Kava & Anxiety
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Anxiety is a symptom. People who feel anxiety experience muscle tension, restlessness, panic, or a sense of impending doom. They often also have anxious thoughts, such as fears of dying of a heart attack, fears of embarrassment or humiliation, or fears of something terrible happening. In addition, they often have uncomfortable physical sensations, including heart palpitations, sweating, dizziness, or shortness of breath. Some people with anxiety disorders perform certain rituals or avoid certain situations in order to cope with anxiety.
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People gain relief from things including anxiety, stress, and insomnia. These things are similar and often go hand in hand. People having actual clinical panic attacks, hyperventilating etc. seem also to have anxiety-induced depression.
In wholistic medicine we don't just treat the symptoms. We look at the whole person and empower them to nourish and strengthen their body, mind and spirit so that it can heal. While Kava can interrupt the cycles of anxiety and depression we recommend taking steps to increase physical activity, improve your diet, as well as take measures to improve your life and take time for yourself to meditate and unwind. If St John's Wort is nature's Prozac than kava is nature's Valium, or Xanax. Kava doesn't overpower you. It relaxes you muscles and calms your emotions without changing your personality. You are still yourself, just not as tense or anxious. Six double-blind studies have been done with people that have agro phobia, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, or adaptation disorder. They all rated having moderate to severe anxiety. They were given a low dose of kava extract three times a day during differing periods of time. The conclusions were that anxiety had significantly decreased and interestingly enough had fewer side effects that even the placebo. Let's look at kava versus the super drugs like Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin. Several studies have been done in Germany as well and here in the United States comparing kava to benzodiazepines i.e. Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin. The results have consistently shown that the participants gained relief from their suffering and that kava compared well to these drugs without the latter adverse side effects. In studies where it was measured, kava actually enhanced mental functioning. These results look quite promising. You can buy this herb in a tincture for small children or make your own. |
