Proper Breathing For Treating Panic Attacks
Have you ever considered that your breathing could be contributing to your panic attacks? Breathing is a necessity of life that usually occurs without much thought. How you are breathing can be both a factor in creating and treating panic attacks.
Stressed Out By Your Breathing?
There are essentially two common ways to breathe, from the chest and from the abdomen. When people are feeling stressed or anxious they have a tendency to breathe from the chest in short, shallow breaths. Doing this can upset the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance in the body which can lead to a number of physical symptoms, these include increased heart rate, muscle tension and dizziness.
Abdominal breathing, on the other hand, is characterized by deep, even breaths that are drawn down by the diaphragm. A newborn baby will do this, as will people when they are in a deep sleep – it’s the natural way to breathe.
You can easily determine which way you are breathing with this simple test. Place one hand on your chest and your other hand on your stomach. The hand that moves indicated the type of breathing you are doing – hand on stomach moving? You are abdominal breathing. Hand on chest moving? You are chest breathing. By understanding which breathing mode you are in, you will be on track to being able to control your panic and anxiety.
Breathe Deep and Relax
This easy exercise can be used when you are feeling anxious to help with treating panic attacks. You want to practice this when you are in comfortable surrounding and preferably relaxed so that you can apply it when you start to feel anxious or stressed. (note: if you feel dizzy or uncomfortable at any time stop the exercise right away):
Place one hand on your stomach and slowly inhale through your nose. Try to keep your shoulders relaxed. If you are breathing with your diaphragm you hand should move up and down with each breath.
Don’t try to hold your breath. Exhale through your mouth. Rather than push the air out, let the air exit your body naturally.
Try repeating this several times.
You can increase the relaxing effect of this technique by focusing your attention on the breath. As the air moves in and out of your body focus on your hand moving up and down or the air moving in your nose and out your mouth. This is a breathing meditation.
Practicing this technique will help you use it for preventing and treating panic attacks. The key is to practice it at home so that you can apply it when you start to feel anxious or stressed. Adding this to other methods you may already be using can help you win the battle against panic attacks and anxiety.
Getting Rid Of Anxiety contains methods to help you deal with your panic attacks. Here is one simple method for treating panic attacks that you can start using right away.