Beat Anxiety Naturally: The Benefits of Vitamins for Mental Health

The Top 6 Vitamins To Turn off Anxiety

Anxiety is a nervous system disorder, where your body gets locked into a state of fear.

This is called "fight or flight".

Your mind perceives that there is some kind of threat or danger, so your body starts releasing more cortisol and adrenaline.

These raise your blood pressure, make your heart beat faster, rush blood to your muscles and cause breathing changes so that you can either escape a situation, or attack the threat as a survival instinct.

Unfortunately your mind can't tell the difference between a real threat , or an imaginary threat.

So if you're feeling lots of worry, doubt and fear in your life, Such as financial concerns, Worrying about different people that stress you out, Or are listening/reading too much bad news on the internet or the TV, Over time you become emotionally involved with these fears, And your body and mind perceives a constant danger, so it locks you into this "fight or flight state".

Sleeping problems - finding it hard to switch your thoughts of or get into a proper sleep cycle.

Constant Problem Solving - your mind is constantly trying to analyse and fix problems, causing a stream of mental chatter.

Memory Problems - The high level of stress can also cause you to find it hard to access memories, you may draw a blank and forget things more often, especially when you aren't sleeping right.

Lump in throat - Some people also experience a tightness in their throat, causing a lump sensation and the voice sometimes sound higher and softer the more anxious you become.

Nausea may develop Negative Mindset - people with chronic anxiety will find that they fall back into a negative mindset, where they see the bad in the world but not the good.

You can fall in and out of this if you have chronic anxiety.

Avoidance - You may also start avoiding normal life situations such as social events, because you don't feel you can handle the emotions and feelings of it.

If you suffer with anxiety for many years, it can raise the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and other health problems.

because of your adrenal glands start wearing out, causing hormonal imbalances in both women and men.

In this video I'm going to share with you the top 6 Vitamins that help to turn off anxiety, by calming down the stress response in your body.

You'll also learn about simple lifestyle changes you can make to fix the root of the problem.

I use the word "Vitamins" broadly to include phytonutrients, minerals and herbs that you can use to ease your anxiety permanently.

Just a quick reminder this video is for educational purposes only, so do speak to your doctor before replacing or supplementing alongside your existing medication.

1. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): The first item on my list is Vitamin B1

Most people with anxiety suffer with a Thiamine deficiency (Vitamin B1).

Parts of your brain like the amygdala and the hippocampus use up your B1 stores to make energy whenever you are stressed, emotional or threatened.

Eating lots of sugar, refined foods or drinking caffeinated drinks can also deplete your Vitamin B1.

Start taking 2-3 tablespoons of unfortified nutritional yeast daily to load up on Vitamin B1 and the B-complex.

You can eat this in yoghurt, soups, stews, or sprinkle it over a salad.

Within minutes of eating this you will start to feel calmer and more relaxed, because B-vitamins are water soluble and absorbed very quickly.

The B-vitamins help to calm and bring the autonomic nervous system into balance, which turns off the "fight/flight" response that's causing your anxiety.

You'll notice that you're less nervous, less irritable, have less nightmares and less panic attacks.

You can get more B1 by eating sunflower seeds, organic pork, pasture raised eggs and wild fish.

2. Probiotics

Inside your large intestine in your gut, there are lots of live friendly microbes.

These help you to break down and digest foods and maintain a healthy overall body.

These microbes actually produce B Vitamins, like Vitamin B1, B2, B12 etc… that all help to keep your mood stable and prevent prolonged states of anxiety.

Unfortunately these microbes are very sensitive and can easily be destroyed when we take antibiotic drugs/medications, Consume artificial sweeteners such as aspartame.

(e.g. diet soda drinks)

Or by eating non-organic produce that are sprayed with chemical weed killers and insecticides.

Or you may not be eating enough soluble fiber, causing the microbes to become sluggish.

To boost the health of your friendly bacteria and microbiome, start eating fermented vegetables as a side dish at least 3 times per week, Such as sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles and also kefir which are all loaded with probiotic bacteria.

And also foods rich in soluble fiber (prebiotic) like chia seeds, avocados, asparagus, cocoa powder and pecans.

If you wish you can also take a probiotic supplement (at least 100 billion CFUS daily) As you boost the health of your microbes, they will reward you by producing neurotransmitters used by your our brain that calm you down and make you feel happy, like GABA, dopamine and serotonin.

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3. Vitamin D

People who have anxiety, struggle to sleep soundly at night or have problems with overthinking usually have high levels of cortisol.

This hormone is part of the fight or flight mechanism, and it keeps the body in an alert, responsive state when it perceives a threat.

However if you're trying to calm down and relax, it's important to find ways to switch this off.

Going outside into nature and getting sunlight on your skin, triggers the production of Vitamin D, which counters the high cortisol and makes you feel more relaxed.

Unfortunately billions of people worldwide are deficient in Vitamin D, because of living/working indoors and other factors, which can make anxiety symptoms much worse.

So it's recommended to take 10,000iu of Vitamin D3 along with 100mcg of K2 on a daily basis.

This will help to counter the stress hormone (cortisol) and put your body into a state of focus, calmness and balance.

4. Magnesium & Potassium

Magnesium and potassium are key minerals and electrolytes that play a role in controlling how energy is produced in the mitochondria within your cells.

These come primarily from vegetables, like leafy greens for example.

Without enough of these minerals, you are far more likely to have a low tolerance to stress (anxiety), depression, sleeping problems (insomnia), and brain fog.

Magnesium for example is important for building neurotransmitters like serotonin, GABA which makes you feel calm, happy and in a state of wellbeing.

It’s also important for activating and converting Vitamin B1 to the active form.

This will also help to bring down tension and stress that's locked up in your muscles, and its often used to get rid of leg cramps.

Likewise potassium helps to uplift your mood by improving certain mechanisms in the brain and nervous system, in turning off the flight or fight response.

To boost potassium and magnesium, eat avocados often, and lots of leafy greens like kale, broccoli, beet tops, collard greens, brussels sprouts, cabbage and radish.

You can also get this as an electrolyte powder in the form of potassium citrate (1000mg) and magnesium citrate (120mg), which you can drink in a glass of water.

5. Passionflower Tea

If you suffer with anxiety it's important that you cut back on caffeinated drinks like coffee and soda as these can raise cortisol and make anxiety worse.

However, there are certain herbal teas that have been used for thousands of years to soothe stress and anxiety.

Passionflower is a herbal flower which is rich in certain plant compounds that have been shown to boost GABA in your brain.

GABA basically slows down certain signals in your central nervous system, helping the calm excited nerves down, in order to relax you.

Studies show that Passionflower tea is as effective as a tranquilizer drug called Oxazepam used for anxiety, without the side effects.

Drink 1 cup of passionflower tea in the evening, or steep 1 tablespoon of dried passionflower in hot water.

Drinking this will relax you and increase the amount of deep sleep you get per night, in order to bring your entire body into a state of balance.

6. Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is a herbal shrub that grows in Asia and Africa, and has been used for over 3000 years as a natural treatment for stress and anxiety.

As an adaptogen, it helps various systems in your body adapt to stress, by balancing your hormones and improving how your tissue/brain respond to the changes.

You can take 1200mg of ashwagandha extract in capsule form daily to quickly help soothe nervous tension in your body.

This herb is rich in phytochemicals called withanolides, which have been scientifically shown to lower cortisol, and help to balance out the blood sugars.

This stabilizes your mood, helps you to sleep better at night and works wonders for people with chronic anxiety.

Other ancient adaptogen herbs that have a similar effect include rhodiola, panax ginseng, astragalus and holy basil.

As you can see there are many foods and nutrients that can be used to help turn off the 'fight/flight' (sympathetic) response in your body And activate the 'rest & digest' (parasympathetic) system to help calm you down and release built-up tension.

I've personally suffered with anxiety and stress for many many years, and have found all of these remedies be very helpful.

Although certain nutrients are essential for stabilising your mood B1, potassium, and magnesium, You may also want to take extra steps to really fix the other root problems of anxiety in your life, so you can unlock a permanent state of peace.

It's often temping to "push through" anxiety as you have things to do and places to be.

However eventually this can lead to bouts of depression and major health problems in the long term.

But if you take an hour each day to simply focus on relaxation, and calming down your body you will start gaining an enormous amount of mental focus.

You'll start getting more things done, without the need to "push through", as daily activities and work seem to flow more effortlessly, and you become more creative for solving different problems.

Lifestyle Tips To Eliminate Anxiety

Let's take a look at the additional steps that I've personally used which will help to keep anxiety at bay permanently.

1. Cut out stimulants and caffeine from your diet such as coffee, tea, soda drinks, energy drinks and sugar.

The caffeine found in these food raises cortisol, depletes Vitamin B1 and makes your anxiety much worse.

2. Drink herbal teas that boost GABA to replace your usual drinks, like valerian root, lemon balm, passionflower, lavender, peppermint and rosemary.

By boosting GABA these inhibit excitement/fear in the nervous system.

3. Get more physical activity OUTSIDE.

Start taking slow walks in nature for 45 minutes per day in a park or areas with lots of trees and plants.

Essential oils released from trees and a steady stream of oxygen naturally calms down your nervous system and turns off fight or flight.

4. Organise your work/living environment and minimalize, throwing away any useless objects that are cluttering up your mind.

We tend to have emotional connections psychologically linked to items around us.

So when you start throwing junk away and organising, you bring order to your environment, which brings order to your mind.

5. Burn calming essential oils in your home such as ylang ylang, black cherry, lavender, sage and jasmine.

Like trees, these oils release aromatic compounds into the air that you gently breathe in which calm your nervous system down.

6. Finally, to truly overcome anxiety you need to start getting at least 8 hours of sleep per night consistently.

Go to bed an hour earlier, turn off your phone and focus on relaxing each muscle in your body until you drift off.

If your overthinking, simply visualise each thought as a bubble floating away into the distance.

Eventually the thoughts will slow down and you'll feel peaceful.

Don’t try to force sleep, allow it to happen when it's ready.

Over time this will gradually balance out your cortisol levels, helping you achieve a deeper sleep and a healthier overall body.

Thank you so much for watching my article today, and as always I wish you great health, wealth and happiness.

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Amarjeet jandawar