Category: Anxiety

Beta-sitosterol is found in fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

A plant-derived supplement called beta-sitosterol can help to reduce anxiety, a new mouse study suggests.

Beta-sitosterol, which is found in fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds has previously been linked to lower cholesterol and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Now, new research finds that when used with an antidepressant, it can help to reduce anxiety.

Fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) and beta-sitosterol work together synergistically so that the dosage of the antidepressant can be reduced.

Dr Nicolas Panayotis, the study’s first author, said:

“One of the major problems with existing antianxiety medications is that they produce side effects, so if beta-sitosterol could help cut down the dosage of such medications, it might potentially also reduce the unwanted side effects.”

Anti-anxiety drugs are challenging to create because anxiety is not always a bad thing.

Indeed, anxiety is quite natural and helps us deal more effectively with the dangers we face.

Beta-sitosterol reduces anxiety

For the study, mice were given Prozac and beta-sitosterol both together and separately.

The results revealed that beta-sitosterol reduced anxiety at lower doses when both drugs were used together.

One of the advantages of beta-sitosterol is that it is naturally present in many edible plants.

Avocados have particularly high concentrations of beta-sitosterol.

However, eating avocados alone will not help anxiety, Dr Panayotis said:

“You’d need to eat avocado day and night to get the right dose — and you would be more likely to develop digestive problems than relieve your anxiety.”

Dosage and side-effects

Beta-sitosterol is widely sold as a dietary supplement, often for treating high cholesterol and for benign prostatic hyperplasia (an enlarged prostate).

Professor Mike Fainzilber, study co-author, warned:

“There’s a need for a clinical trial to test the use of beta-sitosterol for reducing anxiety in humans.

Until then, we recommend that people consult their physicians before taking the supplement for this purpose.”

Since no trials have yet been carried out, there is no recommended dosage of beta-sitosterol for anxiety.

Side effects of beta-sitosterol are generally mild and include indigestion, nausea, gas, constipation and diarrhoea.

The study was published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine (Panayotis et al., 2021).

The benefits of humility include coping with anxiety, higher self-control and better relationships.

The poet Tennyson once said that humility is, “the highest virtue, the mother of them all.”

Yet society celebrates over-confidence, entitlement and a perpetual focus on the self.

People are increasingly competitive, attention-seeking, narcissistic, obsessed with their appearance and entitled.

Psychological research, though, underlines eight ways in which the benefits of humility can help us improve our lives (Kesebir, 2014).

The author of the study, psychologist Pelin Kesebir, explains that:

“Humility involves a willingness to accept the self’s limits and its place in the grand scheme of things, accompanied by low levels of self-preoccupation.”

Humility — or ‘a quiet ego’ as she calls it — can be surprisingly powerful in a variety of different ways.

1. Humility soothes the soul

Humble people are better able to cope with anxiety about their mortality.

Instead of erecting self-defences against death, humble people tend to find it provides a useful perspective on life and how it should be lived.

When it’s not all about you, interestingly, it makes death easier to contemplate.

2. Excellence in leadership

Humble leaders are not only better liked, as you might imagine, but they are also more effective.

Author of a study published in the Academy of Management Journal, Bradley Owens explained (Owens et al., 2011):

“Leaders of all ranks view admitting mistakes, spotlighting follower strengths and modeling teachability as being at the core of humble leadership.

And they view these three behaviors as being powerful predictors of their own as well as the organization’s growth.”

3. Higher self-control

Having high self-control is one key to a successful life.

Oddly, perhaps, studies have found that an obsession with the self can paradoxically lead to lower self-control.

The humble, though, because they place less importance on the self, exhibit higher self-control in many situations.

Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that humble people tend to know their limits.

4. Better work performance

The humble not only make better managers, but they also make better employees.

A study of employees’ supervisors found that being honest and humble was a good predictor of people’s job performance (Megan et al., 2011).

5. Humble people get higher grades

Perhaps being a better employee and better manager has its roots in the formative years.

A study of 55 students has found that those who were more humble did better academically (Rowatt et al., 2006).

Being humble, therefore, may make you better in school.

6. Humility leads to less prejudice

One of the characteristics of being humble is having a low sense of entitlement.

Humble people don’t think they are owed things.

This leads to a less prejudiced view of the world, encouraging  them to be tolerant to others and less defensive about their own beliefs.

7. More helpful

Humble people are, on average, more helpful than people who are conceited or egotistical.

In a study by LaBouff et al. (2011), participants who were more humble, were more likely to offer help, and offered more of their time, to those in need.

Unsurprisingly, humble people have also been found to be more generous.

8. Humility benefits relationships

Humble people may have better relationships because they accept other people for who they are.

A study by Davis et al. (2012) of groups of people found that humility helped to repair relationships and built stronger bonds between people.

Image credit: Lisa Widerberg

Lavender also has practically no side-effects in comparison to drugs like benzodiazepines and SSRI antidepressants.

The smell of lavender reduces anxiety, research confirms.

Lavender also has practically no side-effects in comparison to drugs like benzodiazepines and SSRI antidepressants.

Benzodiazepines, in particular, can cause headache, dizziness and an effect like being drunk.

Lavender, meanwhile, has a relatively quick relaxing influence and no other side-effects.

Dr Hideki Kashiwadani, study co-author, said:

“In folk medicine, it has long been believed that odorous compounds derived from plant extracts can relieve anxiety.”

The researchers tested linalool, which is a compound in lavender that has the relaxing effect.

Dr Kashiwadani explained:

“We observed the behavior of mice exposed to linalool vapor, to determine its anxiolytic [calming] effects.

As in previous studies, we found that linalool odor has an anxiolytic effect in normal mice.

Notably, this did not impair their movement.”

Lavender, though, must be smelt not absorbed into the lungs, to have its calming effect, the mouse study has found.

Mice that could not smell, though, were not relaxed by the linalool.

→ Read on: 4 herbs that influence mood and memory.

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (Harada et al., 2018).