Anxiety, though a normal part of life, get's in the way, a lot.

It can stop you from doing things you love, keep you from new experiences, and cause strife in your relationships.

You deserve to lead a life of adventure, daring, and courage to explore never before seen wilderness and make monumental discoveries that change everything we know about the world!

Or, maybe if that is not exactly the lifestyle that you would have chosen for yourself (with or without anxiety) then you at least deserve not to have felt like your world is going to end every time you leave the house or meet someone new.

Getting anxiety under control is a huge benefit to you and the people you love.

Medications for anxiety can be very effective, but they don't work for everyone and there is very often a lot of risks.

There are also simply a lot of people who hate the idea of being reliant on medications or have already had bad experiences with medications but still want and need to find relief from their anxiety.

Today we're going to look at all-natural approaches to anxiety that are proven, free, and are no risk to your health and well-being

Let's take a look.

Consistent Sleep

Anxiety is very often tied to stress.

The more stressed, the more anxious.

The first step in an all-natural approach to anxiety is making sure you're getting quality sleep.

Because sleep is the best way to decrease stress every single day for the rest of your life.

I can already see some of you rolling your eyes at this one.

Sleep is truly one of the most profound changes you make in your life.

We know a major contributor to anxiety is stress, chronic stress in fact, and that one of the greatest things in the world to reduce chronic stress is to get regular, quality sleep.

Not only does sleep relax your mind and body and eliminate stress, it also reduces the risk of other chronic diseases including heart disease, brain disease, and some cancers.

That's right, sleep does all this, so make it a priority!

To improve your sleep make sure you do the following:

1) Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day

2) Get off the phone, TV, tablets, etc. 1 hour before going to sleep

3) Set your bedroom temperature to ~65 F

4) Use your bed for sleep ONLY (no more binging shows or hanging out for no reason)

5) Dim your lighting 1 hour before sleep

These 5 simple changes will make a huge improvement in your sleep which will reduce your stress and reduce your anxiety.

Let's look at another natural approach to anxiety.

Daily Meditation

I talk a lot about meditation and I'll keep doing so for the rest of my life.

There are simply no other activities you can do in 5-minutes that have nearly the same overall benefits to wellness as meditation.

5-minute daily meditation is a must-do for an all-natural approach to anxiety.

Here's how:

1) Sit comfortably in a quiet room with no distractions and set a timer for 5 minutes

2) Allow your gaze to naturally settle on something in front of you

3) Focus your full attention on that spot 

4) When you notice that your mind is wandering, or you're thinking about chores, tasks, etc. simply bring your full focus back to that same spot

5) Repeat step 4 over, and over, and over, and over until the timer goes off

This is an annoying daily practice and it is very difficult.

But, the benefits come from the number of times you're able to re-focus, so don't worry about how much your mind wanders, worry about how many times you can bring it back.

Now let's look at our last natural approach to anxiety.

Cognitive Challenging

This natural approach to anxiety may be the most difficult and is best supported by having a counselor, but it is a practice you can do every day on your own.

Cognitive challenging simply means pushing back against your thoughts to think about something else or think differently about your thoughts.

Anxiety is fueled by thoughts, but only thoughts about the thing making you anxious.

If you can challenge your thoughts and focus on something else, the anxiety fades away.

Anxiety is a fear that we are under threat, so one of the best cognitive challenges is to tell yourself that you are safe, that you can take care of yourself, and are okay.

Repeat to yourself, "I am safe, I am capable, I am not under threat."

Choosing your variation is better but this gives you an idea of where to start.

99% of the things that evoke anxiety are not a legitimate threat to our safety or well-being.

They are an exaggerated threat to an idea we have about ourselves.

Once you realize the idea you have of yourself isn't actually under threat, there's nothing to be anxious about.

This takes a lot of practice and repetition but is a great natural approach to anxiety. 

Conclusion

These are by no means the exclusive ways to naturally approach anxiety, but they are a great place to start.

Maximizing your sleep reduces stress and anxiety.

Daily meditation reduces anxiety, fear, and discomfort while increasing contentedness, joy, and calm.

Cognitive challenging helps your mind directly address the fear and teaches you how to alter your thoughts to alter your anxiety.

All the tools we discussed today have one major thing in common, reducing stress.

Even cognitive challenges reduce stress by teaching you there are multiple perspectives available to you and identifying which ways of thinking create more stress.

You most likely don't need medication to reduce anxiety; there are some severe cases where medication is warranted and maybe even needed but it is uncommon (despite how common prescriptions are made).

All of these are completely free and available to use all day every day.

The more you use them the more effective they are.

Now you have your natural approach to anxiety.