Panic attacks can be extremely disruptive to ones daily life, and they can affect all areas of ones life, from their professional life to their personal life. They occur when a person has extremely intense anxious thoughts that are accompanied by physical symptoms such as trembling or dizziness or increased heart rate. At the best of times, panic attacks are extremely uncomfortable, and at the worst of times, they are extremely scary, as it can feel like a heart attack.

Here are 4 steps that will help you better cope with your panic and anxiety attacks:

• Know when an attack is about to come on, recognize the signs and how you feel when you are feeling anxious enough to have one. This will help you identify your state of mind and body, and you will be better able to deal with it once you know what triggers it.

• Most panic attacks come with increased heart rates. If your heart races when a panic or anxiety attack is coming on, take a deep breath. Take more deep breaths if you need to, and this will force you to slow down your breathing rate.

• Acknowledge what is happening or about to happen. Acknowledge that a panic or anxiety attack is coming on, and say it out loud that whatever you fear is not real. This might help you in realizing that it is not real, and so it is not as bad as you think, and therefore it does not have as much power as your body is telling you it does.

• You need to refocus your mind and your thoughts. Something about where you are has put you under strain, so you need to stop whatever it is that your mind is focusing on. It will help if you move to a new environment, a new circumstance, new surroundings, new sounds and new smells.