Anxiety Attacks | Helpful Tips and Tricks

Everyone experiences anxiety. Although some people are not diagnosed with it, they may have an anxiety attack or feel anxious. Others know they have anxiety but don't know how to cope. This post will help you through an anxiety attack or if you feel anxious and should work for alot of situations <3

What is an anxiety attack?

An anxiety attack is the sudden feeling of intense fear or anxiety that comes with some physical symptoms (heavy breathing, sweating, trembling/shaking, etc) that is often caused by a trigger, but sometimes can happen out of the blue.

How can I recognize if I am having an anxiety attack?

As I mentioned before, there are some physical symptoms (heavy breathing, sweating, trembling/shaking) but there are some telltale signs that only you can see. These include instrusive thoughts, chest pain, choking sensation, hot flashes or chills, feeling of losing control, etc.

What do I do during an anxiety attack?

First, we want to start with a breathing exercise in order to get more oxygen to your brain. There are two breathing exercises I like to do during these times, and one is more subtle than the other.

1. Square breathing

In square breathing your only focus should be breathing. Try to maintain posture if you can, and close your eyes. You want to inhale through your nose for four seconds, hold for four seconds, and then exhale through your mouth for four seconds. You should do that a few times until you feel that you are no longer light-headed or breathing as heavy.

2. Diaphragmatic Breathing

While doing diaphragmatic breathing, you would want to find a flat space (like a clean floor or a bed) and lay on your back. You want to then let your tummy move up and down while breathing, but while keeping your chest still. In other words, you want to breathe from your stomach.

(I remember we had to do a sort of diaphragmatic breathing while standing for chorus a few years back and our teacher told us to think of a nose belt, so take of that what you will.)

I have found that the second breathing exercise works more, but the first one can be used in many situations without drawing much attention to yourself.

What now?

Now, we have a few options on what to do. If you are feeling much better but still anxious, go to Part A. If you are feeling a little better, go to Part B. If you are not feeling better at all, go to Part C. If you are just reading through for the future, feel free to read whatever.

Part A

When people are able to think clearly but still have some anxiety, they are almost always able to challenge their thoughts. Here are a few easy steps to do so.

1. Think of the thing that triggered your anxiety attack. Don't dwell on it too much or it may cause another attack.

2. Walk yourself through the thought. For example, if I had just gotten a bad grade on a test, I would be able to raise the grade in other areas and the worst thing that would happen is being grounded for a week.

3. If the worst-case-scenario is still upsetting to you, try to flip it into a positive thing. Taking from the example above, being grounded isn't that bad and I could use it to do more things such as art, music, or hiking (of course, there are many things you can do, those were just a few.)

Part B

If you are in this section it is because you are still anxious, but a little bit better. Because of this, we have a few things we can do but I will only be focusing on two. The first thing we can do is called Grounding. When people feel anxious, they often feel like they are floating away from the world. Grounding helps you come back to Earth.

How to do grounding:

Think of 5 things you can see.

Think of 4 things you can feel around you.

Think of 3 things you can hear.

Think of 2 things you can smell.

Think of one thing you can taste.

Being rude to anxiety

I understand that some people find it hard to be rude, so you can also be polite in this scenario, but I find that being rude is more effective and gives you a little laugh. This method is also meant for you to talk out loud, so it is not as subtle as grounding.

What do I do?

Well, you have to be rude to your anxiety. And that is literally it. Your anxiety can't control you unless you let it (although it may not feel that way all of the time, it can be the truth for many people) so simply don't let it. I like to talk myself up and then tell my anxiety to leave, but you can do whatever suits you.

If you are having trouble with thinking of something to say, you can say; "I don't appreciate your presense here, nerd. You don't like me so I don't like you. Leave. Bye, Felicia. Go away now. Out the door you go!"

Part C

If you are not feeling better at all, you can visit Part B or you can read ahead to find what other tricks you can use.

1. If you have access to music, play Weightless by Marconi Union. It is scientifically proven to reduce anxiety and is dangerous to listen to while driving because it reduces your heartrate to the point you may fall asleep.

2. Excuse yourself to exit for the bathroom. When you are in there, splash some cold water on your face. According to Dr. Breus, splashing water on your face will shock the system which will take your attention off of what is causing the anxiety.

3. Drink water! You don't want to be dehydrated, and this can help you think more clear.

4. Rub your neck and your collarbone. When people lie they do this because it calms their heartrate, so it can also work here :)

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I hope you found these tricks helpful, or you are going to keep them in mind for the future. Take care <3