3 Ways to Manage Anxiety & Panic Attacks
Feeling stressed, overwhelmed…can’t catch your breath? You pause, take a deep breath…we’ve all tried it…but two seconds later you’re back to the overwhelm. Taking a deep breath doesn’t seem to work…why not? For lots of reasons. We’re going to talk about why …and what actually will work when you’re having an anxiety or panic attack.
What Happens When You’re Anxious?
First, let’s talk about what’s actually happening when you’re experiencing a moment of panic or anxiety. Your nervous system is on high alert—your brain is telling your body there’s a threat, and you need to be ready to run. Something happens, and your brain responds by pumping cortisol into your body, giving you the adrenaline you need to run from danger. But let’s be honest, sometimes you’re feeling this way and there isn’t a real threat, or you’re not even sure what the threat might be.
Sometimes anxiety signals a true threat, but sometimes it doesn’t, and that’s because our brains are physiologically wired to instinctively protect us, and the self-protective instinct is affected by lots of things—past experiences, brain chemistry, environmental and social dynamics, and the list goes on. All of that means that our brain’s instincts are sometimes reacting to something other than the reality of what’s happening in any given moment. And even when they are reacting to a true present threat, sometimes the feeling of anxiety or panic keeps us from responding to that threat in the way we need to.
It’s important to understand what’s happening cognitively, emotionally, and physically when you’re feeling anxiety. Part of the work I do as a therapist is help people understand the contributing factors, the reasons they’re experiencing anxiety, the ways their life story has impacted this experience, and how to rewire these neural connections so they can manage their anxiety and feel better. But we’ll get into that later. Right now, we’re talking about what you do when you’re in that fight-or-flight moment.
Calm Down Your Nervous System
You need to calm your brain and body down. Get out of the fight-or-flight response. This is not the moment to dig into your past, or try to rewire your thought patterns, or reframe the situation. This is the moment to recognize what is happening in your body and use practical grounding techniques so you can calm down and then evaluate and react to whatever’s happening.
So, what do you do? You reconnect your brain to your body by focusing on what is physical, what is tangible, what is present. When we’re anxious, our brains essentially leave the present moment, they disconnect from our physical experience, and we need to bring them back.
Regulate Your Breathing
First, take a deep breath. Wait, didn’t we say this doesn’t work? But we’re going to do it a little differently. In fact, let’s do it together now.
Pause. Inhale through your nose for five seconds. Hold for five seconds. Now exhale through your mouth for five seconds. Hold for five seconds. We’re breathing in a box here. That is one time around the box. Repeat that five or six times. (You can use five-second intervals, 10-second intervals, or whatever is comfortable for you.) Now pause. How are you feeling? Is your heart beating a little slower? Repeat for another five or six times if you have to. Do you feel a tiny bit calmer? Keep this up until you do.
If it helps, you can visualize colors as you inhale and exhale. For example, inhale on blue and exhale on green. Visualizing a color gives your brain a second physical sense to focus on, again bringing it back to reality.
Identify One Physical Sensation
Second, pay attention to something you’re experiencing physically. Anything. What’s one thing you can hear right now? What’s one object you can see? Pick a color, and look around for any objects you see in that color. Focus on one thing, describe it to yourself, touch it and pay attention to the feeling of it. As soon as you start paying attention to a physical object or sensation, your brain refocuses on it and comes back to the present. For those seconds, those moments, you are slowing down the escalation of anxiety, you are grounding your brain and nervous system.
We all think we can multitask but in reality our brains can only fully focus on one thing at a time. If you’re focusing on a physical reality and sensation, your brain cannot at the same time focus on what it’s telling you to be anxious about. Just try it, you’ll see.
Move Your Body
Third, move your body, in whatever way you’re able. We’re not starting an exercise routine here, we’re momentarily decreasing cortisol levels and focusing our anxious brains on physical movement. This will look different based on your physical abilities and the contextual moment you’re in. If you’re able, get up and take a 5-minute walk, go outside and breathe fresh air, do a few push-ups or jumping jacks. Do a yoga pose for a few minutes.
If you’re unable to move your entire body, move what you can. Stretch your arms. Shift positions in your chair. Put your feet on the floor and press down. Wiggle your toes or your fingers. Blink your eyes slowly and intentionally.
The goal here is to move in whatever way you can, for however long you can. As you’re moving, pay attention to how the movement is feeling, the physical sensations that are happening.
One Step at a Time
So next time you’re feeling anxious, remember: this is not the time to figure out your anxiety, this is the time to help your body and brain calm down. Bring it back to reality. Baby steps are the best steps here. Take a few breaths, feel something with your senses, move your body. For 5 seconds or 5 minutes, it doesn’t matter, just do it. And then do it again, and then maybe one more time…until you feel calm. It might feel too simple, but this is science, it will work, it just takes practice. Breathe, feel, move. One step at a time.