4 Hacks to stop a panic attack

Happy Monday Everybody!

It’s so nice to be with you! I’m excited to share this long overdue blog post about the 4 hacks to stop a panic attack. 

As a Health and Wellness Coach and someone who’s prone to anxiety, I love learning and teaching healthy ways to manage stress and anxiety.  But what happens when you’re in a full blown panic attack?  For those who experienced it before know how scary it is! 

It truly feels like a sense of panic where you have trouble breathing, the heart is pounding, you feel like you want to crawl out of your skin. You might even experience body tremors. It’s downright awful.

Fortunately there are tools you can use to help calm the nervous system through the vagus nerve.  The vagus nerve is the longest nerve that runs from the brain, all the way to the gut. 

It’s the main nerve of the parasympathetic (rest & digest) nervous system that controls digestion, heart rate, breath, immune system, etc…

Some of the best ways to activate the vagus nerve to help calm the nervous system are;

1 Apply cold on the face:  Cold around the eyes will help stimulate the vagus nerve which will help calm the sense of panic

2. Extend the length of the exhale:  You’ll find that when you’re in a state of panic, it’s difficult to breathe deeply. That’s because the body is in a sympathetic (fight or flight) state and it just wants to get you out of danger. You see, the brain doesn’t know the difference between real danger and imaginative danger. That’s why thoughts alone can drive a panic attack. But if you can focus on breathing deeply and extending the length of your exhale, this will activate the vagus nerve through the diaphragm and slow down your heart rate. 

3. Give yourself a butterfly hug:  This technique is designed to get you out of your head and into your body. When we’re in panic mode, we tend to be stuck in our head and operate from our survival part of the brain called the Amygdala.  As you give yourself a butterfly hug, (crossing your arms and gently patting yourself on opposite shoulders), you’re activating different parts of your brain, including the logical mind to help calm you down.

4. Humming your worries away: Humming or repeating the mantra HUM will massage the vagus nerve and put you back into parasympathetic (rest & digest & heal) state.

I hope these 4 hacks will help you next time you experience a sense of panic. 

My greatest wish for you is to take back control over your sense of wellbeing by practicing these tips ahead of time. That way it will be easier to implement them when you’re in the thick of it. 

I spent the last 10+ years studying healthy ways to calm the nervous system and I’ve created a wellness program that teaches you how to enhance your sense of wellbeing using food and mindfulness practices to calm the nervous system and balance our feel good hormones.

If you wish to learn more on how to build more resilience within the nervous system and break free from anxiety, please let me know by replying to this email. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this blog post! If you feel like this blog post will serve someone you know. Please share it with them. 

Have a great day and be well

Sincerely

Nancy Pitre

Health & Wellness Coach