For those who struggle with anxiety or panic attacks, living your your-day-to-day life may be challenging when an anxiety or panic attack hits.
While there are many long-term solutions for anxiety, here are some tips for calming anxiety and panic attacks, fast.
Breathe in, breathe out
Breathe in as slowly and deeply as you can through your nose.
Then exhale deeply through your mouth.
Count from 1-5 as you slowly inhale then exhale.
You may even close your eyes as you focus on your breathing.
Continue this breathing exercise for a few minutes.
You should start to feel better, and may even feel tired afterwards.
Apply the 333 rule
Look around your environment and identify three objects, then three sounds, then move three body parts. Many people have found this strategy helps to focus and ground them when anxiety overwhelms them.
Cold Water
“Shock” your system by putting your hands or face in cold water. If you are able to, take a cold shower. The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in your body and is part of your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for calming you down. By stimulating your vagus nerve with cold water, you are activating your vagus nerve which helps to signal your body to relax.
Bilateral Stimulation
Bilateral stimulation involves stimulating the left and right sides of your brain. Different methods of bilateral stimulation can include:
Eye movement: where you follow an object moving your eyes left to right across your field of vision.
Physical tapping: alternate tapping hands or feet or where you feel a tap on one side of the body to the other.
Auditory Cues: Listening to alternative sounds in each ear.
Bilateral stimulation inhibits the amygdala, which is responsible for your fight or flight response, and helps calm you down.
While learning how to calm an anxiety or panic attack, fast, is effective in the moment, more effective treatments such as micro current neurofeedback and vagus nerve stimulation can help manage anxiety reduce panic attacks long term.
With nearly 30 years of experience, TrU Wave Psychology specializes in creating personalized treatment programs that achieve lasting results, faster. We provide the highest level of compassionate care, science-backed treatment, and service to help our clients start living their lives to the fullest.
If you are ready to start living your life to the fullest, contact us to schedule a FREE consultation today.