When A is for Anxiety, not August

Happy August to you! How are you managing?

I had some good days in July but I admit I am feeling weighed down by so many concerns. As I listen to family, friends, and clients from all over North America, struggling with so many fears and worries, I am VERY concerned for our mental health!

Is worry or anxiety getting the better of you too? If yes, stick with me this month as we explore how anxiety affects our gut, brain and body, and how to reduce or eliminate it!

These are intense times, both globally and, for some of us, in our homes and communities too.

And, it doesn’t help, but it’s important to know, that anxiety can be intensified by poor digestion in two significant ways:

1)     Weak digestion in the stomach can deprive us of the calming effects of magnesium as well as immune-boosting iron and zinc.
2)     Insufficient good bacteria in our colon interupts manufacturing of GABA which is meant to calm us.

How do you know if you are anxious? Maybe you don't feel it. Well, I took a poll in the It Takes Guts Community facebook group, and the most common anxiety symptoms people are experiencing right now are:

• Muscle tension (anywhere),
• Fatigue and
• Difficulty concentrating on one thing... followed by headaches and insomnial

So, whether your MIND agrees that something is stressful or not, your BODY sure knows it! Why?

Stress and anxiety put our body into emergency mode, and the sympathetic nervous system is activated. thus all our energy is channeled from maintenance and repair, to physical reaction to the stress.

• Adrenaline and cortisol levels rise (read: belly fat and estrogen/testosterone imbalances)
• Blood sugar levels rise (changes moods and temperment)
• Pupils dilate to let in more light (not a great adaptation for your eyesight if you're looking at a screen all day)
• Breath becomes shallow (less oxygen and circulation to extremities)

These reactions are supposed to help us fight or flee… but in our modern day, we are more likely to honk the horn, raise our voice or bottle it up inside.

When most people are faced with intense anxiety, they will look to self-medicate with alcohol (as well as marijuana, prescription drugs, media and others).

Why? Because it works!

Well, it does and then it doesn’t.

And you need to know both why and how so you can get out of the trap.

Keep an eye out for my next article as I go into how one special neurotransmitter/amino acid that  changes everything about how we experience anxiety AND how everything we need to help ourselves is found in foods you already know and love... without the booze.

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