Transcription
Have you noticed lately that anxiety seems to come out of nowhere, or that you are getting stressed out easily as compared to before? If that's you, then today's video is for you. Because so many people are dealing with this right now. And no matter how much they tell their mind to relax, their body would just not respond. And most people think anxiety is just a mental problem. In reality, it is your body's stress response which is stuck in overdrive, which is causing you to feel anxious and stressed out.
So, in today's video, I'm sharing with you a natural 2-minute calming drink that you can make at home, which is going to rebalance your stress hormones. It is going to relax your nervous system, as well as support the gut-brain axis, so that you can feel more relaxed naturally. And the best part, this drink doesn't make you drowsy or groggy the whole day, but instead, it works at a subtle level to help calming your anxiety and stress response on the background basis.
Hi, I'm Dr. Anul Gupta, a former Cleveland Clinic functional medicine physician from US. I help people improve their chronic diseases by making personalized functional medicine plans. Now, most people are relying on prescription medications to improve this anxiety. But a lot of these people are having side effects from the medications or unable to tolerate these medications. So that's the reason I'm sharing with you this natural one-cup recipe, which you can make easily at home, which gently works on your body and help you in calming down.
Now, what is happening inside your body when you actually feel stressed out or anxious? It is not only about hormonal dysfunctions of serotonin or GABA. It is actually much more complex. When you're feeling anxiety or stressed out, your adrenal glands are pumping too much cortisol in your system. This cortisol disrupts all of your hormones in your body, including your thyroid, your brain hormones, as well as also disrupts your pituitary hormones, the HPA axis. And because of this hormonal disruption, it creates too much inflammation in your system. And this inflammation also makes your anxiety and stress worse. And plus, this inflammation targets your gut. And most people are unaware that 70% of your mood hormones, the serotonin, the GABA, are being produced in your gut. And there is a direct connection from your gut to your brain. And when your gut is disrupted or not working, that sends signals to your brain and that causes more anxiety and stress. The typical anxiety medications are only working on rebalancing the brain hormones. But this is where I wanted to give long-term relief to people from anxiety and stress. And the ingredients in this particular drink, which I'm going to share now, works on all of these underlying problems of anxiety.
So let me first share with you the ingredients and how they're exactly helping you, and then I'm going to share with you the exact recipe. The first ingredient over here is called holy basil or tulsi. Now, holy basil or tulsi is an adaptogenic herb, which has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine specifically to rebalance the HPA axis, improve the cortisol levels, and improving the stress levels. A study published in a journal called Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found out that participants who took Tulsi extract on a regular basis, they had less amount of stress-related and anxious symptoms. Now, the good part about holy basil or tulsi is that it is non-sedative. So that means it doesn't make you drowsy or sleepy. Instead, it works on the stress response on the background. So slowly and slowly, it helps your body to tackle stress and anxiety better.
The second ingredient over here is ashwagandha powder. Now, ashwagandha is another herb, which is also an adaptogenic herb. But the mechanism of action is very different from holy basil or tulsi. It has been shown in recent studies that ashwagandha has a dual effect. It not only calms down your nervous system, but also improves your cortisol level and also rebalances your brain hormones, so that you can sleep better. You feel less anxiety, as well as you feel less stress on your body. A study published in the Journal of American Nutraceutical Association found out that people who consumed ashwagandha extract, their anxiety scores were much less as compared to people who were not consuming it. So that's the reason Ashwagandha powder works really great in this drink.
The third ingredient over here are fennel seeds. Now, fennel seeds are really good for your digestive health. But fennel seeds have a compound called anethole, which actually has calming properties for your gut. And by supporting your gut, it indirectly has calming properties for your body. The next ingredient over here is ginger. Now, ginger has anti-inflammatory properties. It has a compound called gingerol, which not only reduces gut inflammation, but also reduces inflammation in your brain, as well as systemically in your body. And again, by reducing inflammation in your body, it helps support your mood. So you will see all of these four ingredients in this drink are working at different pathways to help improve your anxiety as well as your stress. And more importantly, they are not suppressing your brain hormones. So typically, you will not feel the symptoms of drowsy or that your brain is not working at the optimal level.
Now let me share with you exactly how to make this drink and then when to consume it. For this, you need to warm up one cup of water in a pan. As soon as it comes to a boil, switch off the flame and then you add half a teaspoon of fennel seeds to it, half an inch of grated ginger or ginger extract into it. Then either you can add holy basil tea bags to it or fresh leaves of holy basil. Then you let this mixture to steep for at least 5 minutes. Then after 5 minutes, you can strain this mixture into a cup and then you can add half a teaspoon of ashwagandha powder. If you're unable to find ashwagandha powder, then you can simply take an ashwagandha supplement. And then for the taste purposes, if you want to add a little bit of raw honey, you can do that also in this tea, and your tea is ready. And you can sip it slowly in the next 4 to 5 minutes.
Now, what is the best time of consuming this drink? For most people, I recommend consuming this drink in the morning time because during the daytime is where your body gets stressed out and you feel anxious and stressed. So if you consume this drink in the morning, it prepares your body for the stress which is going to come to it during the daytime. But if you're that person, typically stress or anxiety kicks in later half in the day, then you can also take it during the late afternoon or in the evening time, which is going to help you to sleep better as well as also reduce your anxiety and stress. Typically, what people notice is that 20 to 30 minutes after consuming this drink, they will feel that the stress or anxiety is a little better than before. And one important thing, this is not a medication. So, you will not see instant relief today itself. Typically, it builds up in your system and then slowly rebalances your hormones, specifically your HPA axis. So consume it on a regular basis, and then after one week to 10 days, you will see much more benefits of it. Also, this drink doesn't replace any medications that you are taking. So if you are taking any anxiety or stress-related medications, it is very important to talk to your doctor before consuming this drink.
So today I shared with you this drink which is working on the underlying problems of stress and anxiety and helps your body to tackle stress better, as well as calms your body's nervous system, inflammation levels, as well as rebalances your hormones on a gentle way. Combining some stress reduction techniques like either meditation or deep breathing exercises enhances the benefits of this drink. So try to incorporate those maybe for 5 to 10 minutes along with this drink, and you are going to see even better results. So I hope you try this drink and share in the comment section if you feel any difference after trying it for a week to 10 days. I hope you like this video. If you do, please like and subscribe to my channel, as well as share this video with others who can benefit from it. Until next time, take care. Bye-bye.