Natural Anxiety and Stress Relieving Techniques

Life isn’t easy. You can be living your ideal life and still find yourself hitting roadblocks. We find ourselves in unforeseen arguments with our significant other, friends, and family. Work can be chaotic, and your boss may have you working late, just one too many days in a row. Of course, then there is the world news and surprise pandemics.

No matter how we try to keep our life in order, life is messy and throws us curveballs. This can then cause our inner balance to fall into chaos, leading to tiring anxiety and stress.

And so begins a vicious cycle of disarray because tiredness, stress, and anxiety lead to more chaos and stressful thoughts – taxing your cognitive capacities and increasing your emotional load, leaving you consistently on a pattern of being emotionally and mentally drained.

With this said, it is honestly no surprise when we realize that millions of people suffer from nervousness, agitation, tension, chest pain - chronic stress, and anxiety.

Anxiety and stress-related struggles are some of the most common mental health issues in the United States. It has been found that an estimated 8.3 million American adults suffer from serious psychological distress and every year more than 18% percent of adults are affected by anxiety disorders.

Nearly half of all U.S. adults have reported that stress negatively affected their behaviors.

Even the most stable and happy person is bound to experience feelings of stress and anxiety at one point or another and these crazy high statistics aren’t hiding that fact.

Unsurprisingly, stress and anxiety have only been on the rise in these past few years of the pandemic. Quarantining, loneliness, longing for friends and family, worries for public health, etc. have created a worldwide mental health crisis. “Over 67% of American adults have experienced increased stress levels throughout the pandemic.”(1)

With the rise of anxiety and stress, more and more people are turning to common treatments such as medication and therapy. While these approaches can be effective means of treatment, these popular remedies don’t work for everybody, can be too drastic for minor stress and anxiety issues, or may not work long term for severe stress and anxiety. Effective mental health help isn't a one-size-fits-all treatment.

Plus, medication can be a tiresome and somewhat sickening approach to coping with anxiety and stress because of the side effects associated with anti-anxiety medications. Even with lower doses, antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications have been shown to have symptoms such as blurry vision, dizziness, drowsiness, and confusion.

So, if any of these situations are the case, you may be interested in healthy and effective natural remedies and routines that can ease stress and anxiety.

Feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious? Luckily there are some amazing relaxation techniques and natural remedies that are easy to implement, scientifically supported, and extremely effective at relieving worry and uneasiness, and promoting a healthy mental state.

In this article, we’re going to share this wide range of natural anxiety and stress relieving techniques that’ll help lower cortisol levels, relieve anxiousness, and combat stress.

Meditation

We’ve all heard about meditation. It’s not a new concept but has become consistently popular and praised by many professionals, athletes, and celebrities.

Meditation is an incredible practice that can improve all aspects of your life.

Meditation is the practice of slowing down and clearing your mind — in hopes of creating calmness and mental clarity. Meditation is a tool that you can use to calm yourself down, breath, and return to a relaxed state of mind. Which is very useful for preventing stress and anxiety when you’re on the verge of feeling tense, worried, upset, or angry.

Meditation also has the capability to lower cortisol levels by improving emotional reactivity (the way to react to stressful situations). Why is that important?

Cortisol is a hormone your body releases when you’re stressed. In small amounts, this is perfectly healthy. But too much cortisol over a prolonged period, like when you’re struggling to handle stress, can cause excessive inflammation and lead to various health conditions.

Adaptogens

Adaptogens are herbal supplements made from non-toxic edible herbs that have a unique ability to reduce stress hormones in your blood, helping our bodies “adapt” to physical, emotional, or environmental stress.

They help support your adrenal glands and have a normalizing effect on the body that helps relieve anxiety and help your body cope with acute stress.

Adaptogens aren’t anything new. The herbs, mushrooms, and roots categorized as adaptogens have been used for centuries as a part of traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic healing, and Tibetan medicine. But today they’re making a comeback - as people look for more natural and sustainable healing methods.

This is of course for good reason, the benefits of adaptogens are incredible and supported by science. A study conducted on animals revealed that adaptogens exhibit neuroprotective and anti-depressive stimulating activity.

Furthermore, in a randomized double-blind 16-week human study, researchers found that the 8-week intake of 240 milligrams of a well-known adaptogen extract caused a decrease in anxiety and stress, induced a calmer mood, and lowered cortisol levels.

Learn more about how adaptogenic herbs reduce stress naturally. Click here to read our blog: Adaptogenic Herbs and How To Reduce Stress Naturally

If you’re looking to give an adaptogen or two a try, the most well-known ones are ashwagandha, ginseng, and bacopa. They’re all available in capsule form on Amazon (make sure to get them from a high-quality source!), and you can also find them in a variety of health products from kombucha to our very own Chocolate Hustle adaptogenic tea, designed to support brain energy and focus.

Note: don’t expect immediate changes. Adaptogens aren’t anti-anxiety medications, they’re natural and take time to build up to work on the body. Expect effects after at least two to three weeks of regular use.

Nature Walks

We all know that there are plenty of benefits to physical activity, including for our mental health such as clearing our heads and helping us sweat off the day’s stressors. But did you know that combining movement with nature is an amazing stress-relieving technique that will lower cortisol levels and ease stress and anxiety naturally?

A study of 20 participants who were diagnosed with MDD (major depressive disorder) found that taking a 50-minute walk in a green park increased memory function, boosted their mood, and cleared their minds of rumination and negative thoughts. When the participants took a walk in an urban setting, it did not have these same positive effects on their mental state.

Therefore, moving around and taking a walk at the park, certainly beats walking along the urban sidewalks.

Exercise produces endorphins (your happy hormone) which help decrease tension and elevate mood. So, imagine if you combined that with the positive effects of nature. Go for a walk or run at a nearby park or workout at your local outdoor gym, just get outside and get moving – your stress and anxiety will thank you for it.

Breathing Exercise

Breathing exercise is a practice intended to promote effective breathing and breath control. Like meditation, breathing exercises can help you control your emotional and physical reaction to stress and negative stressors. Lowering cortisol levels, elevated heart rate, and high blood pressure.

Most of us pay no attention to the action of breathing. But practicing focusing on the breath is an incredible skill and exercise that creates a relaxed mental state and sends a signal to your brain to shut down anxious thoughts.

Some of our favorite strategic breathing exercises that we recommend you check out include:

• Alternate nostril breathing
• Belly Breathing
• Ujjayi breathing
• Lion's breath
• 4-7-8 breathing

Herbal Teas

Drinking herbal tea relieves stress and will help keep you feeling refreshed, calm, and ready to take on any hurdles the day provides. The ritual of sipping on a cup of tea is relaxing just by itself, but there are literal physical benefits, too.

Many tea herbs have stress-relieving properties and have holistic abilities to improve energy levels, mood, and sleep.

For example, in one study, a group of researchers compared two groups of men, one group tasked with drinking black tea four times a day for six weeks, and the other drinking a placebo. They found that over the six weeks, the group of men who drank tea lower cortisol and greater subjective relaxation.

Not sure what herbal tea to drink to help lower your stress levels and relieve anxiety? Our favorite choices are teas that blend adaptogens with tea. That way you can enjoy both the incredible stress and anxiety-relieving capabilities of adaptogens with the calming effects of herbs, making for one incredible stress and anxiety-relieving tonic.

Here at Wise Ape, all our tea blends are adaptogenic and have incredible calming and balancing effects. Lemon Vibration and Orange Dreamsicle are particularly amazing blends for stress and anxiety specifically. 

Orange Dreamsicle is a dreamy blend of chamomile flowers with subtle hints of orange and cream, combined with adaptogenic super-herbs to your mind and reduce stress. Lemon Vibration is a herbal blend of lemongrass, lemon balm, and st. john’s wort harmonizes to realign your vibration and re-center your psyche. Sip slow and reset with delicate hints of lavender, lemon peel, and rosemary as they soothe your senses and brighten your mood into a state of inner utopia.

Natural Stress Relieving Techniques and Remedies

When stress and anxiousness become overwhelming it's important to have effective stress and anxiety-relieving techniques and remedies that can calm your mind and your body, naturally without chemical prescriptions.

There is no way to completely rid yourself of stress and anxiety, so, instead, we need to focus on minimizing and managing it, and using these stress relaxation techniques will help you do just that. Naturally combat stress, stay calm when faced with adversity, and find your zen.

What are some of your favorite natural ways to relieve stress and anxiety?

Let us know your thoughts on Instagram at @WiseApeCo and/or use the hashtag #WiseApeTribe and we’ll share it!

Now, what're you waiting for? Why don't you join us in enjoying a health-promoting, calming, and flavorful cup of tea? Here at Wise Ape Tea, we combine premium tea with adaptogenic herbs, crafted to create bright, flavorful organic wellness-driven tea combos. This is the evolution of tea.

Always consult with a doctor before incorporating anything new into your routine if you’re on any type of medication or have any conditions.

This informative article is written, by Sophia McKenzie. Sophia is head content creator and writer, for several premium websites, where her expertise lies in health, nutrition, and wellness. Her content focuses on providing and sharing doable solutions to help people truly thrive and live their happiest, healthiest, fulfilled lives.