Anxiety is a perfectly normal response from the human body when a human is overwhelmed or in distress. But why do certain people frequently experience anxiety followed by a strong sense of panic?
The most severe kind of anxiety is known by most people as panic disorder or panic attacks. Panic attack is a sudden feeling where someone experiences an intense feeling of fear that causes the body to physically respond. When some people feel anxious due to a certain issue or cause, a panic attack does not require a trigger to recur. The majority of those who had panic attacks said how they felt as though they were in a life-or-death scenario, that everything was blurry, and that they were trapped in a black void from which there was no escape.
Have you ever felt sick to your stomach in the middle of a stressful situation? A panic attack typically begins with someone experiencing nausea or an uneasy feeling in their stomach, which may or may not be related to any particular cause. People who experience anxiety before having a panic episode are typically restless, reticent, and experience suffocation in their chest.
Those who are having a panic attack may find it difficult to breathe properly, followed by a tremor, which is more often recognized as a rhythmic shaking movement. There are many other symptoms as well, including an abrupt rise in heart rate, the production of sweat, dry mouth, and many others. Panic episodes could last for a variety of lengths, some could last for several minutes while others could linger for several hours.
Depending on how long your panic attack lasted, people may suffer cramps in particular areas of their bodies after a panic attack, while others may even experience cramps throughout their entire body.
It can be challenging for those with anxiety and panic disorders to maintain self-control and keep up with their daily activities. Since anxiety can arise from even the tiniest triggers, it may have an impact on their daily lives because it might strike suddenly at any time. Panic attacks are terrifying and frightening, and because they make us too afraid of certain things, they also make us afraid of doing our everyday activities. As a result, it makes it difficult for people to carry out their daily tasks as they should.
There are several primary reasons why panic disorders develop in humans. Firstly, family genetics, someone who shares the same bloodline as us may inherit a disease or disorder from us, therefore it wouldn't be a surprise if our cousins, parents, or siblings also had the disease. Stress, stress is caused by having too many thoughts and being unable to manage them until you get completely overwhelmed by them. This may trigger anxiety to approach the body because the more the stress is stacked the more pressure there will be, and too much pressure could be a trigger to panic. The last on the list is traumatic history. People who have experienced trauma frequently go through a phase in which they have unfavorable thoughts about their surroundings, the recollection of that event, or even everything around them. The victim's mind frequently wanders and dwells on the things they detest that would set off their trauma, making anxiety and panic readily provoked.
What can you do, then, to stop panic attacks and anxiety attacks from happening? There are a lot of breathing techniques that you can try if you feel like you're about to have a panic attack or are anxious. The 4-7-8 approach and grounding method are the two most used. The 4-7-8 technique involves taking a deep breath for four seconds, holding it for seven seconds, and then exhaling slowly for eight seconds. As for the grounding method, it entails noticing five objects in your immediate environment, touching four items you can discover, listening to three distinct sounds, finding two things to smell, and finding one thing to taste. There are other additional breathing techniques you may find online and practice; they should all be used repeatedly until your body begins to relax and return to its regular state.
Emotional support from loved ones is greatly valued and helpful. People who are experiencing an anxiety episode would prefer to be near or around the things they are familiar or comfortable with. Thus, finding comfort in things or people might be beneficial to avoid anxiety attacks.
What happens, though, if your panic attacks continue to worsen? The best way to prevent your anxiety and panic from getting worse is to seek professional help. It's crucial to seek treatment for your anxiety as soon as you can. Prescribed medicine and counseling are the two most effective therapies for panic and anxiety disorders.
