is beneficial when it comes to lowering anxiety symptoms and improving your coping mechanisms when faced with a stressful or upsetting situation. Even just 3 minutes a day can help!
ANXIETY REDUCING TIP 4: LIMIT CAFFEINE AND ALCOHOL
Both caffeine and alcohol are stimulants that can induce your anxiety symptoms, like moodiness, nervousness and the jitters. There are many studies that show low alcohol and caffeine intake is associated with a lower risk of anxiety, so if you do have anxiety, it’s best to limit or sustain from it. Consider herbal tea or an easy matcha latte recipe instead!
ANXIETY REDUCING TIP 5: TRY ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture is a great tool that is shown to effectively reduce stress and anxiety. Acupuncture points in the body can promote healing, repair and balance. These points have highly concentrated nerves, cells, lymphatics and capillaries, all of which have the power to trigger beneficial biochemical and physiological responses in our body.
AND DON’T FORGET…
Last but not least, remind yourself that you can’t change what you can’t control! All you can do is do during the COVID-19 outbreak is your best to be preventative (aka boost your immunity!) and resume normal life. If you’re not entirely sure where to start when it comes to boosting your immunity, check out our episode of “Chat with Dr. Bhat” where we talk about our top immunity boosters!
TMB WELLNESS STARTER KIT
Don’t miss out on getting FREE advice from Dr.Bhat! Get started with FREE monthly wellness action items for some effective results right away!
What’s inside? Bio-hacks, incredible recipes, functional medicine wisdom, free workouts, natural beauty tips and personal letters from Dr. Bhat that you DON’T want to MISS!