Anxiety Disorder/ Anxiety Attacks / Panic Attacks
The feeling of unease, worry, foreboding and fear, commonly known as anxiety, is a normal and often useful reaction to a dangerous or stressful situation. There are two basic types of anxiety disorders: chronic and acute.
The acute form of anxiety disorder is the panic attack, a sudden and unexpected bout of intense fear and dread accompanied by rapid heartbeat and breathing, chills, excessive perspiration and other physical symptoms so severe that they are often mistaken for a physical illness, including a heart attack.
The chronic form is characterized by a recurring sense of worry and foreboding, accompanied by restlessness, insomnia, low sex drive and other mild physical symptoms.
Helpful Supplements
- Kava Kava is an herb long known for its calming effects. Kava is very effective at easing the nervousness, dizziness and heart palpitations of anxiety and may even prevent panic attacks.
- Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin B Complex; all of these nutrients promote the health and proper functioning of the nervous system and play an important role in the production of neurotransmitters chemicals that help relay messages between nerve cells.
- Valerian is a natural sleep aid that if taken in low doses throughout the day can also relieve anxiety symptoms. Even if you take kava during the day, try valerian at night if you’re having difficulty falling asleep.
- John’s Wort or SAMe (S-Adenosyl methionine) may help if you are experiencing the depression that sometimes accompanies anxiety. It takes at least a month before the full effects of St. John’s Wort are felt. The other anti-anxiety supplements usually begin to take effect right away.
