Your First Panic Attack - What To Expect

This video explains what someone may experience when having their first panic attack. It sneaks up on you with no warning and leaves you scared because you have never experienced this. Your first thoughts are there is something medically wrong, like a heart attack. Even when the doctor tells you there is nothing physically wrong you may still live in fear of it happening again, waiting for the next episode.
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Is this what you experienced? This may be the more likely way someone had their first panic attack. If you are having panic attacks or anxiety you can overcome it on your own if. Check out Panic Away to see if it is for you. This program has help many people successfully overcome panic and anxiety on their own!

How to Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking

The fear of public speaking is a very common thing for people to deal with. It can be a big deal for those with anxiety and those who do not have anxiety issues. The anxiety of public speaking is one of the most common fears that people are afraid of but not many people know what it is that can be done to help overcome those fears.

The fear of public speaking is known as Glossophobia which also has connections to social phobia. It is the fear of being judged which can be triggered by all the people focusing their attention on you while speaking in front of a crowd. When you have doubts of your ability to speak effectively while knowing that people will be paying attention to you, it can create a level of fear that can be terrible for some.

Unfortunately no speech is perfect. Even if you did a great job you will keep dwelling on the mistakes you made and this will help reinforce your fears.

There is the thought that the lifestyle of today has been making the fear of public speaking worse than it has been before. This thought comes from the idea that more people are spending less time out in the public which reduces the amount of time generally talking in front of people. People can become somewhat anonymous when they spend more time online and the skills of being around people can diminish.

With the ability to send emails and the ease of talking on the phone from anywhere you do not have to think about people looking at you and making judgments which can lead to less experience in public speaking as we move into the future.

Your age or experience has no bearing – the lifestyle we live today gives us less personal interaction with other people which in the long run can only lead to more people developing anxiety towards public speaking.

So How Do We Reduce Anxiety towards Public Speaking

It is normal for someone to become anxious before making a speech regardless how good or outgoing they are, that’s human nature. When trying to overcome your anxiety do not expect to become completely anxiety free, it just will not happen. You can get to the point that you can channel that anxiety to give you the ability to give a great speech, not hold you back.

When you are overwhelmed by the fear of public speaking you need help. It is not always easy to overcome this anxiety quickly because we tend to focus on the mistakes and you can convince yourself that you are justified to be fearful.

There are some that get public speaking anxiety just talking with their friends. Anxiety such as that may be related to social anxiety which may take more effort to overcome. In this situation we are talking about being able to speak in front of a group of people in a more formal situation. It could be making a speech or giving a presentation in a meeting either way you will have to deal with your anxiety.

You need to learn some strategies and practices to help overcome your fear of speaking. An important first step for anyone giving a speech or presentation is practicing it. You need to practice for a number of reasons. One is to remember your speech and to be comfortable giving it. It will be more instinctual when you give it. You become more familiar with it so if you get off track it is easier to get back on. Even better is to practice in front of someone because it can help you with your anxiety knowing you are being watched and working your way through it.

Prepare well for your speech do not stop practicing because you feel you know it well. When you reach the point that you are getting sick and tired of it then do you think about stopping. Even then you should go over it again at least three more times. What you are trying to do is go beyond just knowing it well. You want to reach the point that you know it very well, that is the point you are ready to go.

The next step for you is work on getting used to the fears you have about public speaking. This step is done only after you have thoroughly practiced. Now you will use visualization to help get ready. Picture the crowed of people you may be facing. See them as angry and imagine what those angry faces will make you feel like if it was for real. Will it bring on the anxiety you fear?

Visualizing this scenario you should feel some anxiety. Your heart rate may be elevated and your fear level should go up. When your anxiety level gets up there try deep breathing and try to relax. Think about how those angry faces really do like your speech and the angry faces are because they are being overwhelmed by how good it is. Continue trying to calm yourself but keep on with your speech.

One great way to overcome your fear of public speaking is to overcome the idea of being embarrassed. If you can overcome being embarrassed you will be on your way to overcoming some of those fears you have of public speaking and are closer to being cured.

One way to overcome embarrassment is to go outside your comfort zone. Do something in public for example that you would never otherwise do. Whatever it is you chose, do it long enough or enough times that you are used to it and no longer embarrassed. You reach a point that it no longer bothers you and it is not a big deal, in fact you may have fun doing this.

The day of you speech there are some things you can do to prepare your mind. First is to get a good night’s sleep before hand. It may be difficult for some to sleep worrying about the speech

You want to do what you can to calm your mind and relax. Drink plenty of water as being even a little dehydrated can contribute to your anxiety. You can do something physical such as running to help relieve some of your tension.

Have everything you need prepared and ready in advance so you are not scrambling at the last minute to get ready. You can go over your speech one more time and try some of the visualization techniques.

The less anxiety you have this day the better your speech will come across. The buildup of waiting for speech time can wreak havoc on some people, so doing what you can to avoid the pre-speech anxiety can benefit you. Do not worry about everyone else; remind yourself that you have prepared and whatever happens you will get better.

When you begin to make your speech there are some things that you can do to reduce your anxiety. One is to start off strong by using a loud voice. Do not worry about being too loud, it will come across just fine. Some people start off slow with the idea of easing into the speech, starting strong is best for you.

Do not look at anyone in the room. Let your gaze drift around the room while not really focusing on anyone’s face. Remember the angry face visualization to help you here.

If you stumble do not worry about it. Never expect a speech to go perfect, in fact those watching you may not even notice. Well known speakers had troubles stumbling through their speeches; they learned to just keep on going like nothing happened. If you lose your place figure out where you left off and continue.

After you get into the speech there is not much you can do but finish it. When you are done act like you did a great job and worry about any mistakes you made another time. Congratulations you did it, now applaud yourself. Keep in mind that the more speeches you give the easier it is and the better you will get.

You can get past your fear of public speaking if you try the above methods. If you suffer from anxiety on a regular basis then these methods can work to help alleviate that also. Having anxiety problems can accumulate over time to the point that it can cause problems out in the public also. Do what you can to help yourself; there are programs available to allow you to get over your fears on your own.

3 Key Elements to Help Eliminate Your Anxiety

There are many ways to help overcome panic or anxiety attacks and natural methods have shown to be very useful. If you are suffering from panic attacks and have not yet tried these methods give them a try, you may find out it does help you. Below are listed some things to try, of course there are many more but this would be a good start at finding natural cures for your anxiety.

1. There are natural herbs that have been shown to be calming and in turn help reduce anxiety. One of them is Passion Flower which has a long history of use in folk medicine for insomnia and anxiety issues. Chamomile is another herb that can calm your nerves when you are feeling anxious or jittery.

There are also other herbs that are used to relax and you should do your own research to make sure any of these products are right for you. Some of them have been known to have side effects so be sure before using.

2. Learning how to properly breathe would be important for anyone regardless if you are suffering from anxiety or not. Breathing poorly can lead to issues such as hyperventilation which can bring on symptoms of chest pain and rapid heartbeat which are a couple of the signs of an anxiety attack.

Good breathing technique is great way to calm your mind when you are feeling anxious or you feel a panic attack coming. Using the right calming breathing methods will help reduce anxiety and its symptoms.

If you have never tried any calming breathing methods you will find some of them are easy to do while others could take some practice. But the more you use them the easier it becomes as you learn to calm yourself during a panic attack.

One method is simply deep breathing. While it may not be the best way to help relieve an anxiety attack it is still a good tool to make use of. All you need to do is breath deep in and out slowly. Breathe in and let your abdomen expand as if you are breathing into your stomach. What you are doing is getting oxygen deeper into your lungs instead of their upper half. In conjunction with the deep breathing let your mind and body relax.

Best way to do this is find a quite spot and sit in a chair. Sit up with your back straight and your arms on the chair arm rests if there are some. Slowly breathe in for a count of 5 through your nose. Pause and hold your breath for a couple seconds then let your breath out through your mouth for a count of 5 seconds. Let your breath come out quietly, do not force it. Repeat this for at least ten times.

Remember this could take some practice but in short time you will be able to enjoy the way it calms you down. Breathing this way will even lower your blood pressure. One way to verify this is to use one of those blood pressure monitors you see in stores. Check your pressure then do it again after doing some relaxing deep breathing, you will see how it lowers your blood pressure.

3. It has been noted that the diet most people consist on is very acidic. A high acidic diet can result in a lowered resistance to stress and contribute to other health problems. Fortunately your diet is something you can control if you have the discipline to do so. Improving your diet so it is more healthful can build on your ability to resist anxiety attacks. You will find that your mental wellbeing will be improved along with your physical wellbeing.

If your body is in balance it can do a better job of avoiding anxiety, being acidic can compound your problem. Removing acidic food from your diet will bring your body into a healthier state. It may not be easy at first especially when you are used to eating just about anything whether it’s good for you or not.

In addition your body will find it more difficult to remove the toxins from it when you subsist on a high acidic diet. Even over eating can play a role in how your mind and body reacts to situations that may create anxiety in you. Living on a healthy diet will create a buffer zone to help shield you and reduce the stress in your life.

Foods that are acidic and the ones you want to eliminate or reduce are sugar, salt and processed foods. Even dairy products, proteins and grains are acidic to our system. These are examples of food sources that can have a negative reaction to your system and lower its resistance. To improve your body’s resistance to stress, consume more vegetables and fruits.

There is an optimum balance you should keep and that would be about 80 percent alkaline. To achieve this you would need to consume more vegetables either raw or cooked and more fruit products. You do not need as much protein as you think unless you are exercising heavily, so a little lean meat is ok daily.

Of course the above are only three of many things you can do on your own to help prevent anxiety attacks. Do your research and try what you can yourself to have a happier and healthier life.

Overcome and Eliminate Your Intrusive Thoughts

The driving factor in almost all cases of general anxiety is anxious thinking. There cannot be much of a chance of eradicating this root of your anxiety without addressing the invasive thoughts you are dealing with.  

If you experience anxiety or panic attacks on a frequent basis you may be dealing with negative, unwanted thoughts that are working their way into your mind. These thoughts can range from worries about loved ones, your health or fears of things that really make no sense but they continue to linger in your mind.

Many times these unwelcome thoughts stem from a previous experience and sometimes they are just odd, leaving you worried as to why these thoughts are happening. In every case you become upset by the anxiety they are causing you which amplifies your distress and worry.

 What is interesting is that the intrusive thoughts themselves are not causing your distress; it is how you respond to them. How you react to your thoughts will enable how they can have power or influence over you. To have a better understanding of how your unwanted thoughts materialize, we can lay out a picture of how it transpires. Following is an example to help illustrate the point.

Let’s say you are standing outside and there are all these thoughts just floating around you. Some of these thoughts are yours and there are some that come from other sources. Now when you focus on a particular thought as it floats by it seems to move closer to you. All the other thoughts just pass on by.

When you closely examine a particular thought you realize that it connects to other similar thoughts. When you realize this you then jump from one thought to the next, these thoughts could be about anything.

Suddenly you notice one thought in front of you that is frightening. You can call this thought fear A. Fear A could be bad health, anxiety attacks or anything. You cannot avoid looking at this thought and as you focus on it more it moves even closer to you. The more you look at it the more fear you have because you do not like what you see.

You begin to notice that the first frightening thought is somehow connected to more worrying thoughts that you also start examining closely. The more you try to push back the thoughts the more it seems to stay with you. You even try to focus on pleasant thoughts but you continuously keep coming back to the frightful thought again. It’s like an endless cycle that will not end.

The expression “thoughts sticking like glue” come to mind. Reacting with emotion to the thoughts make them glued to you all the more, and the more you worry over them the more they become instilled in you over time.

The troublesome thought and its associated connections are there when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. It becomes stuck in your psyche because of your emotional reaction to it.

It is how these thoughts are judged by you that determines how much of an impact they have on your life. Thoughts need to be fed by attention and what they really crave is a strong emotional reaction to make them stick to you. These thoughts stay with you first by the attention you give them and are held in place by the emotional reactions you have with them.

To solve this problem you must have a change of attitude. You need to change the way you react to those intrusive thoughts as they creep into your mind. Changing your attitude will help stop the emotional reactions you have to those frightening thoughts. When you have the emotional reactions reduced, the invasive thoughts will start to go away.

Previously you probably tried to get rid of those thoughts by trying to free yourself from them. The idea however is to not try to be free of them, rather try to have a new attitude toward them as they pass through your thought process. You can never have full control of what goes through your mind, but you can control the way you will react to what is there. So that is the difference between not getting caught up in fearful thinking and getting entangled in it.

The scary thoughts you have are yours, not from some unknown force. You can either empower them or dismiss them. When a thought you would rather not have sneaks up on you, your reaction may be to tense up inside and tell yourself you don’t want that thought now. Trying to push those thoughts out of your mind can cause the thoughts to be more stuck in your mind.

When you keep saying to your mind to stop thinking of the intrusive thought, what happens is that it seems to get worse. As long as you keep fighting it your mind will keep going right back to it. It is like your mind has a radar system that keeps picking up those thoughts that have a high level of emotion attached to them.

What you must do to not react to them is learn how to remove the fear factor that is attached to the thought. Next accept and have comfort with whatever comes to mind. Avoid pushing those anxious thoughts out of your way.

You might feel like you will always react fearfully to intrusive thoughts because you are an anxious person by nature. But having continual and obsessive anxious feeling is a behavioural habit and like any habit it can be broken.