Anxiety Management: How To Identify Symptoms And Take Steps To Combat Sense Of Panic And Dread

It's common to feel anxious at some point in your life but sometimes, the sense of fear and panic spirals out of control. A doctor lists the key symptoms of an anxiety attack that can show emotional and physical manifestations and how a combination of techniques and healthy lifestyles can help in anxiety management.

Anxiety attacks can feel crippling (Image by Freepik)

A feeling of worry or fear, which can be mild or severe, is defined as anxiety. One can be anxious about a number of reasons - sometimes, it can be something simple like sitting for an exam while at times it can be due to illness or some trauma. Dr Ruhi Satija, consultant psychiatrist, therapist and transformation mentor, Cloudnine Hospital, Mumbai, shares, "Anxiety is experienced by most of us at one point in time in our lives. Everyone experiences it differently." The doctor says that depending on different persons when it comes to the management of anxiety, a combination of techniques should be used. "Everyone responds differently to different modalities, so if one is suffering from anxiety, it is ideal to try a few of these techniques and then practice the ones they are comfortable with," says Dr Satija.

Symptoms Of Anxiety

If someone is anxious, they can manifest different symptoms or several symptoms which can be mental and emotional or physical or both. Listing the symptoms of anxiety, Dr Satija shares, "Some people demonstrate predominantly mental and emotional symptoms like worry, panic, fear, irritability, restlessness, anger, feeling overwhelmed or having a sense of impending doom, racing thoughts, overthinking, self-doubt, numbness etc. Others might experience more physical symptoms like palpitations, headache, nausea, breathlessness, tightness in the chest, acidity, sweating, trembling and shaking."

How To Manage Anxiety

Managing anxiety should ideally involve a combination of techniques, says Dr Satija. She adds that in the moment when one can notice any anxiety symptoms, the following strategies can help:

1. Deep Breathing helps. Breathing techniques like 4-7-8 breathing (breathing in for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds), and box breathing (distracting your mind as you count to four and taking deep breaths) are good for finding a sense of calm and reduce anxiety symptoms.

2. Grounding exercises like the 54321 technique where the person starts by naming 5 things they can see around them at that moment, 4 things they can touch, 3 things they can hear, 2 things they can smell, and 1 thing they can taste. This technique helps in bringing awareness of the present moment and helps in reducing anxiety symptoms.

3. Progressive muscle relaxation or PMR is an exercise that helps reduce stress and anxiety. It has you slowly tense and then relax each muscle. One can find various guided audio and videos available online freely.

4. Relaxation techniques like a warm bath and aromatherapy help in finding calm at the moment.

Healthy Habits To Reduce Anxiety

Dr Satija lists the following good habits that can help in anxiety management:

- A healthy sleep routine goes a long way in managing stress  

- Journalling, either morning pages where one writes a few pages as soon as they wake up, or a brain dump which is essentially venting out overwhelming thoughts on paper whenever needed.

- Limit stimulants like caffeine which are known to cause and increase anxiety.

- A healthy diet, with more whole fruits and less processed food and sugar .

- Seek professional help. If the above-mentioned techniques are not helping, then it's important to get evaluated by a mental health professional.

- Cognitive behavioural therapy is scientifically proven to improve one's capability of managing negative thought patterns.

- Medications, benzodiazepines are emergency medicines used to reduce active anxiety symptoms. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRI like escitalopram, sertraline are used for managing anxiety disorder. But medications should be taken only after consulting a doctor.