In the middle of an anxiety attack? Or feeling one coming on? You can feel well within five minutes! Here’s what to do:

1. Get your self-help guide out and check the advice right now
This will help you remember what you’ve been taught - the best instant refresher course imaginable.

Having your own self-help book at hand is a major advantage when you feel a panic attack coming on. It is the quintessential guidance at the very moment you need it most.

Keep you self-help guide where it is easily accessible for you. Or get more than one copy (or print more than one copy) so you have one available in the places where you are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety – like in your car, at the office, etc.

2. Cup your hand to your mouth
This forces you to breathe slowly, which rebalances your oxygen-carbon dioxide blood levels.
It is similar to breathing into a bag – you may not have a bag handy, or may not want to look so conspicuous. Cupping your hand to your mouth is also a natural reaction when we are frightened, which is probably our bodies’ natural panic prevention mechanism.

3. Go with the flow
This is hard for us but it works. Recognize your symptoms as panic. Each one of your anxiety symptoms is part of you wonderful body’s natural, perfect responses to danger to enable us to handle a physically dangerous situation. Our fight or flight response triggers the release of various neurotransmittors, like adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, glutamate and more. They trigger responses to:

• make us breathe deeper so more oxygen gets absorbed into our blood;getting our hearts to start
• pump blood at a higher rate so more blood and oxygen reaches our muscles so we can better fight the enemy, or outrun it.
• direct blood sugar to our muscles, so we have the necessary energy for fighting or fleeing.

Each of our symptoms are OK! It is OK to go through panic.

4. Do something physically
Your body is enabling you for a strenuous physical challenge - calm it by giving it an outlet!
Rub your hands vigorously; jog in one place; go for a quick walk or slow jog; stretch; touch your toes; swing your arms; run up and down some stairs; dance vigorously … do anything that requires some release of that pent-up fight-or-flight reaction.

Once you are a bit more relaxed try alternatively tensing and relaxing your muscles.

It is best to do this as early on in the panic attack, preferably whenever you notice a rise in your anxiety level.

• 5. Eat half a slice whole grain bread or a small cube of cheese
  Your blood sugar levels may need to be adjusted. A small, healthy snack will take care of that.
  BUT
  Do not drink coffee or tea with it, as this adds caffeine to your bloodstream, which will increase your anxiety.
  Also:
  no wine, no beer, no root beer or anything with even a trace of alcohol.
• no coca cola (unless it is caffeine-free and sugar-free)
• neither any ‘energy’ drinks or bars as they usually contain coffee and/or sugar
• no sweets at this stage, as a spike in your blood sugar now will lead to a sharp drop within half an hour, making you more susceptible to a panic attack then.

If you don’t own your own self-help guide yet GET one.

We recommend: Panic Away, written by Joe Barry. Joe has helped over 27 000 to date to get rid of their anxiety and panic - why not you?