Have you ever had anxiety so bad that you could hardly breathe? Possibly got extremely short of breath or maybe thought you were having a heart attack? Well this happens to many people every year and I wish to help you understand what it is so you can get over it.
What is anxiety
Anxiety happens when the body releases adrenaline into the blood stream. This takes approximately 3 minutes from the time your brain says to release it until its fully distributed throughout your body. The brain sends it when it perceives a threat to its existence.
Real vs imagined threats
The only true threat is that of imminent physical danger to your life, a lion charging, a person pointing a gun, or other similar situations. This is a natural reaction to help you have clearer sense, ability to react and handle the threat.
Today we face far more psychological threats than we do true physical threats. Loss of a job, loved one, family, divorce, or many others can cause a sense of loss, or threat to your very identity. This threat then causes anxiety since you aren’t sure how to deal with it.
How to overcome anxiety
You can stop the anxiety dead in its tracks in just 3 minutes by making yourself realize no threat exists and that you are going to survive.
A simple 4 step process can be followed to reverse anxiety attacks.
Relax your body
First thing you need to do is breathe deeply. Yoga breathing is a great example, deep, slow, and complete breaths. Continue doing this until your heart rate has slowed.
Stop your thoughts
Next you want to get the thoughts that are crowding your mind to stop. You can do this by yelling as loudly as possible within your head the word “STOP”, or “QUIT”, or even “KNOCK IT OFF”.
Say positive messages to yourself
Once you have gotten the thoughts to subside or at least quiet down, start saying positive things. Here are a few ideas:
“I’m safe and sound”
“I am capable and competent”
“I am just fine”
Listen to your feelings
Our feelings are an indicator of something we believe or think is happening. Taking time to ask what you think caused the attack, or what happened in the past to trigger this effect can all help you to permanently rid yourself of them in the future.
In the end our bodies have a specific way in which they funciton, there is a reason behind the attacks. Find this out and you may well never have another one. Natural stress and anxiety relief methods such as this are great ways to free your mind from the fear of ever having another one again.