How to stop an anxiety attack

Anxiety attacks can occur anywhere and at any time. However, you can anticipate when an attack is coming. You will often be filled with distress before the anxiety attack starts. The anxiety attack is at its maximum during the first 10 or 15 minutes after which, it starts going downhill lasting a couple of hours. So, how to stop an anxiety attack?

How to stop anxiety attack

You should first understand what causes an anxiety attack. Anxiety attacks arise when one needs to face a difficult and challenging situation which could be a job interview or an exam. However, for some, these attacks aren’t just limited to certain scenarios but also take prevalence over their daily lives. There are many types of anxiety attacks and special kind of treatments available for all. Anxiety is actually your body’s nautral response to any danger or pressurized situation. However, it is thought that anxiety isn’t always bad as it helps you stay alert, focused and help you prepare on what to do next and how to solve your problems. However, if the level of anxiety surpasses the normal level, you should learn how to stop such anxiety attacks.

Stop anxiety attack: Understanding the signs and symptoms

Here are some anxiety attack symptoms that you should understand and know of well before you learn anything about how to stop such attacks:

  1. Strong feeling of foreboding and fear
  2. Chocking sensation and a sort of difficult feeling on the throat
  3. Dizziness and unsteadiness
  4. Nausea and vomiting
  5. Increased heart beat and heart rate
  6. Pains in chest, neck, face, head or shoulder
  7. Sweating
  8. Restlessness
  9. Desire to go to the bathroom
  10. A kind of Trembling sensation in the body
  11. Tightness in stomach
  12. Difficulty in breathing

These are some of the symptoms of anxiety attack. Before you learn how to stop anxiety attacks, be aware of these symptoms so that you know next time when you are under an anxiety attack.

Running: Running is a good way to stop anxiety attacks. If you suffer from anxiety attacks on a regular basis, you should start running or jogging everyday. Your energy contributes to the level of anxiety attack. Therefore, try to get rid of your unused energy, move your unused muscles and exercise more so that more energy is consumed in your daily activities. If you don’t exercise much, you are more likely to get under an anxiety attack.

Jogging: Jogging is also a very good way to prevent anxiety attacks. Regular jogging has been said to have more powerful effect on lessening anxiety attack than some medications.

Distract your mind

Anxiety attacks require you to clear your head and distract your thoughts to something else. This weakens your anxiety attack. However, this can be difficult for many people especially towards the beginning when the attack is at its maximum. You should try your best to focus less on it and think about other things and find a good way to distract your thoughts. You can talk to someone on the phone on unrelated topics and listen to what the other person says.  On the phone, you don’t need to hide your anxiety attack either so it is always a good way to reduce the effects of anxiety.

Mental exercises

Mental exercises may not work for everyone but trying won’t harm. Some like doing mental exercise for stopping anxiety attack while other don’t. Solving mathematical problems in head, imagining strange things are some examples of mental exercises that you may try.

Breath slowly

Breathing slowly is a good way to reduce the severity of the attack. Breathing quickly makes you feel nervous and can bring about abnormal symptoms in your body. A good way to practice breathing is to start by breathing slowly through your nose and then breathing out slowly making one breathing process last about 7 seconds.

These tips on how to stop anxiety attacks are some natural means to prevent it and you can put them into practice quite easily.