Let’s look at how to deal with anxiety attacks in today’s turbulent world, as besides your normal day to day stress, you now have a pandemic to contend within the mix.
Unfortunately in modern times, dealing with anxiety has become somewhat of a normal part of life for many individuals in the world today. Although this problem is not necessarily a new phenomenon, there are certain aspects of modern times that have served to exacerbate the issue.
One of them is the internet, unfortunately.
Due to our world being so connected through the internet, social media, and other forms of media, people today are not only exposed to the issues in their immediate environment. Instead, they are shown all of the bad things taking place across the entire globe. Furthermore, people are expected to juggle so many more responsibilities at one time, all while being as productive as possible.
Although anxiety certainly varies in intensity and frequency from person to person, there are a few ways to deal with the problem that is beneficial for anyone experiencing this issue.
This article intends to discuss a few of these techniques in order to alleviate some of your anxiety, hopefully improving your overall quality of life.
What Is An Anxiety Attack?
An anxiety attack usually involves a fear of some specific occurrence or problem that could happen. Symptoms include worrying, restlessness, and possibly physical symptoms, such as changes in heart rate.
Anxiety is different from a panic attack, but it can occur as part of an anxiety or panic disorder.
How Do You Know If You Are Having An Anxiety Attack?
An anxiety or panic attack often comes on suddenly, with symptoms peaking within 10 minutes.
For doctors to diagnose a panic attack, they look for at least four of the following signs: sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, a choking sensation, chest pain, nausea, fear of losing your mind, dizziness, fear of dying, feeling hot or cold, numbness or tingling, a racing heart (heart palpitations), and feeling unusually detached from yourself.
People generally can overcome panic attacks faster if they seek help after the first one or two. When you do seek help, your doctor or therapist will ask about your symptoms and the situations in which they arise, and might also recommend additional medical testing to rule out other health concerns.
Don’t wait too long to seek help, or it might mean you’ll also have to do extra work to undo the habits you may have developed to try to protect yourself — like avoiding triggering situations, which is usually what people tend to do.
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If it’s beginning to interfere with your life, and you’re avoiding doing things that provoke the symptoms, that’s when you need to seek help. At its worst, people with panic disorder become housebound and they stop doing the things that they used to enjoy.
How To Deal With Anxiety Attacks
Live In The Moment
Although it may seem obvious when stated, the only point in time in which you will EVER exist is right now. Ironically, most of us dedicate the bulk of our mental energy to the past or future. Anxiety is great at causing us to replay past mistakes in our head and constantly worry about things that have yet to occur.
A big part of dealing with anxiety is to live in the moment. This means focusing all of your physical and mental energy on what is going on right now. Not only does this simplify life, but it also allows you to get the most out of your limited time.
Trying to deal with your entire past and future on a constant basis makes it virtually impossible to appreciate what is right in front of you.
Meditation and relaxation apps can help you a lot with learning to live in the moment.
Control What You Can Control
The truth is, many of the issues causing anxiety in your life are beyond your control. This includes global and community issues as well as problems in your personal life.
What you need to realize is that the weight of the world is NOT on your shoulders, even though it can certainly seem like it at times. Anxiety tells you that you should be worried about solving problems that are way out of your hands.
In reality, focusing on the issues that you actually have the ability to resolve is a much healthier response to a problem-filled world.
It’s Okay To Not Feel Okay
Another side effect of anxiety is a feeling of isolation. People experiencing anxiety on a routine basis tend to feel like they are the only ones dealing with this issue.
Because of this perspective, we often feel like everyone else is much happier than we are like we won’t be accepted if anyone else knew the extent of our anxiety. It is so important to realize that this is far from the truth.
Everyone around you is experiencing some degree of anxiety or mental hang up. You are far from alone. Don’t feel like you have to go through life acting as if everything is okay when it isn’t.
Get Help If You Need It
Finally, if your anxiety is something you are having trouble dealing with on your own, then don’t!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking professional help for this issue. Ironically, our society welcomes getting help for even minor physical ailments but acts as if doing the same for a serious mental issue is taboo.
Consider this, if you had the flu, you would most certainly seek the appropriate doctor to take care of it. Why would you not seek a doctor that is medically trained in alleviating mental health issues if you are dealing with anxiety? There is help out there, so get it if you need it!
If you have anything to add on how to deal with anxiety attacks, please feel free to comment below.
This topic has certainly gained momentum over the years. Not that I think that anxiety attacks happen more now than in the past, but I come from a generation where we properly repressed those feelings of anxiousness and pretended that they didn’t exist.
Today, our youth are commonly diagnosed and medically treated for anxiety… to be honest, I don’t know where I sit on this issue. On the one hand, I acknowledge that it exists and can be debilitating at times, but on the other hand, prescribing medication to sedate the issue doesn’t seem quite right to me either. I do like your suggestions for relaxation & meditation, not something I’ve ever formally employed, but closer to how I think my generation dealt with anxieties in large part in one form or another… When things begin to get out of control, there’s nothing like a round of golf or a walk/jog… see what I mean?
I agree with you Bob – it is always best to try a natural approach first, then maybe speak to somebody about it and as a last resort take medication if nothing else works.
Anxiety attacks are very dangerous to our overall health because they tend to create a lot of illusions to believe that the world is not realistic and a new world is created where the sufferer only suffers in it.
It is always advisable to get set free from it as quickly as it can be done. Well! Though I have not suffered from it before it feels good knowing information about it here. Thanks