Melissa Lavin

Taking medications is a personal choice, that you need to decide if you feel comfortable doing. Consistency is needed with medications. Therefore, you need to have a good routine to remember to take the medication around the same time every day. If you don't want to take it then it will be more likely to be forgotten about or will just decide not to take it that day.
There are a lot of medications that are helpful, as well as changes in your food/diet and supplements.
Foods for anxiety:
• Bananas
• Oats (whole oats)
• Figs
• Avocado
• Berries (blueberry, raspberry, black berry, acai)
• Citrus fruits (oranges, lemon)
• Oysters
• Nuts (cashews) & Seeds (chia seeds, flaxseeds)
• Egg yolks
• Turkey
• Liver
• Beef
• Broccoli, spinach
• Green Tea
• Beans & lentils
Supplements:
• L-theanine (amino acid) – Throne brand
• Passion Flower
• Valerian Root (GABA)
• Chamomile (watch with blood thinning medications)
• Magnesium Lactate- bisphosphonates (Fosamax), antibiotics (doxycycline or ciprofloxacin), diuretics (Lasix), or proton pump inhibitors (Nexium), speak with a healthcare provider
• Lemon Balm
• 5-HTP
• Rhodiola Rosea
• Ashwagandha (GABA)

We see in research that after 11 minutes of working out, our neurotransmitters start to release more happy hormones into out system (endorphins, dopamine, serotonin..etc). Therefore, exercise can help with a quick little mood light. If you want the physical benefits of change in weight or muscle tone 60 minutes a day is still recommended by research.
Exercise is also a way to get restless energy that has been building up in your body out, which in return will lower your baseline for anxiety. Deep breathing while you workout and grounding activities will also help reduce your level of anxiety and can be combined with exercise

Yes, a psychologist can help with anxiety but helping you to identity the fears, level of intensity, what the fear may be rooted in, any irrational thinking patterns that may be beginning to create new lens of how we interpret our reality and give you the coping tools to undo that kind of thinking. They can also teach you deep breathing techniques, mindfulness, grounding techniques, and calming skills.

There are many therapies that can help with anxiety. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is very popular as it helps you become more mindful of your thought processes, which connect to your physical and emotional feelings, which in turn make as act and behave a certain way. Research says we have 40,000-60,000 thoughts a day! Therefore, we need to be mindful of any negative thinking patterns we may be getting wrapped up in that we are not even aware of. Exposure therapy is also great for anxiety. Most importantly find a therapist you feel comfortable with to fully open up to.

Yes! Anxiety and anger can go away. We are able to rewire the brain at any age, but it does take consistent and mindful practice. These are both healthy and good emotions to have. We don't want to take them fully away because they are tied to our survival mechanisms. The idea is to learn your body's cues and intensity levels to better manage these emotions so that they do not interfere with our daily functioning, and more use them for the benefits they can bring us.