4 tips to help you regain control during an anxiety or panic attack

Have you ever felt a surge of overwhelming panic? Feeling of losing control or going crazy? Heart palpitations or chest pain? Feeling like you're going to pass out?

If you experience these feelings, you might be experiencing anxiety or panic attacks.

Follow a few simple tips that can help calm you down during one of these episodes.

Many symptoms of anxiety or panic attacks have to do with heart and breathing rates. In fact, hyperventilating is a common sign that, if not addressed, can further worsen your attack.

One of the best ways to calm your anxiety or panic attack is to focus on your breathing. It can be the first thing you try to do when faced with a stressful situation.

Try:

Take a deep breath in, holding it for about 5 seconds, before slowly letting it out. Repeat this method until you can feel yourself calming down.

Try:

Diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing. This technique can help you relax by reducing your blood pressure and heart rate.

Another tip that can help you calm down from anxiety or panic attacks is counting. It can help distract you mentally.

Try:

• Count from 1 to 10 out of order.

• Combine counting with the breathing exercise like counting "1" on the inhale, "2" on the exhale, "3" on the inhale, and so on.

• Something more challenging, like counting backward from 100 by threes.

Grounding or Earthing is an effective way to calm anxiety and panic attacks. In this method, you identify objects around you to help your brain recognize your surroundings. This creates a sense of comfort because you know where you are and you feel more in control of the situation. 

There are many ways you can practice this technique.

Try:

The most common grounding technique is the 54321 method. In this method, you identify:

• 5 things you can see

• 4 things you can feel

• 3 things you can hear

• 2 things you can smell

• 1 thing you can taste

Another grounding technique is playing a quick game of asking yourself a question that has difficult or several answers like:

• Name as many capital cities as you can

• Name as many pet breeds as you can

• Name as many movies as you can

• Recite the alphabet backward

• Practice simple multiplication tables

A physical activity, like exercising, can help you blow off steam and burn off excess energy that might have been created through anxiety or panic attacks.

If you can manage to do so, get yourself up and do some light exercise. It doesn’t have to be anything intense. It can even just be walking or stretching, which can help you clear your mind and not have racing thoughts anymore. Exercising can cause your body to release endorphins, which are natural “feel-good” hormones.

💡 Being active will have a positive impact on your psychological health. Explore different activities to get moving.

The next time that you feel an anxiety or panic attack coming, try one of the techniques from this Byte to ease your symptoms.

If you're having difficulty managing your symptoms, talk to a medical professional to discuss different treatment options.

Check out these Bytes to learn more about managing panic and anxiety attacks: