Overcoming Anxiety

As some of you may know, I am one of three presenters for a group called "New Leaf Workshops" where we provide 3 perspectives on a variety of health and mental health topics the last Tuesday of every month at Goodness Me in Barrie. 

Last night, our talk was on "Overcoming Fears and Anxiety", and it had a great turn out! Unfortunately, however, what this means is that many people are suffering from anxieties and fears that hold them back in life, and prevent them from doing things they would like too. 

I believe a large reason for the high amount of anxiety we have as a society, comes from the way we view anxiety. 

In the medical system, for decades, anxiety has been viewed as an imbalance in brain chemistry, like many other mental health conditions are. However, we know there is so much more too it than that. 

Anxiety is what we call "multifactorial" - multiple factors can cause, trigger, or worsen anxiety. However, more often than not, medications which do not address these multiple factors, are prescribed. These medications, while can be useful in the short term, do not often treat what is really going on. 

To give you some perspective on this, let's take a look at the wide range of things that can contribute to anxiety:

• Medical: There are over 70 medical conditions that can cause anxiety 
• Physiological Imbalances: Hormones, stress Response, nutrition, inflammation, blood Sugars - issues in any one of these areas can cause anxiety
• Psychological: Thought patterns, personality traits, self-esteem, mindset can all create or perpetuate anxiety
• Social Health & Relationships: Lacking a positive support system, troubled/stressed relationships, abuse, loss and grief can create anxiety 
• Existential: Who am I? What is my purpose? What is the meaning of it all?  - these kinds of questions can certainly worsen and create anxiety. 
• Behavioural Patterns: Avoidance, reliance on substances, reacting based on emotion rather than reason - behaviours can trigger a pattern of anxiety and prevent healthy, positive habits and choices. 

As you can see, anxiety is not one thing. Anxiety is a state of physical, mental, and emotional discomfort which often focus on future, or potential problems or situations. 

Just as a situation can create emotions, leading to thoughts, leading to physiological changes, leading to a change in behaviour; physiological changes in the body can lead to sensation, leading to thoughts, to emotions, to behaviours. Anxiety is not a linear, straight forward experience, it is a complex cycle.

The good news is, with so many factors involved, there are many opportunities to intervene - to break the cycle! 
Here are a few examples! 

• Address the root cause: Have a thorough work-up from your family or naturopathic doctor. Gain a deeper understanding of your overall health and how that might be contributing to your anxiety. By promoting healthy mental functioning, and giving our bodies the tools they need to function optimally, we are in a better position to cope with thoughts, emotions, and implement long term changes. Some over arching themes include
  • Optimizing diet: Our diets have a huge impact on our mind and our mood.
    • Simple strategies to reduce anxiety include eliminating or really reducing your intake of refined sugars. Having a large intake of sugars and refined carbohydrates [white breads, pastas, candies, desserts] causes our blood sugar to spike - then crash. Crashes in blood sugar tend to create anxiety, nervousness, agitation, because our bodies release our "fight or flight" hormones like epipinephrine and norepinephrine to compensate for the low blood sugar. 
    • Increase nutrient intake by choosing whole foods, instead of packaged and processed foods. Take time to reflect on how much of your diet is in it's "whole" form by doing something like a week long diet diary. Without judgement, reflect on your food choices, and start small - for example, replacing a packaged product like noodles with whole grain rice or quinoa, or adding in a serving of fruits/vegetables with meals. 
  • Exercise! Exercise can be helpful both short term and long term for anxiety. Even 5 minutes of aerobic exercise can produce anti-anxiety effects. Long term, regular exercise, even a 20-30 minute power walk 3x per week, can improve our ability to cope with stress, regulate mood, release endorphins
• Connect the body and the mind: We live in very disconnected world, and one of the connections that tends to be lacking the most is our connection to ourselves. When we don't take the time to check in with how we're feeling, we can be lead on a path to illness, stress, overwhelm, and anxiety. Our mind can affect our physical health, and the opposite is true - so it is important to keep this connection strong. Some simple ways to do this include
  • Daily mindfulness meditation: Take 5 or 10 minutes a day to simply sit, focus on the breath and sensations in your body, and allow your thoughts to come, and go without judgement. Meditation does not have to be the absence of thoughts, but rather, acknowledging the thoughts are there, giving them their moment, inhaling, then exhaling them. If they don't leave, that's okay, if new ones come, that's okay too. What is important is that you bring your attention back to the breath, and simply notice it all. 
  • Journal: Journalling can be a very useful tool for anxiety. Because a large amount of anxiety tends to be future focused - worrying about work, worrying about family, worrying about what others might think about you - it can be useful to release these thoughts in a physical form such as writing them down. Journalling can also be a way to think through rather than think about. It can be a time where you give the thoughts and worries their opportunity to "express themselves", and also allow you to reflect on how realistic these worries are - is there evidence that they're true? Are the thoughts deserving of all the mental space they're taking up? 
• Change the behaviour: If you have a particular behaviour that you resort to when you're feeling anxious, or certain things you avoid doing because of fear - create a list of these things, in order from least to most difficult and work your way through them, day by day, week by week. You can change how your body and mind respond to these things by working your way up the ladder! For example, if anxiety has prevented you from being able to do public speaking, make a list of things leading up to that. This might be starting with eye contact with strangers, engaging in small talk at the grocery store, speaking to a few friends, attending a small, supportive group where you can practice public speaking [eg: toast masters], working up towards giving a presentation a work. Our brains can change, and when you work to slowly rewire your responses through behaviour change, this can be an effective way to overcome anxiety. 

If you're suffering from anxiety, you are not alone! But - your experience and the reasons for your anxiety may be very different from someone else.

Personalized approaches work best for mental health.

If you need assistance, seek out Naturopathic Medicine and/or Counselling to help address your unique needs, find short term relief, and develop long term solutions!

Yours in health, 

Dr. Ashley
Naturopathic Doctor, Mental Health Practitioner

Clinic Locations:
Apple A Day Natural Health Clinic - 205 Bayfield St.  - 705-735-2280
Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation - 480 Huronia Rd. - 705-734-3340

I'd like to book a free anxiety assessment with Dr. Ashley