5 Ways to Calm Down in an Emergency or When Having a Panic Attack

5 Ways to Calm Down in an Emergency or When Having a Panic Attack


Sometimes, despite all our best efforts, we can suffer from the symptoms of panic or as they used to call it "bad nerves". The symptoms of panic can be:

* Rapid heart beat, pounding heart or palpitations
* Sweating
* Shaking visibly or inside
* Choking sensations or lump in throat
* Smothering or shortness of breath sensations
* Chest pain or discomfort
* Nausea, bloating, indigestion or abdominal discomfort
* Dizziness or unsteadiness
* Feeling light-headed
* Derealisation (feeling unreal or dreamy)
* Depersonalisation (feeling outside yourself or like you don't exist)
* Fear of losing control or going crazy
* Paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations) in face, extremities or body
* Chills or hot flushes
* Skin losing colour
* Blushing or skin blotches
* Urgently needing to urinate or defecate

When you are panicking - the body releases adrenaline into your blood and this puts you on a high state of alert. Your fight or flight system triggers. The fight or flight system harkens back to the day when we were all living in caves and hunting for food. Perhaps we might get attacked by a saber tooth tiger and then we have a choice - we can either fight the beast or run away. In both cases we need a boost of adrenaline to help us fight or run. In today's culture, we don't get attacked by many saber tooth tigers but we do experience mental and emotional stress. This mental and emotional stress still triggers the fight or flight system except we usually don't do either. If the boss is giving you a hard time it wouldn't pay to start punching him in the head or running away!

When this panic reaction happens we need a little "first aid" to break the cycle of panic before ever addressing the cause of what brought you to feeling like this in the first place. If you are unable to break the cycle of panic and anxiety then this is classified as a panic disorder and you should seek medical help. Panic disorder is very common and it is not dangerous in itself although the symptoms can be extremely unpleasant. I could write pages on my experiences with Panic Disorder but I will leave that for another day but suffice to say I view panic attacks as your mind and body's way of telling you something about the way you think has to change.

So when you feel the symptoms of panic what can you do? Well here are five suggestions (that have worked for me) on how to calm down in an emergency:

1) Abdominal Breathing.

When you feel panic your breathing becomes faster and shallower. Abdominal breathing is the exact opposite of this and is the best way I have found to calm down. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. When you take a deep breath in, the hand on the abdomen should rise higher than the one on the chest. This insures that the diaphragm is pulling air into the bases of the lungs. After exhaling through the mouth, take a slow deep breath in through your nose to the count of 5. Hold it for 3 seconds and then breath out to count of 5. Repeat this cycle until you feel you have calmed down.

2) Distract Yourself.

When you feel panic it is your thoughts that actually cause the panic. A cycle of scary thoughts but only thoughts. These thoughts trigger the fight or flight system in the body which triggers the symptoms of panic. What you could do when you are trapped in this cycle is distract yourself thus, breaking the cycle of thoughts. This can be done by picking up the phone and talking to someone, playing a video game, watching a favorite movie or TV show, going for a brisk walk, writing about your feelings in a journal - anything that will distract your mind from the panic thoughts.


3) Face/Accept, Float and let time pass.
This is the famous technique created by Dr. Claire Weekes on how to deal with being trapped in a cycle of panic. The more you "fight" your panic symptoms, the more adrenaline your body releases and the worse you will feel. Its like picking at wound - it just wont heal! So this technique is more about changing your attitude to the symptoms. You need to face and accept that because of the adrenaline in your system you will be feeling the symptoms of panic for the next while. In the mean time you need to carry out your daily activities while having the symptoms but the key here is to accept the symptoms not just "put up with them". The less you fight with yourself the more relaxed you will become. This brings us to floating. You can imagine yourself floating as you move and live with the symptoms. Relax yourself and go with the flow. Float don't fight! And finally you need to let time pass. Frayed nerves take time to heal and it doesn't pay to keep obsessing about how long you have been feeling this way. Live in the moment. If you are feeling panicky say to yourself "this is only adrenaline in my system and time will heal my frazzled nerves". For more on this technique please check out the book "Hope and Help for your Nerves" by Dr. Claire Weekes.

4) Do something physical.

This is not always possible and is similar to point number 2 in that you will be distracting yourself but it is still very important. Remember your system is full of adrenaline and so you need to burn this off. Your fight or flight system is triggered so we are not going to fight but we are going to take flight. Go for a brisk walk or run to burn off that adrenaline. Go and do some work in the garden. Do some of those chores you keep putting off. Do some housework, wash dishes - anything that will get you moving. I realize if you are taking an exam or test you can't just get up and run off - as much as you would like to - but you could apply one of the other techniques and then go and burn off the stress chemicals later. Exercise is important.

5) Comfort yourself.

While applying the other techniques also try and comfort yourself. Have a long hot soak in the bath, eat your favorite food, drink some warm milk. Don't drink alcohol this will put your body under more stress. Ask for a hug from someone you love, go for a long leisurely walk or a swim. Do something you enjoy that will bring a smile to your face and comfort your soul.


Know that in time these feelings will pass.

These symptoms are nothing more than feelings and feelings no matter how unpleasant cannot hurt you.

For more information check out these wonderful sites (they are still worth checking out even if you don't have panic DISORDER but just feel panicky).

Panic disorder at about .com
TAPIR: The Anxiety Panic Internet Resource


Good Luck,
Allen