Ways to Calm Yourself During a Panic Attack

Panic attacks can be very scary and unpredictable. You can’t foresee them, and they may affect what you are doing. Sometimes it feels like it is impossible to conquer panic attacks and it seems uncontrollable, but you can. It just takes a lot of mental power and will, which you can do.

What are panic attacks?

Panic attacks are when the body goes into panic mode. You start to hyperventilate, your hands may lose feeling, and you essentially feel like you don’t have control over yourself.

It is very scary in times like these because you could be driving, or in the middle of a presentation, and the loss of control is very risky. In order to temporarily soothe this problem, we need to shift your focus off of what may be giving you anxiety, and on to your immediate space.

So what can we do to soothe these panic attacks?

Here are five ways you can calm yourself during panic attacks.

1. Count slowly from 7 to 1. This will disrupt your mind to focus on the pace of your counting and the counting itself.

2. Name one thing from your five senses that you can identify in your immediate space. This shifts your focus on to your immediate space to find each sense in your area and off of what is giving you anxiety.

3. Find one item in the room and describe it until you feel as though you cooled down. The point is to make sure you have settled, not to solve the problem. Fixing the problem is a long term situation.

4. Call a friend. A trusting voice to guide and calm you may be helpful in a time where you can not regulate it yourself. Support from other people is always great to have.

5. Eat Ice. Believe it or not ice can trigger a pain-like response that will force the transmitters in your brain to refocus.

Remember, right now at this present moment, you are okay and right now everything is okay. Keep working on yourself, it will be over in time, and you will heal in time. For now, just make it through each day.