Mental health has never been so fragile for so many as it is today, yet perhaps never as important for our survival. This statement may sound dramatic, but to heal everything that’s wrong with this world we have created, starting with the global warming crisis we’re facing, we need to heal the individual first. Division, anger and fear (often wearing many discuses) we see so much evidence of, comes from pain, or rather protection patterns and unresolved trauma.
We spend so much energy holding it together, defending our beliefs, indulging in sensory pleasures and coping using a wide array of addictions, from chemicals like drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, to behavioural like shopping, overworking, binge eating, plastic surgeries, and a big one today - social media. With many of these addictions being socially accepted as normal and encouraged, it’s easy to fall victim to them and use these band-aids to bring short term relief but at the cost of a long term problem.
I am preparing a number of posts focusing on the very important issue of mental health and I will write more about the issue of addiction in another post. In this one, which will be in two parts, I will talk about something very close to home - anxiety.
What is anxiety?
There are many different types of Anxiety Disorders like Social Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder etc. which are more specific and focus on a narrow aspect of life, but what I will mostly be focusing on here is a Generalised Anxiety Disorder in which symptoms and representation can widely vary and are not connected to specific events or triggers.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterised by general, uncontrolled feelings of anxiety, without a single or definitive trigger or source. It might be triggered by an event, change, an uncomfortable situation, or no apparent reason. Some people have experienced anxiety for most of their lives, while some experience it sometimes, especially after a challenging life event.
Apart from the feelings of restlessness and worry, symptoms can also be physical. Heart palpitations, fatigue, chronic pain, headaches, higher blood pressure, chest pain, IBS etc. have all been reported.
My journey with anxiety
I have been battling mild to severe anxiety my whole life, unconsciously regulating the onsets in many different ways; some healthy like yoga, good diet and plain old fun (laughter is medicine!), and some less healthy like drinking, drugs, overdoing and running away from myself. I held it in check and didn’t call it anxiety at the time as it was mostly mild until my mid 30’s when too many things happened at the same time, my stress levels increased and my system of regulation just couldn’t regulate anything anymore. A few challenging years followed, and at that particular time, it took a while to regain my state of balance.
All of this triggered my interest, study and research into all things mind and mental health. I enrolled on a Somatic Psychotherapy school, became more interested in sciences like psychology and neuroscience, did a lot of reading and research, and continued gaining more understanding of the body and spirit, weaving it all together. The human body/mind/spirit is so fascinating and so complex I feel I will never know enough to understand it fully. But, I know I will continue to explore.
Equilibrium is a fickle thing. During times of more stress load, I still experience onsets of prolonged anxiety. After all, it takes a while to balance a nervous system that is so used to hypervigilance as mine is. But, today I know how to help myself and others with the first aid things and neuroscience hacks, to those which can prevent future ‘episodes’.
All things anxiety is just one of the lectures I am busy preparing and recording and will be offering on the new Spanda Institute online education platform we hope to launch in October. I hope you will find them helpful and you’ll find some answers, and with the answers - relief, healing and balance. Until then, I’ll offer you some first aid tips on how to manage an anxiety or panic attack when it happens or when you feel it might happen due to the situation you are in.
Anxiety First Aid
1. Walk Away
If you get triggered by certain spaces or situations like crowds, noise, supermarkets, artificial lights, reading or watching something etc., walk away from it to find somewhere where you feel safer and calmer. This change will also create a shift in your brain and it may tell it that the danger is gone and you're ok now. However, please note that it’s not always good to avoid all situations which might be triggering, as you may be sending a wrong message to your brain.
2. Breathe – double sigh
A double sigh is taking a short half to inhale, pausing for a second, finishing the inhale and then taking a long exhale through your mouth. Neuroscientists have discovered that this breathing pattern, which babies (and grown-ups when we allow ourselves to really CRY) intuitively use when crying to calm the nervous system is the most effective pattern of breathing for those first minutes during an anxiety attack. Even when the crying stops, this breathing pattern remains until the system is back to a more calm state.
3. Breathe more - extend the exhale
During an anxiety attack, our breathing becomes rapid and shallow causing hyperventilation due to exhaling too much CO2 (not to get into that right now), so the first aid is to try and stop that rapid breathing pattern starting with a few double sighs and continuing to taking deep, long, slow breaths. Counting might help, so to start with you can try count to five or six on both inhale and exhale, and after you feel a bit calmer, extend the exhale by one count. Inhale is through the mouth, exhale through the nose.
If moving (one of the things you can do) helps, count your steps - inhale 5 steps, exhale 6 or whatever works for you. This will lower the heart rate and stop heart palpitations, one of the scariest parts of an anxiety/panic attack.
4. Look away
One of the things that happen when SNS kicks in is pupil dilation while constricting the pupils might stimulate the opposing PNS which calms us down. Pupils dilate in response to increases in arousal and mental effort or triggered by an external stimulus. Instead of focusing your gaze on something close to you, try to look out into the distance, widening your focus preferably to something like trees if possible.
5. Smell something soothing
Smells can propel us back to a good or bad memory instantly, and much faster than other senses. There is a reason behind it and I won’t go into the neuroscience of why now (I will in the lecture I am preparing), it’s enough to understand that it is a very special (special) sense indeed. If you know you might be in a triggering situation, you may want to have your favourite essential oil like lavender or similar with you, something you connect with safe and calm. Smelling it will help your emergency systems calm.
6. Talk to someone
Call someone who can reassure you if you’re alone, or reach out to a stranger. People are generally inclined to help when they see someone is in distress. I once felt I was in no condition to fly as I was very anxious all day. But, I had no choice, I had to catch that flight back home. After everyone was seated and I felt I’m getting worse, I got up and spoke to a very nice flight attendant telling her what is going on. I reasoned that I didn’t want to scare anyone into thinking I’m having a heart attack or something (I would get very bad palpitations) which would be inconvenient for everyone and embarrassing for me. She told me not to worry, sat me in the front and kept checking in and making eye contact with me which made my alarmed system calm down. I even fell asleep later on that flight!
7. Walk or shake it off
Another thing our Sympathetic Nervous System does in these situations, it tenses our muscles, fills them with energy and prepares us for the flight or fight response. In most of the situation when someone is having an anxiety or panic attack, there is no real danger to run away from. But the body doesn’t know that and remains in this high energy state until the perceived danger is gone. It is helpful to shake off this boost of energy you feel, move, walk, stomp your feet, whatever works for you.
8. Connect to the present (ground)
The feeling of disconnect often happens during these moments and we need to establish a sense of being present and grounded. This is most easily done through the sense of touch. Feel your feet touching the floor, rub your hands down your legs and arms, your face, touch the earth, touch a tree. If there are soothing sounds you can focus on, this too can help.
9. Eat something
This might sound very counterintuitive as SNS shuts down your digestion and the last thing you’ll want is to eat, but if you want your brain to shift to PNS sooner rather than later, all of the above are ways you can do that. PNS is responsible for rest and digest and, even though you won’t be able to eat anything until you feel calmer, and shouldn’t force yourself, eating something as soon as you can to help your brain understand that you’re out of danger. When I look at my photos, I know exactly when most anxiety-ridden periods were just by my weight. That’s why I really don’t like to see myself very slim, it usually isn’t a good sign.
I hope these tips will help you better cope with anxiety attacks when they happen, or you might be able to use them to help someone else. In the next blog, I will be talking more about prevention and give you some tips about what you can do to live a calmer, happier and hopefully anxiety-free life.
If there is anything in this article which you are confused about, have some additional questions, please reach out to me.
