Best Herbs For Stress

A fear of flying isn’t uncommon. To be honest, I think it should be normal. I mean, when you consider you are being hurtled through the upper layers of the atmosphere at enormous speed, in a tin cylinder – who wouldn’t be frightened?

But flying has become so common, that now it’s considered unusual to have a fear of flying. You’re told to snap out of it and given other unhelpful ‘advice’. Advice that you have already considered, but it fails to work for you.

How can you overcome this fear? Taking medication may dull you enough to be able to fly without blind panic, but does nothing to overcome the deep rooted fear.

And being dulled doesn’t help you stay in touch with your intuition. And this, largely ignored emotion, can be your guide, if only you would listen to it.

Meditation can go a long way to help calm you and melt away irrational fears, while keeping you alert and open to your inner feelings. And I encourage everyone to meditate regularly. It doesn’t have to mean sitting in a lotus position and chanting for half an hour. It can be as simple as sitting quietly, closing your eyes, and allowing your mind to drift.

Just a few minutes of this on a regular basis, throughout every day, can do wonders for your overall peace of mind. And you can do it anywhere – in the airport lounge, sitting in the park, on the train, in a taxi, even when you are stuck at traffic lights.

Another great way to help you with any anxiety or fear is to take the Bach flower remedy Rescue Remedy. This is a deep, but gentle way to overcome any fear. And you can’t overdose on Rescue Remedy.

If you are a bit embarrassed by frequently taking a dose, you can put a couple of drops in your water bottle. Them each time you take a sip of water, you also get the remedy.

Over time, your fear of flying will diminish and may disappear altogether.

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Most experts agree that our modern life style is frequently to blame for the extra levels of stress in our lives: less exercise, a breakdown in family support and communication, more pressure at work; it is hardly surprising these facts aggravate the problem. This results in stress being among the top ten most common ailments suffered in the UK.

A certain amount of stress in life is beneficial, however, long term stress can have an adverse effect on our well-being. Consider this fact: a stressed person’s body will produce excess adrenaline, resulting in an increase in heart beat, along with higher blood pressure. Depression, low libido, anxiety, hair loss, eczema and irritable bowel, can all be attributed to stress, resulting in a figure as high as 90% of visits to the doctor being stress-related.

A stimulant gives you short term energy by inducing a stress reaction. In order for your body to have the energy to respond to its perceived state of stress, it is usual to eat or drink more, resulting more often than not in an increase in blood pressure. This is known as a ‘fight or flight’ reaction and originated in pre-history when stress was caused by something like meeting a sabre-toothed tiger round the corner and having the option of fighting it or running away. The action of running away or fighting would use up the extra energy generated by the stress and return the body to its normal, non-stressed state.

Modern stresses tend not to be resolved by physical actions such as running away. In the wenty-first century men and women are more likely to be stressed in a traffic jam, or when meeting with their financial advisor. So the body remains stressed for longer, with no way of resolving it. In a state of stress, the body stops repairing itself, so that it can concentrate on reacting to the perceived stress. For an occasional stressful event this isn’t a problem, but he long-term result is that the more you stress your body, the less your body repairs itself and the faster you will age.

Avoiding stress is all very well in theory, but many people have worries that they can’t resolve, and statistics report that one in every twenty people have such problems that they suffer from panic attacks.

Panic attacks can be described as an intense surge of anxiety creating physical symptoms such as irregular heartbeat, chest pains, choking, sweating, trembling or feelings of being smothered, which can be extremely frightening.

Conventionally, sufferers may be prescribed tranquillizers, but some of these can have unpleasant side-effects including appetite loss, headaches, vision disorders and even seizures. On completion of drug therapy, patients may suffer from withdrawal symptoms such as agitation, blurred vision, dizziness, irritability and others, so many prefer to try natural alternatives before resorting to drugs.

Certain every-day substances can act as stressors – for instance: caffeine (in coffee and some fizzy drinks), sugar (including that in alcohol) and cigarettes. These should be avoided.

Beyond eliminating the above stimulants, many people like to take a natural remedy. Possibly the simplest of these is the Bach Flower “Rescue Remedy”, readily available at most pharmacists.

Another natural alternative that has been used for relieving anxiety, stress and restlessness is Kava Kava, a staple Polynesian traditional medicine, shown in numerous scientific studies to effectively reduce both general and menopausal anxiety. It acts on the limbic system, the brain’s most primitive system, which is associated with control of the emotional state. If taken with other drugs possessing tranquillising/sedative effects (e.g. benzodiazepines, butryrophenones) necessitate medical supervision in order to establish the optimum dosage.

With Kava being banned in some countries, the individual should conduct their own research as to whether its use is both safe and legal.

In the UK, at the time of writing (2009) L-Theanine, an amino acid found almost exclusively in green tea, is growing in popularity as an alternative to Kava Kava. Green tea is the second most popular drink in the world (after water) and has long been known as a relaxing beverage. Scientists now believe that both its taste and relaxing properties are attributable to its L-Theanine content. It is available in the UK from Solgar. http://www.solgar.co.uk/modules/shop/view.asp?catid=1&Prodcode=E2706

Websites I have researched are unclear about safety and legality so a safer and more tailored approach is to visit a professionally qualified homeopath or herbalist; either will take a detailed case history and recommend the best individual formulation for your circumstances.

Please note that no-one taking medication prescribed by their GP should take any additional products without his supervision, nor should they alter any instructions or dosages for their medication.

Alternatively, a life coach or counselor could help you explore stressful issues and circumstances in your life, with a view to reacting differently and thereby reducing stress and panic attacks.

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Many people are helped with depression by medications and treatments, others are turned off by the medical approach. Fortunately, there are many alternatives available that can also have a positive healing effect. The ability of flower essences to cause shifts in people at the mental-emotional level makes them a natural choice for working with depression. However, the essences must be used wisely and carefully. There is no one “essence for depression”; each person’s situation is completely individual. Here are some impressions of various flowers that have been found to be helpful.

There are a number of flowers that directly address the emotional state of depression or deep resignation. The best known is Mustard, from the Bach Remedies. The emotional profile of deep gloom and lethargy, as though a dark cloud descended on the person, seems to fit many depression situations. Various degrees of hopelessness and despair are also covered by Gorse, Sweet Chestnut, and Wild Rose. If the person is suicidal or likely to “do something terrible”, I’d probably test out Cherry Plum (the “I’m out of control!” remedy) on them. States of panic or terror require other essences, such as Rock Rose (nicknamed “liquid Valium” for its soothing properties) or Grey Spider Orchid, to help the person regain their composure. Sometimes, Star of Bethlehem is called for (if they are “numbing out” or going into emotional shock), or Waratah (if this is an “emergency crisis” situation and you just want to pull them through the night). But dealing with the immediate emotions is only the first step.

In the wholistic approach, disease is always looked at as a message about what the person needs to be healthy and whole. This is especially the case with so-called psychological illnesses. It’s important to ask why the person is showing symptoms of depression. In many instances, the “blues” and lethargy of depression are hiding another emotion altogether, most frequently repressed anger. If there’s an underlying cause apparent, it makes more sense to remove the cause instead of “fighting” the symptoms that result. Many remedies are available to get at buried emotional states. The remedies Dagger Hakea, Mountain Devil, Fuchsia, and Scarlet Monkeyflower are high on the list of “anger formulas”.

The remedies Mariposa Lily, or Dog Rose may not make up for an unhappy childhood, but they can help the person to move on and learn to parent themselves. This level of self-acceptance is the gift of Pink Monkeyflower. There could be sexual overtones to the person’s emotional dilemma — Crab Apple, Easter Lily etc. would be options here. In short, almost anything could be an underlying cause, and practically any remedy could wind up being the “core” healing agent for the person.

The essences may not be the total answer for people with depression, but they can routinely produce much good. And that’s a beautiful gift to share with yourself. Sometimes, the turning point in depression is simply forgiving oneself for being human. Being human is not a sin, it’s simply the way we were born, so you might as well glory in it.

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