How to Lower Your Anxiety

Your first step should be to lower your overall level of anxiety. This alone will help to reduce the frequency of your panic attacks.

To lower your anxiety, follow the following steps:

Reduce or better still eliminate altogether the stimulants in your diet. This includes caffeine, which can be found in colas, tea, coffee, chocolate and energy drinks. Even "healthy" drinks like green tea can contain caffeine. When you experience a panic attack, your body is flooded with adrenaline, your body's natural stimulant hormone. So you need to make sure that you don't give your body even more stimulants to cope with. Notice your stress levels after eating and check the ingredients of the food you have just eaten if you start to notice a rise in anxiety after eating certain foods.

Once you've reduced or eliminated stimulants, you should start to include calming herbs in your daily diet. One of the easiest ways is to drink them in a herb tea. Or if that's a bit too awkward, most of them can be found in drops or capsule format.

One of the best calming herb is St John's Wort. There have even been clinical trials where it has been shown to be effective against anxiety. Other calming herbs you could investigate are valerian, kava-kava and passionflower. Naturally, you should always take your doctor's advice if you are taking any prescription drugs in case there are any side effects.

Learn to Breathe!

Once you've started reducing your current level of anxiety, its time to learn how to breathe again!

We take breathing for granted but the chances are that no-one has ever taught us how to breathe properly. And your breathing is a key component of a panic attack.

You need to start practicing calm, controlled breathing before your next panic attack. That way you easily be able to switch to this new breathing pattern when a panic attack hits you. You can find instructions on breathing on the internet or at a local yoga or meditation class. There are also inexpensive courses available on the internet that will teach you how to breathe properly.

Create Your Own "In Case of Panic" kit

Part of the problem with panic attacks is the feeling of being out of control. You can reduce this feeling and feel more secure by preparing for your next panic attack in advance.

Start with a bottle of Bach Rescue Remedy. You can buy this at your local health shop or across the internet. This fantastic remedy is made selected flower essences and it gives you some natural first aid for shock or panic. A few drops on your tongue when you next experience a panic attack will work wonders in helping you to calm down.

The next ingredient in your "In Case of Panic" kit should be a handkerchief that has been sprinkled with a few drops of calming aromatherapy oil. One of the best of these calming oils is Lavender but you could also experiment with Roman Chamomile, palmarosa, jasmine, geranium or one of the various calming blends that are available. If you don't want to impregnate a handkerchief, you could consider one of the aromatherapy sprays instead.

When a panic attack next hits you, just follow this simple routine:

* Put a few drops of Bach Rescue Remedy on your tongue

* Sniff your aromatherapy handkerchief or your aromatherapy calming spray

* Practice your new breathing technique

Next time you have a panic attack, these simple steps should help to reduce the effect and also lower the likelihood of severe panic attacks in the future.