If you’re dealing with anxiety, as so many more people are these days. In order to heal and overcome it, it’s important to understand the root of anxiety.
With everything in the last 2 years, it’s no wonder 41 percent of adults in the US said they were more anxious in 2021 compared to 2020.
Anxiety is a common thing I see in my functional health coaching practice. It’s not usually the main thing folks come to me to fix though.
It’s more like one of those pesky symptoms they’ve just learned to deal with.
Anxiety is a feeling. So when it hits we tend to think it’s something emotionally or mentally making us anxious.
And that certainly can be the trigger.
Getting to the Root of Anxiety
Did you know though, the root of anxiety can have more to do with what’s going on physically than mentally and emotionally?
Anxiety is a natural response to the body being in a hyper vigilant state.
What puts the body in a hyper vigilant state?
Getting stuck in fight or flight, usually because cortisol has been high for a long period of time.
Cortisol is our body’s stress hormone which is exactly as it sounds – it goes up when we’re stressed.
And not just your run of the mill work/life stress, it goes up in response to physical stressors too, like food sensitivities, toxic exposure, infections, etc.
This means that physical stressors can be driving your cortisol response (and by extension your anxiety) without you even realizing it.
With cortisol high, your body is more likely to be in a fight or flight mode which sends all sorts of signals to your body priming it for hyper vigilance ( read: high alert!).
What does that look like in real life?
Trouble sleeping / Insomnia
Indigestion
Reflux
Constipation
Memory issues
and you guessed it…
Anxiety.
These are all physical outputs. They’re logical responses of a body stuck in fight or flight, where it knows it needs to be on high alert.
This is why so many clients tell me after a few months of working together their anxiety is gone.
We didn’t address the anxiety.
We addressed all the physical elements that were creating a high stress environment.
As the environment shifts, the anxiety dissipates.
It’s simply not there any more.
Because the conditions that were predisposing the body to it, are no longer there either.
Client Story: Anxiety Gone, And Back Again
This came up with a client last week — he had a long history of anxiety, going all the way back to when he was a kid.
When he started on the protocol I put together for him, just like so many others, within a couple of months, no more anxiety.
Then summer happened, travel, busy schedules, he paused the protocol fully intending to return to it once back in his regular routine…
And guess what happened…
Anxiety’s back.
What changed?
The environment.
Remember this — hormones (including the stress hormone cortisol) are messengers, telling our body how it should respond to what’s going on in our environment.
They literally send signals across the body orchestrating a response based on the inputs from our environment — that includes what’s going on outside (traffic, work deadline, kids making you crazy) and inside your body (gluten sensitivity, EBV, mycotoxins).
Those hormones are telling your body….
Is it safe to relax?
Or do we need to stay on alert?
Can we prioritize digestion, sleep, fertility?
Or do we need to hone that energy for survival?
See how it works…
Our bodies are constantly responding to the environment we’re asking it to live in.
When you look at it this way, those pesky symptoms make a lot more sense. They’re a logical, reasonable response.
Knowing that, it’s then just a matter of changing up the environment — changing the inputs, so you can get a different output.
The client I mentioned got rid of the roots of his anxiety once, and he can do it again. He’s getting back on the protocol and knows it’s only a matter of time until the anxiety will be gone again.
Are you ready to get to the root of your anxiety? Are you ready to take a look at your environment, maybe change some inputs so you can get a different more calm, relaxed, resilient output?
This is what I help my clients do in my functional health coaching practice.
I still have a couple spots open to begin in September. If you’re interested, best thing to do is grab a spot on my calendar here and we’ll get started from there.
P.S. If you deal with anxiety it may be more of a physical issues than a mental/emotional one. When we address physical sources of stress (like nutrient insufficiencies, food sensitivities, toxicity, stealth infections) anxiety is one of those symptoms that disappears all on it’s own. Want to learn more? Best thing to do is grab a spot on my calendar for a chat right here.
