How Your Naturopath Can Assist with Stress & Anxiety

Stress is something we all have to cope with, and while some of us may be good at regulating our systems, others may need some help ( plus there is always room for improvement when it comes to stress management ). You may not think that a naturopath would be the first person to turn to when it comes to stress and anxiety,  but there are actually many aspects we can help with.

Now depending on the severity of your anxiety (and what I mean by this is really how is it affecting you - are you able to function as normal or are you stuck in bed ?) will depend on whether a naturopath is the right practitioner for you.

As a future practitioner I want to be able to help those of you that have 'high functioning' anxiety and stress. That is, you have been able to cope on your own and still go about your daily life, but would really benefit from some different management techniques. For those of you that are having serious trouble dealing ( not to say that we don't all have days where getting out of bed seams like a task in itself ) but if this is your regular, every day feeling - this is going to be out of my scope.

Essentially I'm here to help other women in a similar position to me - maybe you have your own business, are an entrepreneur, or maybe you're in the corporate world. Even though you are passionate about what you do, you have goals set and are ready to achieve them, you can feel the stress slowly taking its toll on your day to day grind.

SO - what can a naturopath do for you?

First things first - and that's take your case. Typically an initial naturopathy appointment goes for 1 hour - 90 minutes. In this time I will ask questions and assess where you are at with your stress, and also your overall health. This is to determine all aspects that could be having an impact on your ability to deal with the stressors you are facing. After taking the case, there are some typical things that usually need addressing:

Diet and Nutrient status

Even if you eat reasonably well, for those of us with high amounts of daily stress - there are some tweaks that can be made to the diet to optimise it. In terms of nutrient status, I might request for you to get some blood work done so we can see if there are any depletions in your nutrient stores, as these could be impacting your stress response. Generally speaking, stress over long periods of time can deplete some of our nutrients, so we just want to make sure everything is not only 'ok' but optimal for you to continue doing what you do.

Gut health (of course)

If you've been around for a while you may have seen that gut health is something I'm also very interested in. Why ? If you haven't heard, the gut is your 'second brain', it and your nervous system are in constant communication which means that you've been stressed, chances are you digestive health may have also taken a toll. By promoting a healthy gut (think microbiome, gut wall integrity) we help to make the communication essentially more positive.

Botanical support

There are oh so many herbs that can be useful for managing stress, improve your stress response, and to help to calm you down in the moment. You can find some of my favourite here. The herbs I choose will actually be tailored to your specific needs, you might receive a night time blend to help you wind down from work and ease into sleep, and a day time blend for focus, and some adaptogens to help you better cope with stress. Herbs are also chosen with your energetics in mind - essentially whether you predominantly cold or warm. Your vitality (essence, strength, vigour) is also taken into account when choosing herbs.

Lifestyle practices

If you are the woman I described earlier - the business woman, entrepreneur, successful, type a, etc. Chances are you already have a healthy routine (morning, evening, weekend) down pat. I'm not here to tell you to start doing something completely different (unless you want to change things up) - but rather adjust, tweak, takeaway and add until what you are doing is optimised so much so, that you can handle anything that comes your way.

These are just some of the ways Naturopathy can help you effectively manage stress and anxiety. If you are interested in working with me, please fill out this form to be notified when appointments become available.

Hope you are all staying well at this time.

Kindest always,

Sarah x