Breathe and Relax: Have you ever felt overwhelmed by daily life, struggled to be heard through the noise and clatter? Felt the onset of a panic attack and struggled to get through a stressful day.
You are not alone for in the UK it is believed that 1 in 10 people suffer a panic attack at some point in their lives whilst 1.7% of the UK population experience panic disorder.
It is also believed that 30% of the Uk suffer from Brain Fog Memory difficulties – particularly immediate memory or feeling overwhelmed by simple everyday tasks.
There are of course many reasons why the daily grind can throw us off kilter especially when we least expect it.
My first panic attack happened when I was in my 30’s whilst working in a busy Assurance company. I had to go upstairs to talk to someone in the finance team regarding a case I was working on. Nothing unusual in that as it was part of my job. I had decided to take the two flights of stairs, again nothing unusual.
I reached the 11th floor and started to explain what my query was to a work colleague. Out of nowhere I started feeling very unusual. First it felt like my chest was ready to explode, almost like my heart was going to rise and break out of my body.
I started feeling clammy and I could see the other person looking at me strangely. I could also hear that my voice sounded disjointed further back in my mouth than it ordinarily would have sounded. I felt like I was having a heart attack. Overdramatic I know but at the time it was something I had never experienced before.
Breathe and Relax.
I quickly finished my one-sided conversation and left not even bothering to find out if I had made sense or not. I headed to the toilets and sat in a cubicle trying to clam myself down. It was only with taking deep slow breaths did I eventually recover myself. It was only much later did I realise I’d had my first panic attack.
Nor did I realise until later that breathing in a controlled manner can help the body in so many different ways.
By taking controlled breaths and not allowing the panic to increase I had used my breathing to slow down my breath. This simple act signalled to my nervous system to calm down, lowered my heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormone levels all in a relatively short period.
Stress can overcome us just like panic attacks at any moment and for many different reasons.
The onset of stress can also contribute to various health problems like a domino effect, and this is why learning how to cope with, reduce if not totally eradicate these symptoms is important on so many levels.
Breathe and Relax.
Breathing slowly will not remove all we may be experiencing but if we think about at night how our breathing slowly relaxes our bodies in readiness for sleep, breathing can help calm the mind and body and give us the time we need to recover.
What we look like outwardly is not a reflection of how we always feel inwardly.
Controlling how we breath can hopefully give us a simple antidote to some of what life might want to throw at us when we least expect it.
Over time I have realised that taking time out to allow myself to regulate my breathing gives me the space to calm down and act in a safe positive way. It is not always the case that we totally close the door on what the world wishes to throw at us. However, knowing we have the skills, abilities to see them for what they are is a great leveller in my book.
The next time you feel yourself getting overwhelmed take yourself off to a quiet place, away from any distractions and take deep slow breaths and repeat until the moment subsides and you can think more clearly once more.
Gregory Brennan – 08/08/2025