Stress & Anxiety

What ARE Stress & Anxiety?

Stress and anxiety are part of life—but when they start showing up as chronic tension, poor sleep, digestive issues, mood swings or constant fatigue, they’re no longer just background noise. They’re alarm bells from your nervous system saying, “Something needs to change.”

Stress is a normal biological response to a perceived threat. It can be helpful in small bursts—keeping you focused and alert. But when it sticks around, your body pays the price. Anxiety tends to creep in when that stress response gets stuck in the “on” position, long after the original stressor is gone.

You might feel like you’re always in overdrive, on edge, or just not quite yourself. Maybe you’ve been told it’s “just anxiety” and sent on your way with a script. But here’s the truth: anxiety is real, and it’s your body’s way of saying “I’m overwhelmed.” That’s worth listening to.

What’s Actually Happening in the Body When You’re Stressed or Anxious?

When you’re stressed or anxious, your brain sounds the alarm—and your body follows orders.

Here’s what’s going on behind the scenes:

– Your amygdala (the part of your brain that processes fear) triggers the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis), flooding your body with cortisol and adrenaline.
– Your body moves blood away from digestion, sleep, reproduction and immune function, and straight to survival.
– In the short term, this is helpful. But when this becomes your baseline? That’s when we see hormonal disruption, gut issues, poor sleep, low mood, and that all-too-familiar “wired but tired” feeling.

Chronic stress literally changes brain structure and function. It can enlarge the amygdala, shrink the prefrontal cortex (your decision-making and emotional regulation centre), and damage the hippocampus (involved in memory and learning).

Long-term stress also increases inflammation, weakens the gut barrier (hello, leaky gut), dysregulates your immune system, and even damages the blood-brain barrier, making your brain more vulnerable to toxins.

And yes, your gut microbiome is directly involved too. There’s a whole field of research now focused on psychobiotics—specific strains of probiotics that support mood by modulating inflammation, the stress response, and neurotransmitter activity.

Natural Ways to Support Stress & Anxiety

Meditation & Mindfulness

Meditation is one of the simplest (and most powerful) ways to calm a busy, overwhelmed mind.

It helps shift your brain from high beta waves—the fast, frantic waves linked to stress and anxiety—into slower alpha and theta waves, which are associated with calm, clarity, and healing.

With regular practice, meditation doesn’t just make you feel better in the moment—it actually starts to rewire your brain. Over time, it becomes easier to step out of stress mode and respond to life’s challenges from a steadier, more grounded place.

You don’t need to sit in silence for hours. Even a few minutes a day can help retrain your nervous system and create space between you and the chaos. Think of it as a gentle daily reset button for your brain.

Diet

Your gut is home to trillions of microbes that play a huge role in how you feel—from your digestion to your immune system, and yes, even your mental health. In fact, most of your serotonin (your feel-good neurotransmitter) is made in the gut—not the brain.

When you nourish your body with real, whole food, you’re feeding the good bacteria in your gut. And when your microbiome is thriving, your brain gets the message. Supporting your gut through food can help balance neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which means better mood, calmer stress response, and a more resilient nervous system.

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about giving your body the nutrients it needs to feel safe, supported, and steady.

Nutritional & Herbal Medicine

When your body’s running on empty, it’s much harder to stay calm, clear and balanced.

Long-term nutrient deficiencies can increase your risk of developing anxiety or depression—and make it harder to cope when life gets stressful. And to make things more complicated, chronic stress actually burns through key nutrients even faster. That’s where nutritional testing can be really helpful. It allows us to pinpoint what your body might be missing, so we can support it properly—no guesswork.

From there, we use targeted nutrition and evidence-based herbal medicine to nourish your nervous system, calm inflammation, support neurotransmitter production, and bring your body back into a state of strength, steadiness and vitality.

Exercise

Movement is one of the simplest, most underrated ways to support your mental health—no gym membership or bootcamp required. When you move your body, you’re not just working your muscles—you’re helping to regulate your nervous system. Exercise reduces levels of stress hormones like cortisol and increases feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. It’s like giving your brain a gentle chemical nudge in the right direction.

It also helps shift your body out of that constant fight-or-flight state and into a more balanced place. Think of it like hitting the reset button on a frazzled nervous system.

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Signs & Symptoms of Stress & Anxiety

People who have been under extreme stress or anxiety for extended periods may find they experience the following:

Mental & Emotional Symptoms:

♦ Racing thoughts or constant worry
♦ Feeling overwhelmed, fearful or out of control
♦ Irritability or a short fuse
♦ Restlessness or inability to relax
♦ Low mood or frequent crying
♦ Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
♦ Panic attacks or a sense of dread
♦ Feeling disconnected or detached (like you’re watching life from the outside)

Physical Symptoms:

♦ Tight muscles (especially neck, shoulders, jaw)
♦ Headaches or migraines
♦ Fatigue or feeling “wired but tired”
♦ Digestive issues (bloating, IBS, reflux, nausea)
♦ Insomnia or restless sleep
♦ Palpitations or a racing heart
♦ Sweating, shakiness or lightheadedness
♦ Hormonal disruptions (PMS, period changes, low libido)

Behavioural Symptoms:

♦ Avoiding people or social situations
♦ Overeating or loss of appetite
♦ Increased alcohol, caffeine or substance use
♦ Emotional eating or sugar cravings
♦ Skin picking, nail biting, hair twirling
♦ Compulsive scrolling or zoning out with screens
♦ Trouble sticking to routines or completing tasks

Pathology Testing

To help us understand why your body is responding to your environment the way that it is, and to make sure that I am treating the cause of the dis-ease and NOT just the symptoms, I often utilise pathology and naturopathic testing to help get a better understanding of your individual imbalances and needs.

The following pathology tests may be considered:

TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)
Electrolytes
Salivary Hormones
Cortisol

MTHFR gene – this may contribute to conditions such as anxiety
B12 and Folate levels
Zinc levels
Iron Studies
Individual genetic testing
Microbiome testing
Neurotransmitter panels

STRESS AND ANXIETY TREATMENT

How Can Emily Help Me If I suffer From Stress or Anxiety?

You don’t need another person telling you to “just relax” or “try meditating.”

What you need is someone to listen, ask the right questions, and look beneath the surface to find out why your nervous system is dysregulated.

Here’s how I work with clients experiencing stress and anxiety:

– We look at the full picture—not just symptoms, but your history, gut health, hormones, nutrient status, nervous system resilience and the emotional load you’re carrying.
– If needed, we run testing to identify hidden drivers like inflammation, HPA axis dysregulation, nutrient deficiencies (like B12, magnesium or omega-3s), and gut dysfunction.
– We create a step-by-step plan with the right diet, nutrients, herbs, nervous system support strategies (like EFT, breathing, or somatic practices), and lifestyle tweaks that actually feel doable.

This isn’t about quick fixes. It’s about retraining your nervous system, rebalancing your biochemistry, and building a toolkit so you can feel like you again—calm, clear, and capable.

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