Grounding Techniques for Panic Attacks That Help Seniors Find Relief
A panic attack is not just a pounding heart and trembling hands. During a panic attack, adrenaline levels increase 2.5 times, and blood sugar spikes.
It goes without saying that treating such a severe attack is of the essence. Panic attacks can be crippling at best and traumatizing at worst. Is there anything a senior can do to control them?
Grounding techniques for panic attacks are one of the best solutions we have. To learn more, keep reading as we discuss what grounding techniques are and why they're awesome for seniors in Newburgh, IN.
Grounding Techniques for Panic Attacks: What Are They?
Grounding techniques for panic attacks may sound confusing at first, since it makes you think of grounding wires or grounding pseudoscience. Grounding techniques are neither. Instead, we're talking about a purposeful refocusing on a mental anchor, of which there are many.
People have a tendency to quite literally get lost in their thoughts -- and not always in a good way. Getting "lost" in negative, self-destructive thoughts can lead you down a road of anxiety. Eventually, the anxiety overwhelms you, and you have a panic attack.
Before the panic attack happens (or during it), a grounding technique pulls your mind away from the fight-flight brink back to reality. Therapists use grounding techniques to treat their patients because the science backs it up. There are a number of different kinds of grounding techniques, so let's look at a couple you can try.
Grounding Techniques for Your Panic Attacks
So you're about to have a panic attack, or you've already started having one. Take a deep breath. Try the following stress management tips and see if it helps.
Recite Established Facts
Things you know automatically -- the most basic facts of your world -- are an excellent grounding piton, so to speak. We're talking about things you could recite even when half-conscious, like your name, your parents' names, or where you're currently living. Any foundational aspects of yourself that make up your immutable reality.
To ground yourself, repeat these facts in a sort of mantra. You'll quickly find that it distracts you, in a sense, from the flurry of emotions. It's almost funny how repeating these boring facts is so effective -- similar in many ways to breathing exercises for anxiety.
We recommend writing this mantra down before a panic attack. Memorize it and repeat it to yourself a couple of times until it becomes automatic. When the time comes that you need it, it'll be a ready source of relief.
Dive into Your Physical Senses
Focusing on physical sensations is a key part of meditation, and it works well for grounding, too. To pull yourself out of those problematic thought patterns, you should try feeling every one of the five senses in depth. And by feeling them, we mean really feeling them.
As an example, your sense of smell. Pay attention to the smell of the carpet, the lacquered armrests on the couch, or the waft of spring breeze coming in through the window. Focus on a handful of physical sensations for every sense you have.
After you've done this for all five senses, you should notice considerable relief. It may stop the panic attack in its tracks. Best of all, this takes less than five minutes.
How Grounding Techniques Help Seniors
There are other methods that use mindfulness for panic relief. So what makes grounding techniques stand out in terms of senior anxiety support? There are a number of reasons why grounding techniques are excellent calming routines for older adults who struggle with panic attacks.
Immediate Relief
Panic attacks aren't just scary; they can make a person incredibly irrational and do things they may regret later. In the moment, you can feel like you're in a living nightmare that you can't escape from. Grounding techniques are wonderful because they provide quick, effective relief.
Plus, a grounding technique is simple and straightforward. You only need to learn it once for it to be effective for the rest of your life. The lack of complexity makes it easy to resort to when your heart is racing and you're freaking out.
A Better Coping Mechanism
It's no secret that seniors often have developed unhealthy coping skills. After all, when they were growing up, mental health treatment often wasn't a consideration. Instead, people leaned on self-made techniques to deal.
The problem with bad coping techniques is that while they provide some relief, they're ultimately destructive. Grounding techniques, on the contrary, are healthy in every way imaginable. Replacing bad coping techniques with good ones is in every senior's best interest.
Reduction in Mental Health Stigma
Going back to what we said about seniors developing unhealthy coping skills, another issue is the mental health stigma they grew up with. Admitting that one had mental health issues or admitting to treating them was a big no-no back then. It can make seniors reluctant to try things that solve the problem.
Aside from being hugely effective, grounding techniques are incredibly easy. Anyone can do them and see the results instantly, and the reduced learning curve makes it dead-simple for one to put it to the test. Helpful when the stigma is keeping them from trying anything.
Trying a grounding technique could be just the window a senior needs into the wonderful world of mental health treatment. An exercise that takes less than five minutes could open their mind to the efficacy of treatment -- and their need to get it, ASAP. Even the most stubborn of seniors may go along with trying grounding out.
Find Your Senior Community in Newburgh, IN
Of all the emotional wellness tools out there, grounding techniques for panic attacks are perhaps one of the best. Simple strategies like mantras and focusing on the senses work wonders. They provide easy relief and are excellent coping mechanism replacements.
Bell Oaks Place Assisted Living in Newburgh, IN, offers a peerless living community for seniors. With a stacked activity calendar and amenities that match every need, it's hard to feel like you've left home. Reach out to us to schedule a tour and see what you've been missing.