Breathing through a panic attack

Anyone who suffers a panic or anxiety attack will suffer from a wide variety of different symptoms; all of the symptoms are very distressing and can lead to big alteration in the person’s life because of the attacks. If you suffer from panic attacks then the best thing you can do is to learn how to do breathing exercises. By simply controlling how you breathe can make a huge difference to stopping a panic attack dead in its tracks.

While at first those who from panic attacks on a regular basis will have to struggle to get a hold of their breathing and remember the exercises that they have learned, with a little practice they will be able to do this on demand. Breathing exercises are the base of many therapies for treating anxiety and panic disorders and have proven to be the most useful in stopping the attacks and even in preventing them.

Breathing from the diaphragm

Learning how to breathe from the diaphragm is essential in order to stem the panic attacks, it is very easy to learn and once you have gotten into the habit it will come naturally, while at first it will seem a little strange. Breathing from the diaphragm is how all babies breathe, it is the natural way of breathing and it is only because we get out of the habit as we grow that we don’t normally breathe this way and we instead get into the habit of breathing unnaturally.

To learn this type of breathing, place one hand on the abdomen and the other on your chest. Your chest should remain still, hardly moving as you breathe in and out while your belly should extend as you breathe in and fall when you breathe out. Imagine getting all the air out of your body as you breathe out, you are aiming to slow your breathing until you are taking around 6 breaths every minute. The breathing should be natural and slow with no sense of rushing. The belly should go in and out in smooth motions without a sense of effort. If during this stage you find that your chest is moving instead of your belly then put a little force on the chest to remind you to stop breathing from your chest.

One important factor to bear in mind that while you are practicing this new form of breathing if at any time you feel dizzy or light headed then simply stop and rest. Then begin again with your new way of breathing in a few minutes; you have to remember also that you shouldn’t be forcing yourself to breathe. The breathing should be done naturally with very little if any effort.

Once you have learned the technique then you can apply it anytime you feel the symptoms of an anxiety or panic attack. The moment you feel a little tense then ask yourself if you are breathing the right way and if not switch to it and breathe through the abdomen instead of the chest. When people have a panic attack they tend to over breathe or hyperventilate, this leads to dizziness and light headedness and gives the feeling of being able to take a deep breath. The only way to combat this is to slow down the breathing.

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