Sorry to hear you are dealing with this. Anxiety while hiking is hard. From experience, here's my take on how to deal with it.
What didn't work:
- Taking anti-anxiety medications. Being on meds and in the wilderness is not good and can worsen anxiety in some circumstances.
- Green "herbal" medications. This is hit or miss because it depends on what strain you get. If you spend some time getting to know what you like, it will probably help more.
- Lavender. Some people swear by the effects of lavender. It did not work for me.
What worked:
- Meditation. Meditation is great if you can build a habit out of it. It took me around 8 weeks to let the monkey mind settle down and, once it did, the peacefulness extended beyond the
- Vitamin supplementation. I was surprised that vitamin supplementation helped me feel more relaxed. I do get a Myers' cocktail (IV) regularly which has tremendous effects for me but obviously that's not something you can do in the wilderness. While the IV vitamin injections have been good, taking a quality B complex supplement is a real boost when I cannot get an IV. B12 is something to try out before you go hiking because it can cause anxiety in some people.
- Regular exercise. While you get some exercise on hikes, getting regular exercise seemed to soften some of the lows.
- Cut out as much sugar as possible. It's in everything, unfortunately, and you have to be vigilant.
Please don't take this as medical advice