If you’ve ever had a panic attack you’ll know how scary it is to feel so out of control. It can feel like your body is attacking you. But what if I told you that it’s all about your nervous system protecting you because it is designed to help you survive. That its whole purpose – keeping you safe and alive.
Your nervous system has certain built-in mechanisms to respond to threat and danger and it triggers the release of hormones like adrenaline so that you can fight or flee. Its automatic survival response is to move you to safety, so it prepares you to take action through movement with the choice of fight or flight in order to protect you.
When your body is going to fight or flee it’s all happening instinctively and automatically, so this is not within your conscious control.
When you are unable to fight or flee and use up the adrenaline that’s been generated to move you to safety, this mobilising energy is not used up and stays in your body. And your body becomes stuck in specific patterns of neuromuscular readiness. You get stuck in a state of acute and then chronic nervous system arousal and this leads to a dysfunctional nervous system.
You are not designed to live in this state. In this traumatised nervous system state, it is difficult if not impossible to function normally under these circumstances.
The sympathetic nervous system (your personal surveillance system) is always on high alert and scanning for danger. In this state you will feel your heart rate speed up and your breathing becomes short and shallow, your muscles throughout your entire body are tensed in specific patterns of readiness.
Your blood leaves your brain and rushes to different parts of your body, particularly your arms and legs so that you can take action to fight or flee. This is why you cannot think your way out of panic and you cannot stop and takes deep breaths to calm down, because this rush of adrenaline makes it hard for you to switch off and relax.
This is what the body does to help you to survive. If you don’t take action and physically use up the adrenaline, you can become stuck or trapped in a sympathetic survival state.
The fight response often leads to confrontation, a rigid body posture, a higher tone of voice and challenging gestures. And a flight response often leads to a body that cannot be still with constant movement, foot tapping and fidgeting.
The health consequences can include heart disease, high blood pressure, pain, headache, chronic neck, shoulder, and back tension, digestive issues, memory loss, insomnia, and a weakened immune system.
The physical sensations of a panic attack are far from sudden or instant. Rather, the symptoms begin building up to an hour before the full onset so recognising your early signs and symptoms of panic can help you to prevent panic attacks.
The combination of adrenaline in your body and past traumatic events that are stored in buried memories, as though they were ongoing and still happening in the present moment, can cause your personal surveillance system to set off an alarm that seems to be firing unreliably or when it doesn’t need to.
With this initial understanding of the role and responses of your personal surveillance system, you can begin to track it, tune into it with more awareness, and learn how to support it to return to a more calm and balanced state.
Signs and symptoms that your nervous system is wired and needs support and recovery:
· Hypervigilance
· Excessive startle response
· Racing heart
· Heartburn
· Restlessness (can’t sit still or bounce legs/fidget)
· Muscle tension
· Chronic pain
· Disturbed sleep
· Nightmares
· Anxiety
· Outbursts (saying things we don’t really mean)
· Ruminating thoughts and overthinking
· Prolonged irritability
· Emotional reactivity
Supressing the fight or flight survival instinct means that you repeatedly resist what your body is biologically trying to do to reset itself. This on-going nervous system instability results in a full-blown panic attack. By recognising the early signs, you are able to cope with the waves rather than a full blown tsunami.
How to recognise the early signs of panic
Tracking your own unique nervous system symptoms can help you to have a better understanding of when you are beginning to feel wired. In therapy I will help you to build awareness to know exactly what your symptoms are, and what you can do to find your way back to a safe and balanced nervous system state.
I teach you how to tune in and listen to your body, to become aware of the cues of danger and what you can do to take control to support yourself back to a place of safety and calm.
In order to help you to build awareness and recognise your nervous system state, you could write it down, draw it or say it out loud to yourself.
Physical Signs – What sensations do I notice in my body? Heartrate, breathing, posture, tension, digestion, pain, etc.
Behaviours – How are these physical signs affecting me? Sleep, eating habits, energy levels, performance and focus, mood, and relationships.
Thoughts – Based on these physical signs and behaviours what am I telling myself? This is around your beliefs, such as ‘I am …’, ‘They are …’, ‘The world is …’, and statements that include wording such as ‘everyone, no-one, always, never’, etc.
Triggers – What has stimulated my nervous system? What else could be contributing? Environment (lighting, temperature, noise levels), people, situations, smells, sounds, sights, feelings, thoughts, etc.
When I feel panic building inside, why can’t I just think myself out of it?
Because your instinctive survival response is biological. And also because story follows state. For every 1 nerve sending information from your brain down into your body, you have 9 nerves sending information from your body up to your brain.
So if the message your body is sending is that it’s tense and tight and your breathing and heartrate are fast, then the mind will look for the story based on the information it receives from the nervous system. Your beliefs such as “I am anxious”, “I’m going to have a panic attack”, etc. form the basis of how you live your life and feed your anxious thoughts. We must work with the body first in order to calm the mind.
What should I do when I feel panic building inside?
Contrary to all the popular advice you’ve been given to “Take a deep breath to calm down” please avoid doing this!
Taking deep breaths actually revs up your nervous system, because you take in too much oxygen and release excess carbon dioxide. This may lead to low levels of carbon dioxide in your blood which causes many of the symptoms that you feel if you hyperventilate.
Your instinctive fight or flight survival response wants to move, so moving and shaking it out is how your body and nervous system uses up adrenaline and releases muscle tension.
Using this natural form of movement helps your body to release the build-up of energy in your nervous system and complete the cycle of activation.
How to shake it out:
· Flick your hands like you’re shaking off sticky honey
· Lie on your back and run in the air with your legs and arms
· Stand up and jiggle your knees fast, shake your arms, legs and whole body
· Move your body energetically in any way that feels right for you like bouncing up and down, running on the spot or jumping
· Stomp your feet on the ground as fast as you can as if you were running
What is the best way to breathe when I feel anxious or panicky?
Avoid deep breaths! Rather try to just breathe intentionally in and out at a normal or shallow rate, as this can increase carbon dioxide levels and reduce distressing symptoms. Then very gradually focus on making your in and out breathe equal and even in length.
How do you feel after reading this? Relieved to understand why typical advice may not have worked for you? To find out more about working with me, please feel free to contact me to arrange a call back so that we can speak and you can ask me any questions you may have.
Visit www.caroline-king.co.uk