Monday, November 1, 2010

Preventing Panic Attacks - How To Stop Waves of Anxiety and Get Your Life Back

The body is so beautifully engineered that it has the ability to adapt itself to any situation involuntarily, that is, without willing it to. Anxiety is among the masterful adaptations present within the body. When a person is placed under duress, the body needs to ready itself to fight, take flight, or freeze, popularly called the adrenaline rush. The hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system to speed up processes for such times of stress. The person's heart pumps blood rapidly, the lungs take in much more air speedily, the pupils dilate, blood is shunted to vital organs, and many others to ready the body to take whatever action it deems necessary. It's in these instances that a person can do things he or she has never even fathomed of doing such as lifting a fridge and moving it over a 250-meter distance during a fire.

Even though anxiety can be useful, it can have negative effects on certain people. The anxiety can become so severe that instead of motivating the person to take action, it incapacitates the person to the point of destruction. This is true in the case of panic attacks, wherein the person is placed in a situation where he or she thinks is too big for him or her to handle, thus, eliciting severe to panic levels of anxiety. Instead of the bodily processes just speeding up, the increase can actually harm the person such as difficulty of breathing, palpitations, chest pain, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, and many others. In reality, a large number of people who have experienced panic attacks felt as if they were about to have a heart attack.

Restructuring thoughts and actions are critical components of preventing panic attacks as it enables a person to handle the anxiety-causing situation properly. This is also coupled with working hard to achieve a relaxed state. You should not wait for panic attacks to happen again if it is something you have experienced in the past. The ways you can prevent panic attacks from taking over you in the future are as follows:

1) Determine the signs and symptoms that were associated with your panic attacks

Were you out of breathe, trembling, sweating when the panic attacks happened? Since anxiety in panic attacks can escalate because of the fear of experiencing the scary signs and symptoms once again, one of the techniques used to stop anxiety is simulating the signs and symptoms felt in a controlled situation. This will enable you to overcome the signs and symptoms better. For example, the dizziness can be mimicked by you spinning in a chair. This will teach you that nothing bad can happen out of the sign and symptom and that you can take control of the situation effectively.
 
2) Change your negative thoughts to positive

This is especially important in preventing panic attacks since the negative thoughts can gravely precipitate the panic attacks. This requires you to enhance your self-esteem and self-confidence in your ability to handle challenging situations. Think of the usual situations which can make you anxious. For instance, if you dislike being by yourself, you can reassure yourself that your companion will eventually return and it is now your chance to have the place to yourself. If you are worried about something bad happening to you while you are by yourself, you can keep emergency numbers in strategic places so that you can ask for help immediately.

Do you want a fast, natural and powerful technique for preventing panic attacks without the use of medication? Find out more by watching this video at: http://www.preventing-panicattacks.com

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