Before we move on to strategies you can try to help with anxiety, I think it's important to mention medication. Now, to medicate or not to medicate; yea, sorry, I'm not going to answer that one for you. Those decisions are best left to you and your mental health providers (I do recommend, however, if you are suffering from things like ongoing or severe depression and/or anxiety that you see a mental health provider and that you don't depend solely on your general practitioner to manage your symptoms) Please do not misunderstand my meaning here, I think general practitioners are excellent at what they do, but they are not specialists in the field of mental health. Mental health practitioners have dedicated their time and their studies to help you with these exact problems, so let them. I'm sure your general practitioner will be more than happy to recommend someone they trust.

Ok, moving on. Like I said before, anxiety can have many faces. For example, when I experience anxiety it feels like there is a gremlin running around my chest, and not the cute one mind you, one of the totally scary ugly ones. It can be overwhelming and frightening. It can sometimes feel like you are having an emergency health crisis (shortness of breath, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, etc). When anxiety takes a hold, it can be a threat to our happiness, wellbeing, and health. Luckily, there are some great ways to help manage your anxiety levels and I've listed some of them out below.

A Few Pointers:

Click on a bubble to explore that option (except for the music bubble, that one is self explanatory ;-) ) Pick one or two that seem doable and start there Try to do it as a 2 week experiment (for those applicable) Be open minded. I can't even begin to count how many times I have heard, "Oh, yoga just isn't for me", "Meditation is weird", "I don't need to pay someone to listen to my problems". Often times, the things that make us the most uncomfortable are the things we need most. Some quick tips on what to eat and what not to eat and supplementation are below.

As I have said many times before, what you eat can have a significant impact on both your physical and mental health. You can take a quick look here for some general guidelines on how to eat healthier, but I will give you some tips below on how to eat to help with anxiety. I hope using some of these strategies can help calm the beast that is anxiety. I would love to know what works and what doesn't for you, so please let me know at drkiradc@gmail.com.

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