How Keeping a Banana in Tow Eased My Anxiety

I dig my thumbnail into my higher proper thigh for distraction, feigning normalcy within the salon chair. I am strolling a psychological tightrope above a staggering canyon of hysteria, which threatens to grip my ankles and drag me down complete. “Only a trim please,” I say via shallow breaths, sustaining a poker face regardless of inside chaos. Mid-haircut, I am on the point of having a panic assault—till I keep in mind the banana I’ve stashed in my bag for at any time when anxiousness strikes.

That’s proper: For effectively over a 12 months, throughout one of many worst bouts of hysteria I’ve ever skilled, my protection was a tropical fruit. I began carrying a banana with me all over the place after a determined Google search in mid-2021 revealed that the fruit might assist alleviate anxiousness. Sure, I’m effectively conscious of how ridiculous which will sound, and on the time, I used to be skeptical, too. However I used to be additionally all the way down to attempt something to cease having panic assaults.

For effectively over a 12 months, throughout one of many worst bouts of hysteria I’ve ever skilled, my protection was a tropical fruit.

For many of my life, anxiousness has been like slightly child clinging to my decrease leg—generally sleepy and tame, mendacity dormant; different instances, roaring and disruptive, making an attempt to pull me down arduous in the course of the room for all to see. Regardless of having extra run-ins with anxiousness than I care to recount, I’ve at all times been decided to maneuver via it naturally, even when that is meant making an attempt bizarre issues like retaining a banana in my bag 24/7. Admittedly, it wasn’t essentially the most handy factor to maintain available. However a lot to my shock, it labored wonders.

Minutes after I demolished the aforementioned banana in entrance of all the salon, I felt my shoulders calm down. I reveled in a much-needed deep breath. It was like waking up from a foul dream. As soon as once more secure inside my physique, I hoped I might maintain onto this sense, a want I had on most days throughout this era of my life.

The fast soothing impact of the banana was borderline unfathomable—a lot so, I had a sense it couldn’t simply be the results of the fruit’s biochemistry (extra on that under). If it was that straightforward to knock out a panic assault with a chunk of fruit, everybody would toss out their anxiousness drugs and begin making smoothies as an alternative. It seems my reduction could have been as a lot a product of the banana’s dietary content material because it was the calming energy of merely understanding I had one with me, able to wield it at any time when essential.

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Why consuming bananas could assist to restrict anxiousness

Whereas it could sound far-fetched, there’s some science to help the truth that bananas might help with anxiousness. For starters, you would possibly recall listening to that bananas are wealthy in potassium, which has given the fruit its fame as an answer for muscle cramps: Potassium is a star in the case of facilitating muscle contractions and wholesome communication between muscle tissues and nerves. However it may even have a helpful impact on the cardiovascular system which will help psychological well being.

“Once you really feel anxious, you could have an excessive amount of of a hormone known as adrenaline [coursing through your body], which makes your coronary heart race and your thoughts really feel jumpy,” says registered dietitian nutritionist Romane Guerot, RDN. “Potassium can preserve adrenaline in verify.”

Certainly, analysis exhibits that potassium may act as a natural beta-blocker, decreasing blood pressure by easing tension in the blood-vessel walls and blocking such blood-pressure-raising hormones as adrenaline. That is a elaborate manner of claiming, “potassium helps your coronary heart beat steadily and your muscle tissues work correctly, together with those concerned within the anxiousness response,” says Guerot.

Over time, the supportive connection between potassium and coronary heart well being could have a ripple impact on psychological well being. A 2023 examine of greater than 500 individuals in China discovered that low potassium levels correlated with higher levels of anxiety and depression, suggesting grounds for rising potassium consumption. And on condition that bananas are wealthy in potassium (a medium one contains about 400 mg), consuming them extra usually would possibly assist to maintain anxiousness ranges at bay.

In response to registered dietitian nutritionist Sara Chatfield, MPH, RDN, it’s not simply the potassium that would give bananas their anti-anxiety impact, both. “Bananas are also high in tryptophan, a necessary amino acid and serotonin precursor [meaning that it’s a building block of the happiness neurotransmitter], which may help to ease stress and anxiety,” she says.

Uncovering this wealth of analysis made me really feel not less than 10 % extra regular for carrying a banana round as a mental-health software—and but, it is value noting that none of those research level to the fast results of consuming a banana on a panic assault. However as psychology would have it, even simply believing within the energy of my emotional help banana could have been sufficient to show it right into a bonafide anxiousness answer.

How the placebo impact can play a job in managing anxiousness

Through the time period when a banana accompanied me all over the place—to work, on errands, and to social plans—I felt extra relaxed simply understanding I had it inside attain. Typically, I would not even eat it (except I truly obtained hungry). Many instances, I did use my tropical software to remain calm. However no matter consumption, I got here to imagine I would be alright so long as I might down a banana earlier than a panic assault downed me.

In medication, that is known as the placebo impact: a phenomenon that happens when believing within the efficacy of a treatment makes us really feel higher, even when that treatment lacks any physiological affect. In response to therapist Shari Botwin, LCSW, the placebo impact can work wonders in the case of mitigating anxiousness. “After we take concrete steps to handle feelings that really feel out of our management, it provides our anxiousness much less energy, and it turns into much less consuming,” she says. In my case, the concrete step of packing a banana could have had that impact no matter whether or not I ate it.

“After we take concrete steps to handle feelings that really feel out of our management, it provides our anxiousness much less energy, and it turns into much less consuming.” —Shari Botwin, LCSW, therapist

There’s additionally a sure sense of psychological security that may include routine and predictability. “Carrying round a banana, or a ‘good-luck attraction,’ can serve the aim of interrupting the anxiousness spiral and offering the sensation of being protected,” says therapist Lena Elkhatib, LMFT, CST. “That enables anxiousness to take a step again and for optimistic outcomes to have their likelihood to be realized.” And the extra optimistic outcomes happen, “the extra information our mind has that optimistic outcomes are a risk, serving to shield towards future anxiousness,” she provides.

Which means every time I ate a banana and had a optimistic end result, my mind strengthened the affiliation between the 2, finally main me to really feel much less anxious simply carrying a banana in tow. It goes to point out how impactful the mind-body connection could be—one thing that could be useful for us all to recollect when signs of a panic assault come up. On the finish of the day, we’re (and at all times can be) those in management.

Discovering an anxiousness answer that works for you

Do not get me flawed: When you’re taking medicine for anxiousness, do not ditch it for a bunch of bananas. (What works for one particular person isn’t essentially what’s going to work for the subsequent.) And in case your anxiousness is retaining you from doing the stuff you want and wish to do, it’s essential to see a licensed mental health professional for help somewhat than counting on strategies for self-soothing.

That mentioned, should you’re seeking to discover alternative ways to help your self within the face of hysteria, listed here are a pair different issues to think about:

Respiratory workout routines

Analysis has proven that deep respiration can shut down the physical symptoms of anxiety. It’d take some observe to get the rhythm down, however I can attest: This actually might help. Strive an app like Breathe+ to get began with 4-7-8 breathing, a method that entails a four-count inhale, seven-count maintain, and eight-count exhale.

Partaking all 5 senses

When you suppose you are inching near a panic assault, attempt the 5-4-3-2-1 method to close it down: Deal with 5 issues you’ll be able to see, 4 issues you’ll be able to contact, three issues you’ll be able to hear, two issues you’ll be able to scent, and one factor you’ll be able to style. (Banana, anybody?) Actually, all these instances I ate a banana to outsmart anxiousness “could have additionally served the aim of bringing you again to your 5 senses,” says Elkhatib. “The sensory course of might have been part of your nervous system stress-free.”