Does life have you feeling stressed or anxious?
Anxiety and stress can leave our bodies with an overabundance of hormones that can wreak havoc on our bodies. When left unchecked this can lead to heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and a long list of other ailments that can bring down the quality of our lives. There are ways we can reduce these effects by exercising, eating healthy and avoiding stressful situations. The purpose of this article, however, is to give you another tool for your belt in combating the harmful effects of stress and anxiety. Let me introduce you to GABA.
WHAT IS ANXIETY?
As humans developed anxiety was key to our survival. It is our “fight or flight” response and was primarily used in situations where a threat was present. But now in modern day it is fear of losing a significant other, traffic, bosses, work, dinner plans, and what ever else there is floating around in the minds of a modern person. These days our bodies are being over exposed to anxiety and stress about things that have either already happened or speculative to something that may not ever happen. All this does a number on our bodies. All this activity takes place in the brain and is a result of too much information being shot around through neurotransmitter. Think of your brain as a highway for a moment and imagine that all these neurons are causing a traffic jam that is elevating your stress levels. GABA helps to regulate that.
WHAT IS GABA?
In chemical terms it is an amino acid. Though it is so much more than that. GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in our central nervous system. It plays a crucial role in reducing neuronal excitability and is in direct responsibility to muscle tone.
BENEFITS OF GABA
GABA is essential to the fuction of the human body. Not only can it provide relief from hypertension and depression but also provides a number of other benefits
- Reduces blood sugar
- Increase human growth hormones
- Increase muscle tone
- Used in treatment of Neurological disorders
- Muscle relaxant
- Breaks down fats in body
- Reduces chronic arthritis
DOES GABA CROSS THE BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER
Most science says no. Which leaves us to ponder on the effectiveness of GABA as a way to treating anxiety outside of the standard placebo effect. However recent science has something more to add. GABA supplementation is effective in increasing human growth hormones that are released in the pituitary gland which is in fact inside the brain, past the barrier. This leaves us to wonder if there isn’t some alternate route the GABA takes to enter into the brain. Especially after so many who have used GABA to treat anxiety have reported positive effects in reducing their stress and anxiety. Plus there have been numerous studies showing the effect of oral GABA on reduction of alpha waves and increase of beta waves.
Other solutions to the blood brain barrier question is to either supplement L-Theanine which has been shown to not only cross the barrier but also increase GABA production. Or another alternative would be to add Niacin with a phenylated GABA supplement. Innactives can cross the barrier and then become active.
In the opinion of this writer. I have used GABA by itself and can say I found its effects to be rather calming. I definitely enjoyed a reduction of stress and anxiety.
I hope you found this article on Reducing Stress and Anxiety with GABA helpful.
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