Anxiety

katherineleggett

Does anyone have an advise and tips on foods and exercises that help with anxiety. I find being more active helps my mood. What does everyone else do to improve yours?

shadowofender

I see a therapist every other week.

That's not sarcasm, it's just what I have to do. Yeah you hear all the time about diet and workouts helping, and I would say it does, to a point, but I personally need more than that, and so to the therapist I go.

TavistockToad

katherineleggett wrote: »

Does anyone have an advise and tips on foods and exercises that help with anxiety. I find being more active helps my mood. What does everyone else do to improve yours?

CBT was really good for my husband

janejellyroll

Like @shadowofender I have found that diet (mainly keeping an eye on alcohol and caffeine and not having too much) and exercise help, but only to a point. I am doing online therapy and it has helped.

katherineleggett

TavistockToad wrote: »

katherineleggett wrote: »

Does anyone have an advise and tips on foods and exercises that help with anxiety. I find being more active helps my mood. What does everyone else do to improve yours?

CBT was really good for my husband

I’ve just started cbt it sounds like a great way of helping your thoughts.

katherineleggett

shadowofender wrote: »

I see a therapist every other week.

That's not sarcasm, it's just what I have to do. Yeah you hear all the time about diet and workouts helping, and I would say it does, to a point, but I personally need more than that, and so to the therapist I go.

I have done previously as well as being on medication, I’ve got to a point now where I’m fine without these methods and want to try more self care

Rickster1967

I started taking a supplement rich in the amino acid L-dopa which is a precursor to dopamine, it can cross the blood-brain barrier and therefore can raise dopamine

it had a tremendous impact on my mood (I suffered from severe anxiety and other mental health issues)

Anyway, I take mucuna pruriens

check it out for yourself

Oh and I found a big boost from using a transdermal magnesium supplement 'mag oil'

MichelleSilverleaf

The only things that help on a physical level are limiting or eliminating caffeine and alcohol, since in some people they can trigger anxiety symptoms (too much caffeine gives me heart palpitations/heart jitters and can set my anxiety off). Eating better can help you feel better in the sense of a satisfaction of taking care of yourself, which could lead to a reduction in anxiety but that's more of a psychological thing and YMMV. CBT was definitely great for me, I just wish there were long term options in my area.

vanmep

St Johns Wort and mindfulness / meditation

MichelleSilverleaf

double post, sorry!

emjay6x3

I have chronic depression and social anxiety. I find that any type of activity improves my mood! I like kickboxing and running if I'm looking for something more intense, or just a walk if I'm not feeling up to it. I am on prescription medication personally (for the past 15+ years), which has helped to improve my mood a lot, as well.

vingogly

Regarding diet: caffeine is one obvious thing to limit in your diet. If you're a coffee drinker, you might switch to tea - and be aware of the amount of caffeine and related chemicals you're getting from sources like diet drinks and chocolate.

Alcohol is another major thing to limit because you get a rebound effect: you bounce back to a higher level of anxiety when the alcohol wears off. You can get into this loop where you drink to self medicate the anxiety, bounce back after the alcohol wears off, get more anxious, drink some more.

Nicotine is another provoker of anxiety. If you're a smoker, quitting will be a good way to help you manage your anxiety. Other stimulants including meds containing epinephrine can also aggravate your symptoms.

Be VERY CAREFUL of self medicating with St Johns Wort since it interferes with many medications, and can get you in serious trouble if you're on antidepressants and take it. It's a serious drug, not just a dietary supplement. If you're going to use it, you need to discuss it with your doctor(s) first.

Staying active is good, as is being involved with other people. Mindfulness exercises, meditation of various sorts, deep muscle relaxation, breathing exercises can all help with symptoms. But with longstanding generalized anxiety, the CBT you're starting is the best bet for long term management.

DebLaBounty

I second the advice to consult your doctor before using St. John’s wort. It’s not a benign supplement.

I’m a generally happier and calmer person after a 30 minute walk outside. Luckily my town has some nice trails and parks, but a stroll around the neighborhood helps, too. I’m usually walking by myself, but most weekends I’ll call my friend and we do a nice hike and chat nonstop.

knightreader

TavistockToad wrote: »

katherineleggett wrote: »

Does anyone have an advise and tips on foods and exercises that help with anxiety. I find being more active helps my mood. What does everyone else do to improve yours?

CBT was really good for my husband

what is CBT?

DebLaBounty

CBT is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It’s often a short term counseling approach to talk through your challenges and discuss different approaches to solving problems or addressing behaviors and habits you want to change.

Rickster1967

I had CBT, utterly useless for me

nutrition, exercise, going outside, switching off devices earlier in the evening, getting better sleep
check e-mail FAR less often... all helped me enormously (I was very ill it has to be said)

Magnesium (transdermal)
Vit D
EPA / DHA (from fish oil)
Mucuna puriens

vingogly

More on how CBT works: it's based on the observation that it's often what we think about situations that causes us problems, rather than the situations themselves. It involves identifying the distorted, negative messages we're sending to ourselves, and replacing them with more realistic assessments. It's been proven over the years to be highly effective for both anxiety and depression.

katherineleggett

vingogly wrote: »

More on how CBT works: it's based on the observation that it's often what we think about situations that causes us problems, rather than the situations themselves. It involves identifying the distorted, negative messages we're sending to ourselves, and replacing them with more realistic assessments. It's been proven over the years to be highly effective for both anxiety and depression.

I’m reading a book on it at the moment. It’s a little confusing still at the moment. I understand he concept just trying to get round how to adapt it to my life

lay011

I cut out caffeine and that seemed to help tremendously. I have also been seeing an acupuncturist for lower back pain 1x/week for the last five weeks and I think that is helping as well (but could be all in my mind).

dave_in_ni

I was agoraphobic and one stage and suffered panic attacks daily. What worked for me was cutting out caffeine totally along with alcohol. There are no real food that help anxiety. There is a brilliant book called Dare by Barry McDonagh that got me over my anxiety issues. Check out the reviews on Amazon

Orphia

I highly recommend exercise, CBT, therapy, and medication to get you out of the anxiety spiral.

I take medication (diazepam) when I feel the tight chest feeling of an anxiety attack.

I'm a firm believer in challenging your thoughts (or CBT). Don't believe everything you think!

This approach got me into critical thinking and logic, and science-based medicine, fitness, and weight loss.

Applying it to myself has led me to be almost medication-free.

I just have the diazepam on hand because I like to do big scary fitness events and I get nervous several days out, and need a tiny bit of help. Therapy/Counselling goes hand-in-hand with medication.

Walking, running, yoga (not meditation, that makes me anxious), and swimming let me "Zen out" and think through my current thoughts, and keep myself balanced and very happy. That's pretty much all I need these days, with the therapy and medication as emergency backup.