Managing anxiety and panic attacks is often challenging for people. Identifying triggers, breathing slowly, and self-talking may help with anxiety symptoms.

How to Manage Anxiety

All of us have experienced anxiety or panic attacks at some point in our life. It’s important to know ways in which we can manage such events and have effective tools at hand.

How To Manage Anxiety

Overview

Anxiety is the persistent feeling of dread and fear over future events. It also might happen when the person misconstrues a situation as being more negative or harmful than it really is, leading to them being constantly agitated and worried.&nbsp;This is what we call cognitive anxiety — where feelings are limited to a thought patterns and rumination. Once this starts manifesting physically, we call is somatic anxiety or somatisation. Some of the things the anxious individual might experience include muscle tension, stomach aches, chest pain, dizziness, headaches, insomnia, restlessness, muscle tension, nausea, vomiting, sweaty palms and difficulty focusing.&nbsp;Panic attacks are essentially a paroxysm of anxiety. The person experiences a sudden feeling of terror and stress. This is disproportionate to the situation at hand and some people even experience this while sleeping. People experiencing panic attacks report that it feels like having a heart attack. This makes sense since panic attacks are accompanied by a rapid heart rate, hyperventilation and severe, constricting chest pain.&nbsp;These feelings of overwhelm can happen for something as minor as public speaking or something as major as the death of a beloved pet.

Dealing Measures

Thanks to the world we currently inhabit, almost all of us have been through situations where we have experienced these feelings and symptoms. Most of the time we have no other option but to wait for them to pass. However, if you know that you are prone to such intense consternation and worry then it might help to have a toolbox of strategies you can employ to feel better. We can&rsquo;t completely eradicate these feelings, but we can definitely manage them.&nbsp;

Some of the ways you can go about this are as follows: 
&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Breathe Slowly: Taking a minute to take slow deep breaths helps calm down your entire body. A great method is to take a deep belly breath for four seconds, hold it in for seven seconds and slowly exhale over a period of eight seconds. Just a few of these breaths tend to make a considerable difference.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Muscle Relaxation: Get yourself in a nice and quiet place and progressively tense and relax your muscles starting from your toes and ending at your face. This helps release the muscle tension that is accompanied by anxiety.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Grounding: Since anxiety is usually due to apprehension about the future, it helps to root yourself in the present moment. One of the most effective ways to do this is to employ grounding techniques. This requires you to sit up straight wherever you are with your feet on the ground, now look around an acknowledge five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste. It&rsquo;s also called the &lsquo;5-4-3-2-1 technique for anxiety&rsquo;.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Improve Self-talk: A lot of the times the little voice in our head that talks to us isn&rsquo;t our own. We have internalised the voice of a parent or a caregiver we had gotten used to while growing up. Many of us haven&rsquo;t received the best of care in certain situations. Hence it helps to question what your brain is telling you about yourself in a certain situation. Working on the way you talk to yourself, being kind and compassionate and extending yourself the same grace that you do to others goes a long way. Similarly, you might be stuck in some negative thought patterns and might need to challenge those to arrive at better conclusions.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Take Time Out To Worry: Many people who <a href="https://merisehat.pk/disease/anxiety">suffer from anxiety</a> are just taking time to prepare for all the possible outcomes in a situation, or that is what they tell themselves. If you&rsquo;re one of these people then it would be highly beneficial to allot yourself 10 minutes every few hours to sit and go over all your worries. This way you can get it out of the way instead of having your entire day be tinged with anxiety.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Journal: This works on the same principle as above. Writing down your anxious thoughts and reasons behind them can help you externalise and understand them. This way you can not only gain control over them but also identify patterns. You can also chart out when your anxiety is at its worst and when you are having a calmer, more peaceful day.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Identify Your Triggers: This doesn&rsquo;t just help you attain control of your emotions in the short term, it can also eventually be a long-term solution. Is it a certain situation? A person? A scent or even a song? Identifying what triggers you into feelings of overwhelm helps you reduce your exposure to it or eradicate it entirely. It can also help you assess what other strategies of stress management will work best on you.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Aromatherapy: Certain scents have been identified as having a calming effect on the nerves. These could be lavender, chamomile, sandalwood, rosemary, jasmine etc. Surrounding yourself with these could effectively set your mind at ease. These could be used in the form of essential oils, candles, incense, air fresheners etc.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Mild Physical Activity: A light brisk walk or some yoga can greatly improve your mood and ameliorate any negativity. It works to give your body a time out from stressful situations and then dissipate all the excess energy through gentle movement. 
	&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

Bottom Line

Some of these strategies might work for you and some might not. It&rsquo;s important to note that everyone is different hence everyone responds differently to these tactics. Trial and error will teach you a lot about what is effective in your case. However, if nothing is working out and your anxiety and panic attacks are having a tangible impact on your social, occupational and personal life then it&rsquo;s a sign to seek professional help.&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s important to note that there is no shame in experiencing psychological distress and seeking help doesn&rsquo;t make you weak. Men, especially, carry this shame around this but there&rsquo;s no need to do so anymore. The human body just requires maintenance and upkeep and we are all more than capable of taking care of ourselves and procuring help.&nbsp;

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