Supplements That Can Really Help

Here are our top 4 Basic Food Supplements found to be helpful for anxiety:

Caution: If you are currently taking a medication for anxiety or depression, we suggest you consult with your physician before stopping or replacing any of your medications. Switching from meds to natural remedies can be tricky, and dangerous. We suggest you explore theroadback.org  website and their free online book titled:
How To Get Off Psychiatric Drugs Safely by James Harper, under the PROGRAM tab, and discuss your plans with a Functional Med Physician, or a professional health provider familiar with both the meds you are on and the nutrients you would like to try. This website offers other supplements not noted below, at nominal cost, that may also be of help. 

(Note the American Brain Council does not benefit from your purchase of any of these products, and most of these ingredients, can be found in your local health food store or other sources online. But we like LEF because of the quality of their products and their articles are well researched, informative and well written.) 

1. First, a lot of anxiety issues, seems to stem, at least in part from gut issues. Moreover, two unique strains of gut bacteria or probiotics have been found to significantly reduce stress, and anxiety. You can read more about those by clicking on “unique strains’ above or copying and pasting this link: https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2019/11/probiotic-solution-to-depression-and-anxiety If you’d like to see how much these might help you, here’s the Life Extension product that contains those strains.  https://www.lifeextension.com/search#q=probiotics%20mood%20&t=coveo4A2453FD
2. Several of the B-vitamins have been shown to be helpful including B-1, B-3, B-6, B-9 and B-12. Taking a simple bioactive or coenzyme B-complex supplement that contains active forms of all of those, will help provide a good foundation for a variety of necessary biochemical actions in the brain and body. (See the Anxiety Protocol section 9 Nutrients) This is Life Extension bioactive B-complex.
   https://www.lifeextension.com/vitamins-supplements/item01945/bioactive-complete-b-complex
3. The mineral magnesium is also foundational for calming nerves. This mineral is necessary for more than 300 biochemical actions in the body and brain, but especially for calming nerves. (See a review in the Anxiety Protocol section 9 Nutrients) There are many different forms of magnesium supplements, some more effective than others. Calm-Mag (Magnesium Acetyl-Taurinate) from Life Extension, features a patented bioavailable form of magnesium linked to the protein Taurine that works in your brain to support a healthy stress response, may be the best form for anxiety. (See https://www.lifeextension.com/vitamins-supplements/item02434/calm-mag)
   Other than that, Magnesium Glycinate is well absorbed or Magnesium citrate, should be helpful as well. 
4. Consider Life Extension’s Enhanced Stress Relief formula, which contains Lemon Balm and L-theanine as described in the article noted above. (Click on Stress Relief above for more info on theanine or this link to learn more about that product. https://www.lifeextension.com/vitamins-supplements/item00987/enhanced-stress-relief
5. Ashwagandha-Plus Calm & Focus is another great formula with ashwagandha spearmint and rosmarinic extract.  Ashwagandha is one of the best herbs for boosting GABA. That along with spearmint and rosemary help improve attention and memory. Read more about the ingredients via the link on the name. Read more about the product here: https://www.lifeextension.com/vitaminssupplements/item02519/ashwagan

Of course there are many other “natural” products that you could try, with little to no risk for adverse effects. There is another interesting product that appears to have a good combination of nutrients called Ultra Calm. If you try the above and still do not get the relief you desire you may want to give this product a try instead of the Enhanced Stress Relief. If you click on Ultra Calm above or this link https://purenatureplus.com/pages/purenature-ultra-calm you will see that it contains a lot more of the ingredients in the Life Extension Protocol review.

However, when you take supplements containing more ingredients there is a risk of getting something that your body does not like. Ashwagandha, for example, is an excellent herb for anxiety, however, some people find that it upsets there tummy. But at $49 a bottle, it may be worth a try. It does contain the essential B-vitamins, so that would reduce the number of pills you would need to take,… if it doesn’t cause any adverse reactions. (The Enhanced Stress Relief formula may be a safer less expensive start.)

See also How to Boost Serotonin Naturally under Depression Alleviation