Panic attacks, sudden feelings of intense fear that strike often without warning, affect nearly 16 million Americans each year. Clinical studies have shown that panic attacks are psychobiological, which means they have both physical and mental causes.
Panic attacks can throw your life into turmoil if not properly treated. Often, proper treatment includes medication to alleviate and control the symptoms, and psychological therapy to get at the root cause or causes of the attacks. While it is always advisable to consult a doctor to get an accurate diagnosis of your condition, in terms of treatment, often natural remedies offer more effective relief than medications.
The advantages that natural remedies have over medications are:
- Less expensive than medications
- fewer negative side effects
- Far less likely to develop dependency on a natural remedy
Medications often provide one-time-only relief, where natural remedies for panic attacks offer long term benefits.
Here are some of the natural remedies that you can apply yourself to help curb or even prevent life-disrupting panic attacks:
Learn to relax: Panic attacks are not only triggered by stress, but the presence of stress can exacerbate the symptoms. Teaching yourself to take life less seriously is an outstanding first step toward a life free of debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. Using techniques such as meditation, muscle relaxation, and positive visualization can replace the negative emotions that trouble you with relaxing, stress-free imagery. Regular meditation is a good way to help restore a proper mind-body balance. A recommended practice is to start each day with a few minutes of meditation. Contrary to the media’s portrayal of meditation as an activity requiring special equipment and an almost Buddha-like way of dressing, this is something you can do anywhere at almost any time. One excellent exercise, for instance, is to meditate right after you shower. After you’ve rinsed off, stand in a relaxed posture and allow the warm water to massage your neck and shoulders. While you stand, look – but don’t stare – at the shower wall, and slowly tense and then relax the muscles in your arms, legs, shoulders, and abdomen. Two to five minutes of this and you will feel your body begin to relax all over. More importantly, you feel more at ease and self confident.
Visualization is a technique that many professional athletes use to mentally prepare themselves for competition. Forming an image in your mind of the positive outcome you desire, helps to gear the mind and body to achieve that outcome. Visualizing positive, calming situations can have the same effect. Having soothing music playing in the background while you work can also help the mind and body achieve a relaxed state.
Learn to breathe properly: “In with the good air, out with the bad.” An imbalance in the oxygen and carbon dioxide in your lungs and blood stream can trigger anxiety or panic attacks. Avoid taking quick, shallow breaths, or doing too much mouth breathing. This will pull too much CO2 into your system. Another thing to avoid is breathing into a paper bag to calm yourself. When you do this, you’re only rebreathing the CO2 you’ve exhaled, and worsening the situation. Take slow, deep breaths through the nose, and this will help relax your body and ease your mind immensely.
Herbal remedies: There are a number of herbs and herbal teas that can help you achieve a more relaxed state. The class of herbs called ‘nervines,’ which act to enhance the parasympathetic nervous system which calms us during ‘flight-or-fight’ situations, are highly recommended. Chamomille and lemon balm are examples of good ‘nervine’ herbs which can be made into a tea. Before taking herbs, however, it is wise to consult a competent herbalist to determine how various herbs act together. It’s also a good idea to try them when you’re not having anxiety problems to get an idea how you react to them.
Get support: Often, people suffering panic attacks feel they are ‘losing it,’ and they’re reluctant to talk to anyone else about it. This is a big mistake. Withdrawing into yourself only makes the situation worse. Having a significant other, family member, or close friend who understands and stands by you when panic strikes, can help ease your mind and make it easier for you to fight your way back to reality.
Stay grounded in reality: While there is a physical component to panic attacks, which will probably need to be treated with either doctor-prescribed medication, or one of the natural remedies previously mentioned, if the psychological components of your panic attack are not addressed, you will be merely putting a Bandaid™ on a serious wound. Taking aggressive and positive action to push your thoughts into the universe of reality and out of the murky mental state it can get in is a step on the road to healing. Learn to tell yourself that “If there’s nothing here to be afraid of, it’s illogical for me to be feeling afraid. My mind’s trying to play tricks on me, and I’m not falling for it.” When the feelings of imminent disaster start, ask yourself what’s really going on. Force your mind to concentrate on the objective reality so that you can divorce it from the fantasy images created by chemical imbalances and emotional bogey men.
In serious cases, or if you have a chronic condition, by all means consult and follow the advice of your physician. If, however, you follow these natural remedies for panic attacks on a regular basis, it’s very likely your condition will not reach that stage and you will develop a calm, anxiety-free life.
To learn more about how to overcome panic attacks please review the Panic Puzzle Program, available for $70.
