If you’ve ever experienced a panic attack, you know how terrifying it can be. The sensations are intense, sudden, and overwhelming. You might feel like you’re losing control, having a heart attack, or even dying. Panic attacks can occur when there are imminent, dangerous threats in front of you, if we have an intense fear of something bad happening or perceive something as threatening, and sometimes they occur out of the blue. But what’s really going on inside your body during a panic attack? Let’s break down the science behind each sensation you might experience, from tingling fingers to a racing heart. Learning this can be a helpful tool to minimize fear of panic attacks. Allowing panic attacks to ride their course helps you reach a calm place sooner, so let’s unpack what is actually happening during a panic attack. Knowledge is power, and the more aware we are, the more our anxiety diminishes.
Tingling in Fingers and Toes
Ever notice that during a panic attack, your fingers and toes might start to tingle or feel numb? This sensation is due to blood flow changes. When your body perceives danger, it triggers the fight-flight-freeze response, directing blood away from less critical areas like your extremities to vital organs such as your heart and lungs. This redistribution of blood ensures that your body is ready to react quickly to any threat, whether it means fighting or fleeing.
Rapid Heartbeat
A racing heart is one of the hallmark symptoms of a panic attack. This occurs because your body is flooded with adrenaline, a hormone that prepares you for action. Adrenaline increases your heart rate to pump more blood to your muscles, giving them the oxygen they need to perform quickly and efficiently. While this is helpful in a true emergency, during a panic attack, it can feel terrifying and out of control.
Shortness of Breath
Feeling like you can’t catch your breath or that you’re suffocating is another common panic attack symptom. This happens because your body is trying to take in more oxygen to prepare for the perceived threat. Rapid breathing, or hyperventilation, if not used adequately (e.g. running away from a threat) can lead to an imbalance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your blood, making you feel dizzy or lightheaded.
Chest Pain
Chest pain during a panic attack can be incredibly frightening, often leading people to think they’re having a heart attack. The chest pain is usually caused by the intense anxiety and muscle tension associated with the fight-or-flight response. Your chest muscles can tighten, and the rapid heartbeat can cause discomfort, mimicking the symptoms of a heart attack.
Sweating
Sweating is another typical response during a panic attack. Your body’s natural cooling mechanism kicks in to help regulate your temperature in case you need to exert yourself. Sweating can also be a way to rid the body of toxins quickly in preparation for a potential threat.
Trembling or Shaking
Trembling or shaking occurs due to the surge of adrenaline. Your muscles are tensing up, preparing for action. This heightened state of readiness can cause involuntary shaking or trembling as your body gears up to respond to the perceived danger.
Nausea and Stomach Pain
When you’re in fight-flight-freeze mode, your digestive system slows down. This is because your body prioritizes sending blood to your muscles and vital organs over digesting food. This slowdown can lead to nausea, stomach pain, or a feeling of butterflies in your stomach. Additionally, your body may want to eliminate what is in your stomach to prepare you to flee or fight if you encounter a life-threatening situation.
Dizziness or Lightheadedness
Feeling dizzy or lightheaded during a panic attack is often a result of hyperventilation. When you breathe too quickly, you expel too much carbon dioxide, which disrupts the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. This imbalance can reduce blood flow to your brain, causing dizziness and a feeling of being lightheaded.
Hot or Cold Flashes
Experiencing sudden hot or cold flashes is another common symptom. These temperature changes are linked to the body’s stress response. The release of adrenaline can cause your blood vessels to constrict and then dilate, leading to fluctuations in body temperature.
Feeling of Detachment or Unreality
During a panic attack, you might feel detached from yourself or your surroundings, a sensation known as depersonalization or derealization. This is your brain’s way of coping with overwhelming stress. By creating a sense of unreality, your mind is trying to distance itself from the intense fear and anxiety.
Fear of Losing Control or Dying
Finally, the overwhelming fear that you’re losing control or about to die is rooted in the intensity of the fight-flight-freeze response. Your body is on high alert, and your mind is racing to make sense of the physical sensations. This heightened state of arousal can make it seem like something catastrophic is imminent, even though panic attacks themselves are not life-threatening.
Understanding and Managing Panic Attacks
Understanding the science behind panic attack sensations can help demystify the experience and reduce some of the fear associated with it. Knowing that these symptoms are part of your body’s natural response to stress can make them feel less alarming. If you struggle with panic attacks, there are effective treatments available, such as Exposure and Response Prevention, Cognitive Behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness practices, and sometimes medication.
In particular, Exposure and Response Prevention will help you develop a new relationship with each panic attack symptom you experience. Therapists use something called, “interoceptive exposures” which helps a person engage in mock panic attack sensations. For example, for those who experience dizziness during a panic attack, your therapist may ask you to spin in a chair to recreate this feeling and guide you to be with this sensation without trying to get rid of it or avoid it. This very tool allows your body and brain to understand that you are not experiencing a life-threatening situation and thus helps your body become grounded and calm, far more quickly than when we consistently avoid or try to rid these sensations and situations.
Remember, you’re not alone in this experience, and help is available. By learning more about the physiological processes at play, you can take steps towards managing and reducing the impact of panic attacks on your life, as you retrain your body and brain to understand that your panic attacks are not in response to something life-threatening. We are simply teaching our bodies and brains that we are safe, so in return, your body feels safe to calm down.