looking for some people who are willing to share how it feels for them when their breathing is affected by anxiety , ive been struggling with my breathing for a while and was wondering how you coped and learned to fight back and conquer it.
The most important thing is NOT to fight it..
The more you fight it, the more potent it will be.
When you realize you are thinking about your breathing or when you start to “manually” breath, don’t fight it! it will pass! You need to relax your muscles and change your focus into something else, but don’t fight it.
Even if you don’t succeed to change your focus, just tell yourself “I know its the anxiety and its temporary, it can’t hurt me”
Remember, it will pass!
Best regards
I also had a lot of breathing issues and I found deep breathing to be the answer. I lie on my back and breathe in through my nose for a count of 7 letting my lungs and belly fill with air and then breathe out through my mouth for a count of 9 until I feel completely empty. I do this until my breathing calms down. When I first started it would sometimes take 5 or 10 minutes for this to work but I persevered until it did. Over time, using this technique I found it gradually took less and less time for it to work. These days my anxiety only rarely affects my breathing and I firmly believe this is because I know I have a solution for it if it does. Try it and see but be patient as as it can take time when you first start but once your brain gets the message that youve got it licked it becomes a lot less of an issue.
For me im still figuring out if my breathing is affected by anxiety. Although doctors have said it could be the cause. But when it happens to me my chest feels heavy and i start focusing on my breath which then it starts feeling as though im not getting a satisfying breath and it lasts anywhere from 10-20mins i have not figured out what helps it yet beside i try to be calm even though its impossible and i drink cold water
Ceri thanks for the response i appreciate it, i am trying to manage it as best I can, its just hard cause it really feels like im suffocating almost like a asthma attack without the wheezing. I appreciate the kind words though and thanks for the tips.
Mech thank you for the tips, was just wondering when you experience the shortness of breath do you also get weird sensations in your chest as well?
I chew peppermint gums. It helps me to change focus and be calm because the anxiety can happen at any time: while driving, in the meetings,…
I didn’t experienced chest pains, but I had frequent adrenalin rush which was typical for anxiety.