#416: Why autumn is the most challenging season for anxiety sufferers and how you can protect yourself and stay calm and grounded.

Autumn is the most challenging season for anxiety sufferers because it’s Vata season vata is one of the three body types of Ayurveda. Vata governs all movement in the mind and body. From the blinking of our eyes to the inhalation and exhalation of our breath, the movement of blood through our veins and the flow of our thoughts through our mind - vata is the governing principle for all movement.

When we live closer to nature we naturally adjust with the seasons. Harvesting apples, nuts, pumpkins and firewood are all part of the natural transition to Autumn. But we, in our heated homes and cars, tend to move through life in an artificial climate controlled mono-season. We do the same things and eat the same things all year round.

According to Ayurveda, each season brings it's benefits and challenges and knowing them helps us keep in step with nature and take better care of our bodies and minds.

Get outside and walk, stretch and breathe. Make as much of the daylight as you can as the nights draw in.

When outside, be sure that you’re warm and keep your ears covered if the weather is windy.

• breakfast smoothies

Avoid skipping meals or fasting

Eat seasonal foods:

The nuts, pumpkins, and squashes coming into season are rich with the properties that help us create a healthy Autumn. Baked apples with cloves and cinnamon are rich with vitamin C. Hot apple juice with ginger protects us from colds.

Make your evenings as relaxing as possible, stay away from screens and try and be in bed by 10pm.

Warm wet breakfasts are perfect for Autumn. Oatmeal with almond milk and cinnamon, or a date and almond shake made from soaked dates and hot almond milk blended together with warming spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

(Nutmeg is a natural sedative that calms the heart - so is a perfect addition for anxiety sufferers.)

Other meals perfect for calming vata include baked potatoes or sweet potato with vegetable soup. Rice with steamed vegetables with warming spices like cumin and a splash of olive oil. Mung dal with rice. Vegetable stews.

Warm, wet and slightly oily are the key words to remember for a vata-pacifying diet.