by Ashley Schaeffer

Created on: April 08, 2008

A little bit of anxiety can be a good thing. After all, those carefree individuals who experience less than what is typical often have a lot of trouble making it to work on time and paying the bills. However, this is anything but the case for the approximately 30% of Americans who suffer from anxiety disorders. For those of us who are forced to live with conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or social anxiety disorder (among others), nagging worries and persistent fears can have a tremendous impact on our jobs, our social lives, and our personal relationships.

While taking medications may seem like the easy route, there are a whole slew of reasons to first check and see if your problem can be treated in a more natural, gentler way. For one, most of these drugs come along with some pretty undesirable side effects, while other drugs lead to dependence and a subsequent relapse once they have been cut out of the daily regimen. Although simply taking herbal supplements might not always be enough to combat serious anxiety problems, a combination of herbs, relaxation practices, and lifestyle changes will probably do the trick with a certain amount of patience and perseverance.

There are a number of natural remedies to try, the most readily available and mild being chamomile. For those who experience a moderate amount of anxiety on a day-to-day basis, it would probably be a good idea to add two or three cups of chamomile tea to your everyday routine. It has a sedative effect and is a mild muscle relaxant, and it is very safe to use.

Passionflower is another plant that could be beneficial. It has been used by the natives of the Americas as well as Europeans for its sedative and anxiety-soothing properties for centuries. Although scientists are not entirely certain why it works so well, it is suspected that chrysin, one of the flavonoids found within it, lowers blood pressure and relaxes the central nervous system.

If you're looking to try something a little bit more powerful, kava kava may be the way to go. Kava can be dried and ground into a powder which is then used for tea, put into capsule form, or prepared into a tincture. It is a sedative and muscle relaxant that can also induce a state of euphoria in users. This herb has been used in the ceremonies of natives dwelling in the South Pacific for ages, and today many people prefer it to alcohol for relaxing with friends in social settings. The down side to kava is that overuse has

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