Oh, the irony.
I have blog post topics scheduled out about 6 months in advance.
I have not had a panic attack in several years, and ended up having a mild one around 2:30 Sunday AM. (no worries, I am OK and taking care of myself. I teach what I practice, not the other way around.)
But it did strike me funny that this week’s topic was self-care after a panic attack and then boom, I experience one.
If you are reading this, I imagine you’ve experienced a panic attack or think you may have had one at some point.
If you haven’t experienced a panic attack, today’s lesson is for you too because all the self-care practices I share below are restorative during intense acute stress, prolonged stress that drives you to fatigue, anxiety, turbulence, and grief.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but a panic attack serves a depressive function in the body.
Even though a panic attack is a form of anxiety expressing itself physically, the panic attack serves to down-regulate the nervous system because it has taken as much arousal as it can handle.
In one intense swoop, the nervous system discharges through shaking, a racing heart, light-headedness, numbness, and that all encompassing hollow, disorienting, sensation of ‘holy-crap-here-it-all-comes.’
Prior to the lead-up to the panic attack, the nervous system has likely either been:
1- steadily escalating in arousal with or without your awareness…think being ‘on’ all the time, holding back tears or anger, working under pressure, feeling threatened in relationships or work, constantly being over scheduled with too much go-go-go, or holding in your truth
This scenario looks like this:
OR it could be
2 – an intense experience that the body and psyche remembers or perceives as a substantial threat…think car accident, confrontation with boss that replicates how you were mistreated by a parent as a child, receiving bad news about a loved one, witnessing someone getting hurt, or getting hurt/anticipating hurt yourself
This scenario looks like this:
Either way, after the panic attack is over, how do you feel?
Exhausted. Like you need to lay down.
Why? Because you do. You need to rest. This is the self-protective function of a panic attack. To de-escalate what the nervous system can’t contain anymore.
A panic attack is the body’s way to try to self-correct itself back to some sort of homeostasis. But so often, panic does not get the respect it desperately asks for.
A panic attack needs to be honored and loved so the body can self-correct in its own timing. Without proper care, the nervous system continues to be fragile and hyper-sensitive, which increases the likelihood of another panic attack and decreases your resilience to everyday stressors.
It’s a relentless cycle, and as a very sensitive person myself, can seem like nothing will ever make you ‘normal.’
But there are self-care principles and practices to give the body the restoration it craves after a panic attack (remember these are great for times of grief and turbulence too).
TOP 6 SELF-CARE PRACTICES AFTER A PANIC ATTACK
- REST. Do less. Way less. Call in sick to work. Go home from work. Ask for help to decrease your responsibilities for a few days or just say screw it. If temperate, lay or sit outside in nature or take a leisurely stroll outside. If you enjoy movement, practice gentle yoga, include alternate nostril and left nostril breathing, and lay off the cardio.
- STAY WARM. The felt sense of fear (anxiety yo) is cold. The felt sense of love (the antidote to chronic stress) is warmth. Take warm baths, use a moist heating pad to your back, cozy up with a sweatshirt or blankie. Sauna or steam (ONLY to your tolerance level – this isn’t for everybody). In winter, sit by the fire. In summer, let the sun’s rays soak into your bare skin. Drink warm, non-caffeinated, calming herbal teas in your favorite mug like chamomile (my favorite) or passionflower.
- AVOID CAFFEINE AND ALCOHOL. The last thing your body needs is a friggin’ stimulant (caffeine) or depressant (alcohol) right now to further off-balance your stress hormones. Treat yourself with kindness. No caffeine or alcohol. AND if you MUST have your coffee, drink it warm along with something with a lot of fat in it (cream, coconut oil) to help minimize the damage.
- MINIMIZE SENSORY STIMULATION. Turn off the TV, news, and rhetoric radio. Turn off fluorescent lights. Don’t scroll your social media feed. Use soft light and/or candlelight indoors. Turn off your phone and put it in a drawer. Sleep with an eye mask. If music helps calm you, use a tonal track or music that warms the heart (warms your heart, not makes you sad). Minimize talking. Talk to give and receive support (this is encouraged) but avoid unnecessary talking about trivial things. Silence is golden.
- INCREASE YOUR OXYTOCIN. Oxytocin is a feel-good-love-hormone. Unlike dopamine, which is also a feel-good-hormone, oxytocin is calming, slow releasing and sustaining. Oxytocin repairs, connects, and restores, whereas dopamine is stimulation-seeking and addictive. For more oxytocin, cuddle with your pet or partner. As much as you can. Rub your entire body with warm sesame oil and as you contact each body part, say to yourself, ‘I welcome you with love and kindness.’ Receive touch therapy like massage or biodynamic craniosacral therapy.
- EAT MOIST FOODS. According to Ayurveda, the traditional medicine system of India, anxiety has a drying effect. It’s good to restore your cells with moisture through the foods you eat. Avoid popcorn, crackers, chips, boxed cereals, and processed cookies that are dry and full of air. Think moist, not crunchy (this could so be a bumper sticker!). Instead, eat nourishing wet foods like soups, avocados, bananas with nut butters, sweet potatoes, vegetables roasted with plenty of ghee, grass-fed butter, or coconut oil. If you eat meat, use a crock-pot for cooking to seal in all the juiciness. Moist foods.
All these practices are calming to a sensitive and over-taxed nervous system. Try what resonates with you and be gentle in the process.
Remember, real self-care is an act of humility.
Be kind. Be gentle. Be respectful, and be willing to humble yourself to give your body what it desperately cries for.
<If you want to learn more about your nervous system and how to stay within a safe zone of stress so panic attacks are less likely, watch the video associated with this blog here.>
In peace,
Angela
