How to Prevent an Anxiety Attack Before It Hits You
Think positive thoughts about the situation to calm yourself down., Come up with a rational thought about the situation immediately after thinking positive thoughts., Relax your body and move around., Practice breathing techniques., Combine counting...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Think positive thoughts about the situation to calm yourself down.
This is called ‘tricking your brain’.
Panic is often the result of the way we perceive a situation, rather than the actual situation.
If a situation is making you feel like an attack might be due at any moment, try to look at the situation differently.To think positively:
Concentrate as hard as you can on pushing aside the worrisome thoughts and picture something calming.
You might picture a place where you like to go, or being with someone you love.
You could also imagine that the anxiety-provoking situation actually turns into a fun, successful event.
For example:
You are at work and realize you forgot documents that you need for a meeting that is happening very soon.
Instead of panicking, calm yourself down by picturing yourself sitting on a white sand beach, sipping a Mai Tai.
After visualizing this and calming yourself down, you will probably be able to decide whether or not to go back for the documents or to just do the presentation without them. -
Step 2: Come up with a rational thought about the situation immediately after thinking positive thoughts.
Think like a scientist: examine the situation and come up with a rational statement.
If you are afraid of what might happen, try to objectively formulate a positive scenario and tell yourself that there is absolutely nothing to be worried about.For example:
After you picture yourself sitting on a beach, come up with a logical solution.
You will take a taxi back to your house, collect the documents, and be back before the meeting. , Anxiety attacks can cause physical symptoms.
One of the most common symptoms is having your body tighten and clench up.
At the smallest sign of that happening, take a very deep, slow breath and let it out while gently shaking your body—imagine you are a wet dog trying to shake off the water.
Your mind and body are very connected which means that what you do with your body affects your mind.
Breathing deeply and shaking the panic off are actions that help your brain calm down and send signals to your body telling it that it can relax. , Proper breathing triggers your body’s relaxation response—meaning that it shuts off the ‘fight or flight feeling’ created by anxiety.
This means that if you practice good breathing techniques when you start feeling panicked, you can actually control your anxiety attack.
Inhale for four seconds, drawing air as deeply into your body as possible.
You should feel both your chest and your abdomen expand.
Hold the air for a second and then expel it for four seconds.
Repeat this until you begin to feel calm.
You can practice this technique when you are not feeling anxious to make sure that you know how to do it when you are faced with a stressful situation., Sometimes focusing on your breath is not enough.
If you find this to be the case, try counting while also taking calming breaths.
Counting will focus your mind on something other than the stressful situation.
Close your eyes.
Take 10 natural, easy breaths.
Each time you exhale, say a number starting at 10 and work your way backwards to
1.
When you exhale and say 1, open your eyes.
You can also try doing this starting at 20 if you need more time to relax., When you feel worried, your mind tends to close in on the worrisome thought and increase your anxiety.
To stop your mind from fixating, distract yourself by silently describing everything in view.
To do this:
Silently describe to yourself everything in view.
Concentrate very hard on the small details that you wouldn’t normally notice—for instance the exact shade of the paint on the walls, count the chairs in the room, carefully examine the jewelry that the ladies in attendance are wearing.
Generally speaking, direct your attention to all the details of the situation that are completely unconnected to the anxiety-provoking thoughts.
Do not relate the details to yourself.
For instance, when describing other people’s clothing, do not think about their clothes in relation to the clothes you are wearing.
Do not think “they are better dressed than me” or “I have more style than them”.
Take yourself out of the picture entirely. -
Step 3: Relax your body and move around.
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Step 4: Practice breathing techniques.
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Step 5: Combine counting with breathing exercises.
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Step 6: Distract yourself when you start fixating on something.
Detailed Guide
This is called ‘tricking your brain’.
Panic is often the result of the way we perceive a situation, rather than the actual situation.
If a situation is making you feel like an attack might be due at any moment, try to look at the situation differently.To think positively:
Concentrate as hard as you can on pushing aside the worrisome thoughts and picture something calming.
You might picture a place where you like to go, or being with someone you love.
You could also imagine that the anxiety-provoking situation actually turns into a fun, successful event.
For example:
You are at work and realize you forgot documents that you need for a meeting that is happening very soon.
Instead of panicking, calm yourself down by picturing yourself sitting on a white sand beach, sipping a Mai Tai.
After visualizing this and calming yourself down, you will probably be able to decide whether or not to go back for the documents or to just do the presentation without them.
Think like a scientist: examine the situation and come up with a rational statement.
If you are afraid of what might happen, try to objectively formulate a positive scenario and tell yourself that there is absolutely nothing to be worried about.For example:
After you picture yourself sitting on a beach, come up with a logical solution.
You will take a taxi back to your house, collect the documents, and be back before the meeting. , Anxiety attacks can cause physical symptoms.
One of the most common symptoms is having your body tighten and clench up.
At the smallest sign of that happening, take a very deep, slow breath and let it out while gently shaking your body—imagine you are a wet dog trying to shake off the water.
Your mind and body are very connected which means that what you do with your body affects your mind.
Breathing deeply and shaking the panic off are actions that help your brain calm down and send signals to your body telling it that it can relax. , Proper breathing triggers your body’s relaxation response—meaning that it shuts off the ‘fight or flight feeling’ created by anxiety.
This means that if you practice good breathing techniques when you start feeling panicked, you can actually control your anxiety attack.
Inhale for four seconds, drawing air as deeply into your body as possible.
You should feel both your chest and your abdomen expand.
Hold the air for a second and then expel it for four seconds.
Repeat this until you begin to feel calm.
You can practice this technique when you are not feeling anxious to make sure that you know how to do it when you are faced with a stressful situation., Sometimes focusing on your breath is not enough.
If you find this to be the case, try counting while also taking calming breaths.
Counting will focus your mind on something other than the stressful situation.
Close your eyes.
Take 10 natural, easy breaths.
Each time you exhale, say a number starting at 10 and work your way backwards to
1.
When you exhale and say 1, open your eyes.
You can also try doing this starting at 20 if you need more time to relax., When you feel worried, your mind tends to close in on the worrisome thought and increase your anxiety.
To stop your mind from fixating, distract yourself by silently describing everything in view.
To do this:
Silently describe to yourself everything in view.
Concentrate very hard on the small details that you wouldn’t normally notice—for instance the exact shade of the paint on the walls, count the chairs in the room, carefully examine the jewelry that the ladies in attendance are wearing.
Generally speaking, direct your attention to all the details of the situation that are completely unconnected to the anxiety-provoking thoughts.
Do not relate the details to yourself.
For instance, when describing other people’s clothing, do not think about their clothes in relation to the clothes you are wearing.
Do not think “they are better dressed than me” or “I have more style than them”.
Take yourself out of the picture entirely.
About the Author
Charlotte Myers
Brings years of experience writing about DIY projects and related subjects.
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