Important! How to Stop an Anxiety Attack?
Anxiety attacks are one of the
scariest things that can happen to a person. Needless to say, no one wants to
have an anxiety attack, and people have been seeking out ways to stop anxiety
attacks for thousands of years.
The attacks are a 100% natural
response to putting the body through a high-stress environment. They will not
kill you, and the attack itself does no long-term physical damage. The first
step to stopping an anxiety attack involves understanding what an anxiety
attack actually entails.
What is an Anxiety Attack?
An anxiety attack occurs when the
body has a stress response, also known as the “fight or flight” response. If
the brain thinks imminent danger exists, then it activates a stress response.
Now, an anxiety attack occurs when an anxious brain tricks the body into giving
a stress response. The stress response will release hormones into the body that
can cause an elevated heart rate, trembling, sweating, hot or cold flashes,
nausea, derealization, and a whole host of other symptoms.
Anxiety causes this response
because the person thinks they are in some form of imminent danger that might
cause injury or death. The symptoms of an anxiety attack generally cause more
anxiety (“My heart is racing. I think I’m dying.”) and provoke another stress
response. This cycle can repeat itself multiple times.
Stopping an Anxiety Attack
You do have control over your
body during an anxiety attack. The basis for all the methods to stop an anxiety
attack revolves around this fact.
1. Breathe from your diaphragm
Breathing from your diaphragm is
one of the quickest ways to calm your mind. Spend two to three minutes just
breathing in as deeply as possible during an anxiety attack. This has a sort of
tranquilizing effect on the body. Diaphragm breathing can also help prevent
anxiety attacks altogether.
2. Have no fear
Fear is the leading cause of
anxiety attacks. This could be fear of something in the future, but more often
the fear involves a fear of having anxiety. This fear of anxiety attacks then
forms a vicious cycle that causes more anxiety attacks, which cause more fear
of anxiety attacks.
The fastest way to overcome the
fear of anxiety is to fully understand how they operate. As mentioned earlier,
anxiety attacks do not kill people, so there really is nothing to fear.
Consciously telling yourself, “I am having an anxiety attack. I will be ok.” is
the most effective way to stop them while they are happening.
3. Distract yourself
Distracting your brain from the
anxiety also works fairly well. Some ways to distract yourself are to count to
backward from 100, reading a book, playing with a fidget spinner, cleaning your
home, or solving a puzzle. The best activities require lots of thinking and not
something that you can do automatically.
If you are having an anxiety
attack, then do not drive a vehicle or operate heavy machinery. Dizziness and
blacking out are both symptoms of an anxiety attack. Obviously, driving while
dizzy and at an elevated risk of blacking out is not a good idea.
4. The anxiety attack will end
Panic attacks do eventually end
despite it feeling like they last forever when they occur. Telling yourself
that the panic attack is only temporary and will eventually end, helps the
attack end sooner.
The reason for this is because
most people think that their anxiety attack will last forever during the
attack. This will cause further anxiety, which just makes the attack last
longer.
5. Treat with medication
Treating an anxiety attack with
medication also works. The two most common medications to treat an anxiety
attack are antidepressants and benzodiazepines. Antidepressants work by
changing the neurotransmitters in the brain that cause anxiety. If you take
antidepressants long enough, then you will stop having anxiety attacks.
Benzodiazepines work similarly,
but you can take them at the onset of an anxiety attack, and it might reduce
symptoms.
Medication has a few drawbacks
and negative side-effects. Additionally, antidepressants and benzodiazepines
require a prescription to purchase. A sudden halt in consuming antidepressants
after taking them for a long time may have severe withdraw symptoms.
6. Consume CBD
CBD, otherwise known as
cannabidiol, has been shown to reduce anxiety in the long term. Studies have
also shown that consuming CBD reduces anxiety from stressful situations. CBD is
a substance found in marijuana. However, CBD does not make you “high” because
it contains no Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the substance that makes a
person “high.”
Now, CBD can be consumed during
an anxiety attack to reduce anxiety, which should stop the anxiety attack.
Sunday Scaries sells a variety of
gummies infused with CBD. These gummies are legal in all 50 states as they
contain no THC.
The main advantage of gummies
revolves around their ease to consume. It’s just like eating a regular piece of
candy because it is a regular piece of candy. The candy just has CBD added to
it, which gives you the anxiety-reducing benefits.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the fastest way to stop
an anxiety attack involves overpowering your anxious thoughts that cause the
attack. Accomplishing this requires an extreme amount of willpower, but the
understanding of how an anxiety attack works and the realization that they are
not deadly should help.
Medication may also help stop an
anxiety attack, but with some pretty nasty side effects and dependency issues.
These side effects and dependency issues may negate the overall benefit of
medication, and many doctors have slowly stopped prescribing medication
(especially benzodiazepines) to stop anxiety.
CBD also has shown to have
anxiety reducing benefits similar to antidepressants. CBD also has
significantly fewer side effects than antidepressants and no dependency issues.
The CBD gummies by Sunday Scaries, combined with knowledge of the mechanics
behind anxiety attacks, should help stop an anxiety attack before they occur.
If they do occur, then they might stop the attack from spiraling out of
control.
This article is originally
published at SundayScaries.