Anti-anxiety supplements played a huge role in helping me completely cure my social anxiety disorder. However, I have not been able to completely cure my general anxiety disorder (GAD) yet. I do have mild PTSD so, yeah, there are times when things cause me severe pangs of anxiety or even can cause me crippling anxiety. However, I never experience any pangs of anxiety so long as I:
(1) Eat 100% Healthy
(2) Exercise at least every other day
(3) Get 7-8 hours of sleep every night and wake up before my alarm goes off at 7AM so I can "complete my body's repair cycle" rather than interrupting it with an alarm clock every morning. That is like interrupting your mechanic every time he is about to finish repairing something wrong with your vehicle. Eventually, you will pay the price. Typically, in the form of too little energy, more food cravings, irritability, bad moods, and other negative side effects of sleep deprivation... which most Americans are nowadays. The results are not great.
(4) Take my anti-anxiety supplements every night: at least the Big 4 of valerian root, lemon balm, passion flower, and chamomile. However, I also like to take ashwaghanda and magnesium glycinate every night for even greater anti-anxiety and anti-stress benefits. Those are the six supplements I have found really suppress anxiety for me and improve my sleep quality, the two effects being intertwined as better sleep = better mental health. However, results may vary. I had zero success with other supposed anti-anxiety supplements like holy basil, lavender extract, and 5-HTP. Other people may have success with holy basil or lavender extract. However, I generally advise people to stay away from 5-HTP.
Speaking of 5-HTP, there are two anti-anxiety supplements that really should be taken off the market due to how commonly they interact with antidepressants and cause serotonin poisoning: 5-HTP and St. John's Wort. I think, at the very least, you should have to show ID for 5-HTP and St. John's Wort simply because that way, people who get great benefits from those supplements can still get them and the nanny state does not take them away, but we also make certain people who wan to try them for the first time understand that these two compounds are different from most supplements: if taken with any antidepressant, you risk death or heart disease from serotonin poisoning. People should have to show ID and read that warning and know that, if they mix ANY drug that works on serotonin, not just antidepressants, with either 5-HTP or St. John's Wort, they are risking death. Maybe just require a big skull on the label and underneath that it says "WARNING: Poisonous if combined with any drug that acts on serotonin."
Well, anyway, that is why you should research the safety of any supplement you take any look for cross-indications with any medication before taking it. Regardless, if you don't take any prescription drugs, feel free to try either 5-HTP or St. John's Wort, but don't combine them. St. John's Wort is basically an all-natural antidepressant but without the addiction and withdrawal, whereas 5-HTP is the direct precursor to serotonin. Regardless, issues like this are why we need to revolutionize medical school education towards functional medicine where the doctors learn about nutrition, lifestyle changes, supplements, biofeedback therapy, CES therapy, and various alternatives to taking a new prescription drug for every little problem you encounter in life. Most people do not need blood pressure medication; give them some beet root powder and they won't have to take a prescription drug with negative side effects. Supplements, unlike drugs, have positive side effects. For example, valerian root also has anti-aging, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory benefits. Meanwhile, most prescription drugs accelerate aging, can cause cancer, and often contribute greatly to inflammatory damage within the body.
Most Americans needs to get off their prescription drugs using nutrition, exercise, and the safe use of herbal supplememts, ideally under the supervision of a functional or integrative medicine doctor who loves learning as much as I do. Both functional medicine and integrative medicine doctors are far more competent than your average "drugs and surgery only" doctor. Both schools of medicine combine modern medicine with holistic health methodologies that have actually been proven to work in medical studies, like administering patients with anxiety problems a combination of valerian root, lemon balm, passion flower, and chamomile for anxiety instead of administering them xanax, ativan, or any other benzodiazipine. God, I cannot wait to do a "change my mind" event at some medical schools. That is going to be quite fun. The "Medical school curriculums are manipulated by Big Pharma: Change My Mind" video will easily go viral if executed and edited properly.
So... these are all the supplements I have found to be both highly effective against anxiety and not only completely safe to take together, but synergistic in their effects:
(1) Valerian Root
(2) Lemon Balm
(3) Passion Flower
(4) Chamomile
(5) Ashwaghanda
(6) Magnesium Glycinate
(7) L-Theanine
Supplements 1-6 are for improving sleep quality, inducing sleep, alleviating anxiety, alleviating stress, and they work together to make you more mentally and emotionally resilient. #7, l-theanine is naturally found in green tea. If you decide to switch from coffee to green tea, there is no need to supplement with l-theanine. However, if you really love your coffee or energy drink, l-theanine works synergistically with l-theanine by alleviating any jitteriness or anxiety caused by the caffeine while also enhancing your focus. I would suggest that anyone who suffers from PTSD try out these supplements one at a time, to see what the effects are. Do not buy 6 new supplements and take all 6 new supplements at once. You want to know what causes you to feel what and learn how to "listen to your body" and work on paying attention to any subtle changes in your mood on a day to day basis, for better or worse. Some foods might cause you a downturn in mood. You may be sensitive to certain foods without an allergic reaction; some people, like Dr. Jordan Peterson, just experience severe clinical depression when they consume dairy or peanuts or legumes or beans or seafood or what have you. I am not like that, most people are not like that. However, everyone is subject to the negative impacts of toxic foods like canola oil, high fructose corn syrup, and the other poisons found in processed foods.
Ugh, I should have become a medical doctor. I could easily have become a leading researcher in any field that caught my interest as well as one of the few functional medicine doctors that have an accurate understanding of nutrition, supplements, and mindfulness from decades of experience and research, analysis, and evaluation. I would be the first doctor to recommend "prescribing books" to your patients that enjoy reading and "prescribing podcasts" to those who have problems with reading. Patients should be educated about their health conditions and the habits they change for the better to be in less pain. Patients should know that they can and should try to either significantly alleviate or even eliminate their symptoms through changing their diet, exercise regimen, lifestyle habits, sleep quality, and studying books like A New Guide to Rational Living: An Introduction to REBT Therapy by Dr. Albert Ellis that explain how to reorient your thoughts and feelings.
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