Stress, which can be linked to loss, anxiety & depression. See also my Instagram posts on #meadowsweetholistichealth and posts on #paula.stone.18488 showing my wild garden full of herbs & wildflowers and how connecting to nature can help with self-care and be therapeutic.
New research suggests how anxiety may also be linked to metabolism, tension & depletion. Antidepressants not so linked to low serotonin but may help neuro plasticity & brain circuits recovery.
As a Holistic therapist, depending on the individual, herbal medicine may use nervine relaxants, sedatives, tonics & adaptogen herbs for stress & stamina.
However, the recent research may show how herbs & spices linked to gut microbiome, glycaemic control, blood sugar levels & insulin resistance, pre/pro/post biotics, nutrition may help here too! How some herbs/spices may help with Neuro inflammation, protection, blood brain micro circulation, boost BDNF, neuroplasticity & more! Individuals are complex & so are some ‘conditions’, but so are herbs, with each plant containing many chemical constituents put tog in an individual formula.
We can also work together, to find which stress or anxiety management tools may help you. You choose from a range of psychotherapeutic approaches, EMDR, hypnotherapy & more to change unhelpful thoughts/feelings/behaviours or set coaching goals to change lifestyle & remove barriers. Find what is meaningful. Try hands on relaxation therapies & wellbeing days?
How do you get self-compassion to flow within? Find out how you can grow your own medicine chest & self-care ideas.
How can this picture of roses growing here help relieve stress & anxiety?
They may trigger positive emotions & trigger dopamine & serotonin, increasing feelings of wellbeing. As research shows, it may help lower blood pressure & cortisol levels & regulate stress physiological effects. So reducing activity in the amygdala and hippocampus brain regions .The beauty & intricate fractal patterns in nature may have a calming effect on the nervous system. I have studied how distraction, especially from negative thought rumination is also key in helping manage pain too.
Is stress/anxiety effecting you on a physiological level? Are you having enough nutrients by food/herbs?
Do you need to be more self-compassionate rather than always putting others before you or being the carer/nurturer/rescuer role. How empowered are you to choose? Not drains but radiator, with boundaries & being able to say NO. Where are you not saying yes, where you want to? What daily routines can you do more of to improve your wellbeing?
How can you foster Resilience & hope? Reframe, Redesign, Rewrite, Reclaim, Reinterpret or Reignite your life script or philosophy, through Redecision? Which part of you is not being heard? How much control do you have over what you do and how you use your time? How can your self-talk be more constructive?
What do you do to connect with nature, others or activity that may help you in to the stretch zone? Kierkegaard said “anxiety is the dizziness of freedom” & “a source of energy” How can one be creative, adaptable, reflective & active when faced with life challenges?
Stress & anxiety linked to our brain’s neuroplasticity, hormones, gut, bowel inflammation etc.So can manifest in IBS, tension headaches to psoriasis & affecting all our body systems.Heart
/cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory, reproductive, immune, skin etc.
Nurturing B vitamins, porridge oats (Milky oat herbal tincture added to a nervous system & adaptogen tonic formula or dried for a tea),nutritional yeast to magnesium (Floradix?)
Diet with a rainbow of vegetables, including, nuts, leaves, seeds,barks, flowers, roots, shoots, pulses/beans/lentils, grains, fungi & so 30 different plants in a week & each plant/food with vast amounts of phytochemistry.
I have listed some herbs harvested from my garden in 15 mins. These herbs are full of phytonutrients, supporting mind and body.
Lovage which is good with tomatoes. From sage, rosemary, thymes, parsleys to spicy dittander, horseradish leaf (as root later!) & my hardy szechuan pepper leaves (waiting for the numbing, tingling peppercorns). So many mints (inc indian trailing mint & peppermint (not with acid reflux). Leaves from different oreganos, marjoram, angelica, garlic chives, gotu kola, curry, summer savory, anise hyssop. Sweetening stevia & amaranth red army to red orach, fat hen, chicory, cleaver, dandelion, mexican/tree spinach & a herb that tastes like mushroons! To raw spinach, kale, cabbage, beetroot young leaves, lettuce, rocket, sorrels to nasturtiums leaves & flowers inc borage, dianthus edibles, day lily, cornflower, marigold, violas, daisies, lavender, rose petals, coriander, fennel, hollyhock, mallows. To all the intoxicating scents of basils, from Thai, Vietnamese, different Greek & even an English one, (good for our climate, but I lost it last Winter!) & many other wild plants/trees.
Infusions with lime tree flowers to yarrow flowering tops, mullein to nettle & plantain leaves. Cleavers, steeped for 20+mins or overnight. Dandelion root, cleavers seeds to make coffee. To musky meadowsweet & Ginkgo tree leaves. Nettles can be juiced & dried as a super nutrient powder.