Change your Physiology to Prevent a Panic Attack

Anxiety Treatments

By Dave Lucas / Nov 4, 2017

Physiology,...

...is directly linked to your mental states.

If we Change our Minds, we Change our Bodies.

The inverse is also true.

If we Change our Bodies, we Change our Minds.

In this section...

...you will learn simple ways to use your body
...to alter your mental states
...and to control your anxiety.

1. Deep Breathing

Your Breath Controls your Mood.

This trick was often used by the Ninpo (Ninja),

...to keep themselves calm
...when facing highly dangerous situations.

Ninpo Grandmaster - Masaaki Hatsumi

The technique is also used to balance...

...your energy system.

That's why it's used in yoga.

The idea is really simple:

Breathe
Breathe Slowly and Calmly
Breathe Expansively
Breathe Deeply

When we are in a panic attack...

...we tend to stop breathing.

I have experienced this during ninpo training,...

...especially when I was new.

A big guy would walk up to me and punch...

...instead of breathing
...and moving out the way,

I would just stand there...

...like a stone
...and get hit.

Fortunately, it does not take too many hits...

...for you to remember to breathe and move.

Ninpo Grandmaster - Masaaki Hatsumi - Engaged in a throw. WOW!

This basic principle...

...applies to all situations in life.

If you are in a panic,...

...just breathe and move.

Do something,...

...even if it just means smiling at the person talking to you.

Movement gives you options,...

...which sets you free from the petrification (becoming a stone)
...of panic.

1.1 Here are Some Videos to Get you Started:

This video is on Yogic breathing.

It will balance your body’s energy system very quickly.

This is a very simple technique...

...you can do it anywhere.

This video show you how to use Yogic Breathing...

...to specifically relieve anxiety, panic and stress.

It's amazing...

...how effective breathing is
...for calming yourself down

...and feeling more in control.

There are also numerous health benefits from yogic breathing.

2. Yoga (to clear out that Pit in the Gut feeling)

One of the shortcomings...

...in most anxiety treatments
...is the fact that they ignore
...the role of the body in anxiety.

Specifically, the Chakras.

Anxiety is Caused...

...by a Block in the Solar Plexus Chakra
...or the Sacral Chakra.

This is because these chakras are linked to the...

...Enteric Nervous System.

The Enteric Nervous System is...

...in your intestines.

Source: Connexions, OpenStax College, Anatomy & Physiology, Overview of the Digestive System

It is a collection of nerves called the...

{Excuse the Medicalise}

...Submucosal Plexus
...and the Myenteric Plexus.

You have 5 times more nerves in your Enteric Nervous System...

...than you have in your spinal cord.

It is your enteric nervous system...

...that is responsible for that pit in the gut feeling
...you get when you feel anxious.

Two Brains, One Body: Your Gut and Your Mind

From Visually.

Now what is so amazing about Yoga,...

...is that it can be used to directly address
...the horrible pit in the gut feeling,
...that can drive you crazy.

So how do you do this?

In the diagram below,...
...you can see the location of the...
...Solar Plexus
...and Sacral Chakras.

As you can see they are both located...

...where your intestines are located.

All you have to do is...

...use Yoga to clear out the emotional energy
...in these regions of your body.

It is also very important to clear out the hips...

...as they are linked to the Sacral Chakra.

Most of us have very tight hips as we sit too much.

This ends up being one of the root causes of our anxiety.

Who would have thought that sitting...

...could make you anxious?

Here are yoga routines which you can use to clear out that pit in the gut feeling.

2.1. Short Yoga Routines

This routine takes just 3 minutes.

It specifically targets the Solar Plexus chakra.

Here’s a 3 minute routine that specifically targets the Sacral Chakra.

This is a nice 5 minute routine that targets anxiety.

It releases the...

...sacral,
...solar plexus
...and hips.

2.2 Longer Yoga Routines

You may find that you want to spend a bit more time...

...really releasing the emotional energy from your body.

These routines will help.

This routine is slightly longer.

It is very nice because it releases both the...

...Solar Plexus and Sacral Chakras.

You will feel very calm and relaxed after doing it.

This routine uses a form of Yoga known as Yin Yoga...

...to deeply release tight hips.

The routine is a bit more advanced than the others.

However it is excellent for deep release of the hips,...

...so I encourage you to give it a try.

4. Adequate sleep

Sleep is one of the most important...

...physiological processes in the human body.

Getting Too Little Sleep is Serious

An academic paper, Neurobiological consequences of Sleep Deprivation highlights some of these processes.

Although the physiological function of sleep is not completely understood, it is well documented that it contributes significantly to the process of learning and memory.

Ample evidence suggests that adequate sleep is essential for fostering connections among neuronal networks for memory consolidation in the hippocampus.

Deficits in cognitive function, as a consequence of sleep loss are particularly prevalent in modern societies where social and occupational demands make it imperative to sacrifice sleep, to increase productivity.

These deficits are especially detrimental when sleep loss is chronic, directly causing disruption in the learning and memory processes at the cellular level.

This may imply that sleep plays an essential role in cognitive functions such as attention, emotion and memory, independent of any physical manifestations of sleep loss such as sleepiness or drowsiness.

Source: NIH

They then go on to cite a number of consequences of lack of sleep.

Most interesting to this article is the link between sleep deprivation and anxiety.

Getting Too Little Sleep is Serious
Part 2

Note: SD is an acronym for Sleep Deprivation.

Adequate amount of sleep maintains good mood and cognitive acuity and promotes physiological balance and resilience.

Unfortunately, increasing demands of modern societies for vocational or lifestyle reasons leave more people sleep deprived, so much so that SD is no more a one night occurrence but a major public health issue.

It is now well known that SD negatively impacts the overall quality of life.

SD also is frequently comorbid with several physical and mental illnesses, as either a consequence or a contributing factor, thus increasing the enormity of the impact.

Relevant to this, several human studies suggest involvement of SD in development of pathological anxiety.

Anxiety as a disorder is generally represented by feelings of exaggerated worry, apprehension, uncertainty, fear and tension, affecting an estimated 40 million adults in a given year in the United States.

Unlike the normal, transient anxiety response caused by a stressful event such as public speaking, pathological anxiety lasts at least 6 months and may worsen if left untreated.

In fact, persistent insomnia is reported to be associated with an increased risk of developing anxiety disorder.

This highly critical association between sleep disturbance and anxiety begs for an extensive inquiry.

Consistent with the hypothesis that SD intensifies anxiety, an interesting study by Sagaspe and colleagues reported an increase in self-reported anxiety following a night of SD

Source: NIH

What more is there to say.

Get Enough Sleep.

At least 8 hours a night,...

...even if you are older.