V. Can I use these treatments with other treatments to help with my anxiety?

Course speech

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.

Nutrition modifications and medication should be used with other treatments to lower anxiety. As previously mentioned in this lesson, there are many ways in which stress and anxiety can affect the body in our everyday and long-term lives, both in our minds and bodies. The complex connection between nutrition and medication can counteract the effects of medication, and can improve physical and psychological wellbeing so that you can take advantage of other anxiety treatments. When combining food choices or medication with other anxiety treatments, you should keep the following in mind:

High-fat diets can temporarily lower stress and anxiety, but may lower overall wellbeing. You need to do other complementary therapies to reduce anxiety, especially with physical exercise. Exercise alone without a healthy diet or a healthy diet alone without other strategies for wellbeing do not work as well as when they are combined.

Nutrition and medication strategies can complicate heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic physical conditions. Unlike other anxiety exercises, it may be necessary to consult with a doctor or nutrition professional when making changes to any diet. Consulting a doctor is required before altering a medication regime. This should be done before adding complementary anxiety treatments like Relaxation Exercise or Breathing Exercises, since certain complementary therapies work better with medication or dietary changes than others.
For severe cases of anxiety or diagnosed anxiety disorders, medication may be an important first step before being able to perform other anxiety treatments. Medication should not be the only step taken to reduce severe anxiety. Like all other therapies, medication is just one of many choices to reduce anxiety. Because of its side effects, complementary therapies should be combined with medications to get the greatest anxiety reducing benefit.
Using complementary treatments and nutrition modifications could reduce dependence on medication, as you will have other strategies to counteract anxiety and stress. You may also have a better overall wellbeing that you may not get from medication alone.

After trying other therapies or combining them with nutrition and medication modifications, you may find that the strategies presented in this lesson are all you need for your level of anxiety. Because there are sometimes negative consequences with medication treatments, and the higher levels of overall health you can obtain from combining a healthy diet with physical activity, you should consider adding complementary therapies in the future if you are unable to commit yourself to them now.