Best Ways to Stop a Panic Attack – A panic attack is a sudden episode of fear that triggers severe physical reactions without having a real danger or apparent cause. Panic attacks can be frightening; when you have a panic attack, you might feel like you have lost control or have a heart attack, or sometimes you may feel like you are dying.
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Many people face two to three panic attacks in their lifetime when a stressful situation ends. But if you are experiencing panic attacks frequently, then you might have panic disorder. Although panic attacks themself are not life-threatening, they can still affect the quality of your health in many ways, so they should be treated immediately. This article will tell you ten ways to stop a panic attack. So, read this article to find the best working solution for you.
Ways to Stop a Panic Attack
Cold water
Applying cold water to your face is one of the best ways to stop a panic attack. You can submerge your face in cold water, use an ice pack, or splat cold water on your face.
When you splash cold water on your face, you go through an innate response, which refers to the mammalian diving reflex, which triggers our body’s urgent need to redirect our mental and biological functions somewhere else. Our body starts thinking that we are underwater and lack oxygen, and our heart rate slows. This mental and biological response helps prevent pain attacks.
Circle in the palm
Drawing a circle on your palm is also one of the effective ways to stop a panic attack. When you feel like having a panic attack, please take a deep breath and start drawing a circle on the palm of your hand using the finger of another hand. Please focus on the circle while drawing it.
This will shift your feeling of having a panic attack to the feeling of drawing a circle with your finger on your palm and thus draw your attention from what is happening to the other parts of your body. As it is one of the effective ways to stop a panic attack.
Pleasant smell
Do you know that our minds connect with things associated with each other, and the same is true with perfume? Scents might remind you of having a pleasant time with your grandmother or enjoying your favorite food. So, whatever scene you find relaxing, place it on a small scrap of fabric and put it in your purse or somewhere near you. The next time you have a panic attack, start smelling it to feel relaxed.
If you don’t have any scenes that mean anything to you, you need to create one. Find a scent relaxing, and start smelling it when you feel calm, pleased, or safe. So next time you feel relaxed and comfortable anywhere or in the park, use a scent to associate that memory with you. You can use that scent to remember that memory in case of a panic attack. This is one of the best ways to stop a panic attack.
Imagination
This might be tricky for you, but if you can do that, it will help you greatly in case of panic attacks. In this, you have to imagine a pleasant or a good memory that makes you feel cheerful and joyful, and when you imagine that pleasant memory during the panic attack, it will help in a great way to shift your attention from the pain attack. This will help you avoid and escape from the pain attack.
However, escaping or avoiding the pain attack is not at all healthy, but it can help at that moment to stop the panic attack so that you can get some medical help afterward.
So, to use this tip, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and start thinking about the place that makes you pleasant. Start examining it from top to bottom, left to right, while focusing on the picture in your mind. If you find it hard to focus or think about that place, you can use a photo of that memory or place. Imaging good memory is one of the best ways to stop a panic attack.
Label what you see.
One of the other effective ways to stop a panic attack is to shift your mind from the feeling of a panic attack to your surroundings. In this case, you must take a deep breath, start looking around your room, and name the blue things available. After that, start naming all the red things and go on. If you can, try to say the names of things around you; it will work better. The sound of yourself will tell the brain that everything is fine and there is nothing to panic about.
Progressive muscle relaxation
This is also one of the best ways to stop a panic attack. Here, it would be best to focus on what is happening in your body and then release it. When you are in the midst of a panic attack, your fight-or-freeze mechanism kicks in, activating your various muscle groups to be ready to respond. So, when you take over your muscle activation, you can easily control your tension and be in charge of releasing it.
So, to use this technique, start it from your feet by tightening the muscles of your toes. Now hold for a couple of seconds and then release. Now tighten your legs and relax. Now, do the same with various muscle groups while going up until you reach your head. Repeat the same several times. You will realize that after every try, your feeling of panic attacks goes slowly and slowly, making your whole body more relaxed and is one of the best ways to stop a panic attack.
Box breathing
One of the best ways to stop a panic attack is taking slow breaths, but it can be challenging at that moment. However, following the box and breathing can still help significantly. To use this technique, slowly start drawing the table in the air or the table in front of you using your finger. Now, start breathing in slowly by focusing on the imaginary lineup of the left side of the box.
Now, hold for some time when you are drawing across the top, and when you start drawing down the right side of the box, start breathing out slowly and hold when you are drawing the bottom line of the box until you reach the back to where you had started.
Now, repeat the same process several times until you start feeling relaxed. Remember to breathe slowly during this technique; otherwise, it can escalate your panic. You might also experience a tightness in your chest or an increased heart rate, which is normal. So, this box breathing is also one of the best ways to stop a panic attack.
Grounding
One of the symptoms of pain attacks is that it makes you feel disconnected from your surroundings; you might feel a little dizzy, lightheaded, or free-floating. So, to interpret this feeling, you need to shift your focus to the concrete material around you.
This might be the ground you are standing on or the chair you are sitting on. Now say out loud, “I can feel the strap of my sandal on my foot,” or, “I notice the chair is hard.” Start describing the concrete material connected to your body. You can either close your eyes or focus on what you are describing. This will be a great way to overcome that free-floating feeling and is one of the best ways to stop a panic attack.
Alternate tapping
During a panic attack, one can feel many physical sensations in one’s head or core. This tip will help you soothe the part of your body that is mainly activated during a panic attack.
You can use this tip by placing your elbow on the table before you. Now, place your palms on both sides of your face and tap on both sides gently and alternatively with your fingertips. Our faces are full of nerve endings, so tapping on your face can easily activate many nerves and turn your attention to calm your nervous system.
Another way is to cross your forearms over your heart to reach your fingertips to your collar bone and start tapping your fingers at your collar bone alternatively. It is also one of the best ways to stop a panic attack.
Breath prayer
Breathing prayer is also one of the best ways to stop a panic attack as it helps in shifting the focus to God during the panic attack and activating the parasympathetic nervous system.
To use this technique, take a deep breath and say, “God is with me.” Now exhale slowly and say, “He will never leave or forsake me.” You can use any prayer you are comfortable with; the goal is to shift your focus on God and take care of your second phrase, which should be longer than the first. Repeating the prayer will help relax your nervous system.
So, these are some of the best and most effective ways to stop a panic attack. So, next time you have a panic attack, use the above tips and tell us which tip worked for you. Everyone has different body types, so not all the above-written tips need to work with your body. Finding it yourself by practicing which tips make you more relaxed would be best. So, if our tips have helped you or you want us to cover any other topic, please let us know in the comment section below.
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