Re: How to calm down
Originally Posted by
bg222
My question is - when this happened to me this week, I tried to use some relaxation methods to bring my heart rate down, make myself less jittery. But they kind of backfired. I tried to do quiet breathing exercises to slow down my breathing/prevent shallow hyperventilation, etc. But I literally couldn't do them for more than a minute or two because my heart racing was so prominent and it was the only thing I could pay attention to no matter how hard I tried to focus on breathing. Then I tried progressive muscle relaxation - same thing, I just focused entirely on hearing my heart beating so fast. I took my pulse and it was just under 100, and knowing that made it race even faster as I keep thinking "oh no, when is it going to slow down? how long can it go on beating this fast? what can I even do?"
When my heart races - first thing I always do is to take in a deep breath and hold it, and then I take a very long out-breath. In doing this I can literally feel my heart slow down. Then I do some deep breathing. Then, I go and do something to burn off the adrenalin etc...
My heart goes up to 145 plus when I have panic attacks, and I know this because I've had ECGs which recorded my heart rate.
Stop taking your pulse. If you are using a monitor - don't. Put it away. Give it away. Whatever. All this will do is keep you focused on your heartrate which will make you anxious and keep the cycle going..
You need to understand that this symptom that you're fearing, as in racing heart, is absolutely normal. It's the stress response (fight or flight) and it's an automatic (and necessary) response to danger - which in this case are your thoughts. The brain doesn't know the difference between real or imagined danger.
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A thought is harmless unless we believe it.