How to overcome an anxiety attack in under 1 minute?

The first sixty seconds of an anxiety attack

I am sure we all hear about anxiety and how bad it is. Most of us are even aware of what anxiety is but did you know about anxiety attacks?

A feeling of fear is termed to be anxiety when it starts affecting your everyday life. With the increasing factors of stress, it might be possible for anxiety attacks to occur. These attacks are sudden episodes of anxiety and fear. They are caused by certain triggers.

Now, at this point, many of you will ask, “Can you give a list of triggers that would be helpful to avoid?” The answer is a simple plain no!

There is no list of triggers that you can carry with you to avoid an anxiety attack (trust me, I have wanted one for so long!). The best way to understand your anxiety attack is to reflect on the events that led up to the attack. Was there a certain topic of discussion earlier? Did you meet up with a person who criticizes you? or maybe you saw an incident that might have triggered an unprocessed trauma. Once you reflect and identify your triggers, it is much easy to get help on that specific thing.

💡 Remember, Healing is a never-ending process.

How to identify one?

A few years ago, I had my first anxiety attack! I was new to learning about mental health and was processing something personal at that time. I had only heard about the term and had no idea what it meant or what it actually felt like! I remember feeling extremely alone and helpless, so I have made this list which you can save/ screenshot on your phone to increase awareness or just have handy just in case.

During my first anxiety attack, I was struggling in all walks of life. At this point, an attack made sense to me, but the concept was new so it took some time to understand how to identify my anxiety attack. Just like triggers, symptoms of the attack differ from person to person. Claiming that below is an “ultimate” list that covers all the symptoms would be complete stupidity as it overlooks the others which are specific to specific conditions. So, the following list consists of the most common symptoms of an attack:

• Heart Palpitations (fast heartbeats)

• Feeling pressure or squeezed in the heart

• A mild to sharp pain in your chest.

• Sweating that makes you feel cold and hot at the same time.

• Lightheadedness

• Rapid short breaths or unable to take a long deep breath

• Numbness or tingling in arms or legs

• A constant feeling that it is the end of the world

• Feeling of overwhelming

• Feeling as though you are losing your mind

• Nausea

• Intense headache or pressure on the head

• Immediate need to use the washroom

Most common symptoms of anxiety attack

How to overcome one?

For a person, who is or has been struggling for a while, an attack becomes inevitable. While the only way to get rid of them is through processing your trauma by going to a therapist. There are a few ways you can manage them at the moment.

One of my favourite ways is Grounding Technique or 54321 technique. I started using this technique after going through an Instagram post. Fast forward a few years, and a therapist recommends me during one of our sessions. So, what is the grounding technique? Simply put, it is when you use your senses to become aware of your surrounding.

This technique is the most simple and most effective way to feel better during an anxiety attack. It follows a 54321 framework, let’s look at it in detail:

👀5 things you can see:

Speak out loud what are the 5 things you see around you. These 5 things can be anything, your hand, your device screen, the colour of someone’s shirt, trees, a wire, or even a wall. Naming any 5 things will help your brain to bring back attention to the surrounding.

Drawing on my personal experience, I try to name something so silly that it makes me chuckle lighter.

🤚4 things you can touch:

Ideally, this step requires you to feel the 4 things. To put it in simple words, the original step asks you to feel the clothes on your body, or how your feet feel on the ground. But I have come to a realization that it is difficult to bring that attention to yourself during an attack.

So, I always try to touch 4 things with my hands. This can be again, anything that is in your surrounding or something that you are wearing.

👂3 things you can hear:

Ah! The one that usually takes concentration and helps to take that deep breath we have been trying to take!

In this step, you should focus on the 3 sounds in your surrounding, not on your device. Grounding technique is all about bringing your focus to your environment. So, it is essential for you to not play any sounds on your device so you can connect with nature and feel better.

Now, you might ask what should I do, when I am in a silent environment, I have a little trick for you:

1. Close your eyes and try to take a deep breath (Yes! so deep that you can hear yourself.)

2. Keep your eyes closed and hum any random tune that comes to your mind

3. Open your eyes first (hehe 😛) you might want to open the window and listen to cars, the wind, or even kids playing.

👃2 things you can smell:

You might think, this technique requires a lot of details. Well, yes and no. It requires you to pay attention to the details, but having a perfect environment is not needed.

This technique is adaptable. I remember, once I was at a party full of judgemental people, which was an obvious trigger for me. I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the party to deal with my anxiety attack. Imagine doing this step in a bathroom, I started to think, what now?

I counted my perfume and the liquid soap aroma as the two scents for that night. But maybe your situation is different, you are in the middle of a street or a park, can you smell the coffee? or the leaves? Any pleasant smell would do!

👅1 thing you can taste:

The most important one! The taste bud!! You should never underestimate the power of your taste buds. If you are anything like me, your mouth must be dry during an attack, drink water!

Conclusion

Only qualified psychologists/ therapists can help you overcome your anxiety. There are a few tools & techniques you can use to feel better in the moment of attacks. There is no point in ignoring and hoping for the best just because you have felt anxious your entire life. working on yourself is never a linear process, except if you are a character on the show or movie. Embrace your ups & down but never stop working on yourself.