Anxiety is a hard beast to tackle and panic attacks make it even more harder. People who are living with anxiety feel perpetually stressed over the fact that any stressful situation can trigger a panic attack in them. Sometimes their fear of panic attacks can trigger a panic attack. So, this condition can make people feel like they are living on their emotional edge. This loss of control can be very scary. Anxiety creeps up on people after laying dormant for a while. So, to think it can go away overnight is not the right way to go about it. It would take time and patience to get rid of anxiety and all the associated symptoms. But there are things that can empower people to gain control over themselves and their bodies. Three things that you can do to enable yourself to have control over your anxiety and its physical manifestations are listed below.
1. Exercise For Your Mind And Body
Physical well-being is intimately associated with mental well-being. This is a known wisdom that has been passed on to us by our previous generations. Old civilizations came up with practices like yoga, tai chi etc. that can make people strong, both physically and mentally. Thus, this information can be used for healing anxiety as well. Exercise is an endurance building aerobic activity which has a lot of health benefits and these benefits are both mental and physical.
Anxiety finds it easier to survive in a weak body with unused energy. So, you must make use of all your unused in a way that makes you stronger. And exercising can help with that. You must try to exercise everyday to be healthier both mentally and physically. Exercise can alleviate the symptoms of stress and other depressive tendencies in people which can sometimes happen because of physical inactivity. Cortisol is the hormone that gets secreted during stressful situations. Exercise can reduce cortisol levels in people. 1 Thus, exercise can greatly help people with anxiety who are always stressed out.
2. Learn To Breathe Right
Panic attacks are often characterized by hyperventilation, feeling dizzy and increased heart rate. All of these are connected to our breathing. The way we breathe is very important in this case. Bad breathing practice has been found to be a big reason behind stress and anxiety induced hyperventilation. 2 When people hyperventilate, they flush out too much carbon dioxide from their systems. This imbalance between carbon dioxide and oxygen can produce many unwanted physical changes in people. So, breathing the right way is very important in stopping a panic attack.
The right way to breathe in this case is to breathe into one’s stomach. You need to inhale and exhale through your nose slowly keeping your chest steady and during this time only your stomach should move. This will relax all your muscles. When you can control your breathing, you can control your stress and its other symptoms. 3
3. Healthy Diet
We are what we eat. Thus, if you want to be healthy, you need to eat healthy. Your body is capable of taking care of itself provided it gets all the nutrients it needs. Several researches have found links between deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals like vitamin B12, D, calcium and magnesium and onset of anxiety. 4 5 Thus, you need to make sure that you don’t have any such deficiencies. So, eat healthy to be physically strong and mentally stronger.
There is no easy fix for this condition which is why you must be patient and persistent. If a technique is not working for you, switch to a different one without losing hope. So, keep on trying with hope and you will succeed.
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