3 Ways to Quickly Calm Anxious Feelings - Get Out of Fight or Flight

Fight or Flight

Fight or Flight and False Alarms

The phrase, “Fight or Flight” is used to describe the portion of our nervous system that makes changes in our bodies whenever we are under a survival threat. For instance, if a saber toothed tiger were about to pounce on you to make you his supper, your blood would automatically move to your arms and legs so that you could fight back (fight) or run away (take flight), but when that happens, your heart must also change it’s pace and beat faster, this changes your sense of alertness, etc…, etc… . In fact, it is said that there are approximately 1500 different changes that take place in a human body for the purposes of survival in this way.

Fight or Flight is very useful when there is an actual threat of death or severe injury, but what if you are simply taking a nap and find yourself waking with a jolt because your heart is racing and there is noone nearby but your trusted companion, Fido. Your nervous system just hijacked your peace and sent you into fight or flight in error.

I often describe it to my clients as a smoke detector that runs on batteries. If there is a real fire and the alarm goes off, then you want to take some sort of action to get to safety. However, if the alarm goes off and there is no actual fire present, it causes a whole lot of hub-bub for no beneficial reason. Perhaps, the batteries are going bad, or someone was boiling water and steam got too close to the alarm location. It’s not that the alarm is doing a bad job of doing what it is designed to do, but it’s doing it when there isn’t a real threat.

This is what happens during panic and anxiety attacks; the body is doing it’s job to alert you to get to safety, but if you are not in danger, it is a false alarm. So, what can you do when you experience a false alarm?

Here are 3 Ways to Tame Anxiety

1) Focus on Your Present Physical Environment

When we are in a false alarm of anxiety or panic from fight or flight hijacking, one of the fastest ways to notice that it is false is to intentionally notice if there is an actual threat or merely a felt sense of threat. A real threat won’t give you time to do this, as you will need to do the thing you need to do to survive. However, a false alarm is easily able to be assessed because you can feel that your body is simply sitting in a chair in your living room, for example, or you are snuggled in your favorite blanket while lying on your couch with your dog looking at you with curiosity.

Look around you, and ask yourself, “Is there actual physical danger here?” Go ahead; check each direction, I’ll wait. :)

If the answer is, “no actual danger here,” then, it’s time to focus on naming out loud things you see and feel and to describe them in vivid detail: “I see a blue mug with red flowers on it, and it has tan coffee inside that is cold to the touch.”

This description allows you to use the more logical part of your brain (i.e. not the part that sends the frantic alarms out), and helps you to “ground” yourself in the safety of the present moment.

2) Focus on Slowing Down Your Breath, Thoughts, and Internal Self-Talk

The next thing to do is to slow down your movements. Notice if you are clenching your fists or jaw, swallowing hard, or racing from here to there in your thoughts. S- - - L- - - O- - - W It D- - - O- - - W- - - N. Take a slow, deep, breath in, and slowly let it out for double as long on the exhale. Repeat the slow breathing no matter how much you feel like you need to pant. Slow down your thoughts…take them one by one and merely observe them rather than grabbing onto them as if they are telling you the truth. Next, tell yourself the truth: “I am feeling unsafe, but there is no danger here. I can breathe just fine, I’ll just slow it down, and I’ll be okay. Keep speaking truth to yourself.

3) Focus on Comforting Your Body and Emotions

Finally, as you treat yourself with kindness and gentleness, have compassion with your body and emotions, too. You might tell yourself, “I know that was scary, but it’s okay to just softly curl up here with this blanket and breathe in a peaceful rhythm.” Or, “Let’s relax, body, it’s okay to gently sway or rock back and forth and give ourselves a hug feeling by placing one hand on our heart and one on our forehead or stomach and breathing slowly.

Ultimately…

When your nervous system "can be convinced” that it was in error, the panic and anxiety of fight and flight alarms can subside.