he Panic Attack

Panic attacks are sudden,discrete periods ofintense anxiety, fear and

discomfort that have various causes fromstress at home or at work to sometimesno obvious cause at all. Although theseepisodes may appear random, they areconsidered to be a subset of anevolutionary response commonly referredto as “fight or flight” syndrome when thebody is flooded with hormones mainlyadrenalin that it believes it is defendingitself from a particular event or situation.

“Its the worse feeling I have everexperienced in my life“

Many who suffer from panic attacks statethey are the most frightening experiencesof their lives. Sufferers report a sense ofdying, “going crazy”, and or

experiencing a heart attack, feeling faint,sick, or losing control of themselves.

COMMON SYMPTOMS INCLUDE

• Shortness of breath• Fast Heart Rate and Chest Pains• Hot and Cold Flushes, sweating• Feeling sick, terrible butterflies

Causes of Panic Attacks

Believe it or not the symptoms of a panicattack are the same symptoms you wouldfeel when confronted with serious dangeror upset. For example, imagine youwere face to face with an angry gorillathat had just escaped from Jersey Zoo.You would panic,, all your senses wouldheighten in awareness, causing sweating,dizziness, butterflies and so on. This isobviously all quite normal and panic

passes once the event has passed.

In the case of the everyday panic attackyou have the same symptoms, a differentcause and often anxieties that seem tolast indefinitely, long after the panicattack has subsided. Negative thoughts,constant worry, stress and overload areoften the cause. You then enter adownward spiral of worry as to when andwhere the next attack will occur.

What happens internally?

Pressure and stress, a lack of sleep andworry, send a message of overload to thebrain directly to the coping centre. TheHypothalamus. Once receiving themessage that all is not well it raises thealarm and calls on the glands to help.Mainly the pituitary gland.

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HEALTH AND FITNESS

WHY DO THEY HAPPEN? WHY ARE THEY SO VERY FRIGHTENING? HOW CAN YOU CONTROL THEM? MARK SHIELDS INVESTIGATES.

FEELINGS OF TERROR? COMPLETELYOVERPOWERED? OUT OF CONTROL?HAVING A HEART ATTACK?

THESE ARE JUST SOME OF THE THOUGHTSWE MAY HAVE WHEN EXPERIENCING…

Panic THE INFAMOUS

Attack!

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HEALTH AND FITNESS

An alert is then sent to the adrenalglands which produce adrenalin andnoradrenalin into the bloodstream andthe effects these chemicals have on ouranxiety levels is quite drastic and intense.Very briefly here’s what happens.

• Liver releases blood sugar to the muscles for more energy.

• Breathing gets faster to take in more oxygen.

• Heart speeds up to transport oxygen carrying blood to the parts which need it.

• Energy conservation occurs, digestionshuts down, and mouth becomes dry.

• Sweatiness occurs to cool down the body.

• Senses become on full alert.

• You become pale as blood is sent to body parts to protect vital organs. Hence hands and feet can become cold.

• Tensed muscles give off lactic acid into the bloodstream, which has a dramatic effect on increasing our anxiety levels in just a matter of seconds.

• We panic and anxiety increases as we wonder what’s happening to us, and so the cycle continues.

Overcoming Panic Attacks

There are also many successfulalternatives for helping get rid of thepanic beast forever and I believe firstand foremost this journey starts fromwithin.

The first part of the process is tounderstand the enemy. I wouldrecommend the books “Feel the fearand do it anyway” by Susan Jeffersand “Panic Attacks and How to Beatthem” by Christine Ingham.

Alternative treatment used to preventpanic attacks could be NueroLinguistic programming or CognitiveBehaviour Therapy to change the waypeople change and process theirthought patterns internally.Hypnotherapy to relax the body andallow appropriate reprogramming ofthe subconscious mind..

In addition remember these two points.

No one has ever died from having apanic attack

No physical harm will come to youwhilst having a panic attack

If you anchor yourself to these twothoughts and repeat them in yourmind twenty times, the next time youfeel an attack approaching you willhave started the journey of taking theattack on, and will most definitely beatit in the long term.

I am always happy to answer anyquestions with regards to my monthlyarticles and can be contacted by emailat info@lifepractice.co.uk or telephone01462 451473.

Mark ShieldsManaging DirectorLife Practice UK LTD www.lifepractice.co.uk

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