People have a lot of reasons to feel anxious and nervous these days, from the ups and downs of the stock market to stress at work and lack of money.
At the same time, many of these people who are aware of the Law of Attraction, which says that the more anxious we feel the more likely we are to attract events that will make us even more anxious, are struggling not to feel anxious.
So what’s a self-aware person stuck in a not-so-good situation to do?
Natural Remedies for Anxiety
While there are many activities you can do to reduce your level of anxiety, such as exercises or meditation, sometimes you need a physical boost to help your body calm down, and thus allow you to feel more mentally and emotionally peaceful.
Studies have shown that when our bodies are in “fight or flight mode,” and using the sympathetic nervous system, we cannot heal, relax, or rest. With all the world changes and chronic uncertainty in the world today, it’s a sure bet that most of us are in “fight or flight” mode at least once a day.
Luckily, there are some natural nutritional remedies that can help your body shift from the “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system back into the resting parasympathetic nervous system. When your body is relying on the parasympathetic nervous system, you feel relaxed and peaceful rather than anxious and high-strung.
The Importance of Vitamin B12 in Reducing Anxiety
Vitamin B12 is one of the more effective natural substances that help your body “let down” and relax. Various research studies, cited in Dr. Walter Willet’s Harvard Medical School Guide on food and nutrition, indicate that a lack of B12 can result in
– memory loss
– muscle fatigue
– increased risk of heart disease
– dementia
To this list, Dr. Karl Abrams adds that B12 deficiency is also linked with:
– chronic anxiety and nervousness
– low energy
– mental fatigue
– disorientation
– poor oxygenation of the blood
– Alzheimer’s disease
If any of these symptoms sound familiar, then you may be low in vitamin B12. In fact, B12 deficiency is becoming so prevalent that many doctors are now prescribing B12 injections for many of their patients. But don’t worry, if the thought of needles nauseates you, you can always get B12 from multiple other sources!
Where to Get Concentrated Sources of Vitamin B12
In attempt to increase the levels of B12 in their bodies, many people take B12 in a capsule or liquid supplement. But the fact of the matter is that the reason many people lack B12 is not because they don’t ingest enough of it, but because they don’t absorb it well. Dr. Willet indicates that one-sixth of older Americans are deficient in B12 because they cannot absorb the B12 they ingest.
B12 is best absorbed from whole-food sources. The best sources of B12 foods, in order of concentration, are:
– blue-green algae (AFA species only)*
– liver
– tuna
– yogurt
– cottage cheese
* AFA stands for aphanizomenon flos-aqua, a specific kind of blue-green algae that has been tested to have very high concentrations of B12. Other kinds of blue-green algae, including certain forms of spiraling, have been shown to possess molecules that actually block the body’s absorption of vitamin B12. That’s why it’s important to choose the correct form of blue-green algae if you want to increase your B12 levels.
In addition to eating foods high in B12, adding probiotics like acidophilus and bifidus to your diet also help increase your levels of B12. This is because these “friendly bacteria” live in your gut and actually produce B12. They do this so efficiently that adding just a small amount of probiotics to the diet has been shown to decrease symptoms of nervousness and anxiety in people and animals.
In fact, with performance horses it has become a common practice to feed concentrated doses of probiotics orally prior to hauling or showing because of the almost immediate positive effect this has on anxiety and nervousness.
So … if you are struggling with anxiety or nervousness on a daily basis, check your diet to see whether you may be low in vitamin B12. If so, you may wish to consider adding AFA blue-green algae and probiotics to your daily supplement regimen, as well as consuming other foods high in B12 on a regular basis.
Vitamin B12 is a simple, natural remedy to the problem of anxiety with none of the side-effects of conventional medication prescribed for this condition.
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