Simple Techniques To Calm Anxiety

I've posted links to the Uncommon Knowledge website before because they're passionate about research and improvements in the field of mental health. They provide excellent info and some freebie's on their site: http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk

In respect of this forum and the rules, I want to make it clear that I'm not affiliated with these sites. I do though have personal experience of them and only wish to pass on anything that may help people with CD and mental-health issues in general.
They helped my son a couple of years back and I'll be taking him back there as soon as I can.
The 7/11 technique included in this article, has helped both my son and myself to establish calm on many occasions.

http://www.panic-attacks.co.uk/panic_attacks_4.htm#711

The Panic Attacks Prevention Program

Part 4 : Hyperventilation (overbreathing) and other panic attack symptoms

We've covered several panic attack symptoms in the course so far. Now we're going to take a look at hyperventilating (or overbreathing), which causes, or makes many panic attacks worse. It can be counted amongst panic attack symptoms, or amongst causes, as one 'feeds' off the other.

About 60% of attacks are accompanied by hyperventilation and many panickers overbreathe even whilst relaxed.

The most important thing to understand about hyperventilation is that although it can feel as if you don't have enough oxygen, the opposite is true. It is a symptom of too much oxygen.

With hyperventilation, your body has too much oxygen. To use this oxygen (to extract it from your blood), your body needs a certain amount of Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

When you hyperventilate, you do not give your body long enough to retain CO2, and so your body cannot use the oxygen you have. This causes you to feel as if you are short of air, when actually you have too much. This is why the following techniques work to get rid of hyperventilation.
Some hyperventilation and panic attack symptoms are:

* Light headiness
* Giddiness
* Dizziness
* Shortness of breath
* Heart palpitations
* Numbness
* Chest pains
* Dry mouth
* Clammy hands
* Difficulty swallowing
* Tremors
* Sweating
* Weakness
* Fatigue

Getting Rid of Hyperventilation

Anybody who hyperventilates will find that symptoms of over-excitedness or panic will occur. So how can learn to breathe more evenly and naturally?

1. Hold your breath. Holding your breath for as long as you comfortably can will prevent the dissipation of carbon dioxide. If you hold your breath for a period of between 10 and 15 seconds and repeat this a few times that will be sufficient to calm hyperventilation quickly.
2. Breathe in and out of a paper bag. This will cause you to re-inhale the carbon dioxide that you exhaled. Naturally there are many times when this would be inappropriate and may appear a little strange. It really helps though.
3. Thirdly you can take vigorous exercise while breathing in and out through your nose. A brisk walk or jog whilst breathing through the nose will counter hyperventilation. Regular exercise will decrease general stress levels decreasing the chance of panic attacks.
4. If you find that your breathing pattern is irregular or uncomfortable a lot of the time, the best way to 'reset' it is by exercising. Start off gradually and check with your doctor if you are not used to exercise.

The 7:11 Breathing Pattern - the opposite of hyperventilation

Finally you can practice a special type of breathing, not into your chest but deep into your tummy or diaphragm which is below your chest. The important thing here is that the out breath must be longer that the in breath. This causes stimulation of the part of your nervous system responsible for relaxation. This is a basic law of biology and if you breathe in this way then your body will have no choice but to relax.

It may take a few minutes but the body will respond regardless of what your mind is thinking. Experience this now. Sit down and close your eyes for a little while. Just become aware of your breathing.and breathe in to the count of seven. and breathe out to the count of eleven. You can hold for a couple of seconds at the bottom of the out breath if that's comfortable for you.

It may be a little difficult at first, but doing this regularly causes your general anxiety level to come down. You may also find that you begin to breathe this way automatically if you feel anxious. Regular relaxation actually starts to inhibit the production of stress hormones in the body so it actually becomes harder and harder to panic. As you become more generally relaxed the 'baseline' of arousal from which you are starting lowers. It actually becomes harder to get stressed!

Hyperventilation responds very well to this technique. If you practice this daily, hyperventilating should cease to be a problem very quickly. It can also give you much more control over panic attacks.

You are hopefully coming to understand that panic attack symptoms are natural physiological reactions. Next, how a panic attack causes the brain to behave in a certain way...

Part 5 : The Brain and Panic Attacks - 'Emotional Hijacking'

Copyright 2001- 2007 panic-attacks.co.uk Uncommon Knowledge Ltd, 12 Queen Square, Brighton, England, UK BN1 3FD. Tel: +44(0)1273 776770

THanks, I just gacve that breathing 7/11 a go and it ssems to slow things down and calm me.

Very happy to hear that Dan!

There's a couple of other techniques I'll post soon. In fact they'd be useful on pretty much all sections of this forum. They're also simple to do and kinda re-wire your brain. It doesn't mean you'll never experience stress or anxiety again, but these are definately excellent coping strategies. They calm you down by neutralising the emotional impact of negative thoughts. It takes up to 12 seconds for a thought to arouse the emotional brain. Pretty swift huh!

I don't know if you read the whole article Dan, but I'd advise anyone to do so. Understanding what makes us tick, what ails us, the how and why is essential to recovery. This is why I love the "Uncommon Knowledge" and "Human Givens" sites. They explain in lay terms how depression, anxiety, stress, phobias and trauma work, what can be done to treat them and what you can do to help yourself.
If my son rings me from college when he's anxious, I run through it with him, or drive to him asap to guide him through what he forgets to do for himself. Having various special needs and serious memory problems dramatically increases the challenge! If he doesn't phone, well that's another matter and CD takes a firm hold.
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The 7/11 should be taught to children and adults alike. The HG Institute and The Human Givens Foundation, (a charity) has a mission. From their website:

The Human Givens Foundation

"The Human Givens Foundation (HGF) is a charity registered in England and Wales, Charity No. 1108432. Its objectives are to promote research and public education into the 'givens' of human nature and their application into the treatment and care of those suffering from mental illness.

It intends to foster initiatives by those endeavouring to use up-to-date knowledge about the givens of human nature in practical ways, particularly in fields where the development of life skills is vital: education, psychotherapy, health, social work, industrial relations and diplomacy."

7/11 every day gives you back some control.

roselight

Hi,

My work is stressing me out, but it's all basically from good stuff: as I'm moving up, I keep getting handed new opportunities to develop in my career (yay!). However, they're always outside my comfort zone, and so make me feel stressed out (boo!). I'm talking about things like being put in charge of running certain projects, being asked to report to senior management about progress on stuff under my purview, being asked to give presentations to clients... so the solution isn't to "make work less stressful." I'm just one of those people that tends to get pretty anxious when I'm outside my comfort zone, and I have a hard time letting that anxiety go when I
leave the office. (I've gotten to the point where I can't even watch certain shows when I get home at night, like Freaks and Geeks or

The Office, because what used to be mildly uncomfortable but hilariously funny has become actually painful to add on top of my general anxiety level. I have to avert my eyes and cover my ears. I miss Steve Carrell! I want the funny back!) So, does anyone have tips about concrete actions I can take when I start to notice the physical signs of anxiety at my job? (Things like my shoulders around my ears, or my heart beating faster when I think about something I need to do, or my perma-jiggling foot). Bonus points for concrete actions or mental tricks I can do to nip avoidance in the bud (yes, sometimes I shut down Outlook for an hour so I don't see the little envelope with new mail that I'm too nervous to open). Possibly relevant information: I have my own office with a door (magic stretches?). I have access to a refrigerator and microwave (magic tea?). I workout regularly and I've cut myself down to one cup of coffee per day and no other caffeine.

I've done therapy before, and it's A++ awesome for dealing with serious problems and issues, but I really don't feel like I'm at the point I need to do that--this is more annoying than actually debilitating. I'm usually pretty good at taking care of myself, but I've really run out of ideas on how to deal with this, and the physical manifestations of anxiety really suck. Warm baths after a tough day ain't cutting it anymore. Help!

Hi, Hank! I think I get jiggling foot when I'm stressed too, and a twitch in my eye sometimes . There is nothing more annoying.
I think there are some yoga moves you can do in your office, you can try looking on youtube.
Since I started doing pilates and drinking green tea instead of coffee, it seems to have gotten better.