When Your Body Sounds the Alarm

Sometimes it comes out of nowhere.

A racing heart. Tight chest. Shallow breath.

A sense that something isn’t right—even if you can’t name what.

Your mind might start searching for a reason.What’s wrong? Why is this happening?

But often, panic isn’t a sign that something is wrong with you. It’s a sign that your nervous system is overwhelmed in that moment.

And while it can feel overwhelming—even life-threatening—here is something worth knowing clearly:

A panic attack is not dangerous.

People often believe they are having a heart attack.

No one has ever died from a panic attack.

What’s happening is your nervous system doing its job—just a little too well, and at the wrong time.

What’s Happening Inside

Panic begins deep in the survival parts of the brain—the places that don’t think in words, but in safety and threat.

When something is perceived as dangerous—accurately or not—your body releases a burst of adrenaline.

Not a slow drip. A surge.

Your heart speeds up. Your breath shifts. You may feel dizzy, tingly, hot, or strangely detached from yourself.

As Hilary Jacobs Hendel describes in It’s Not Always Depression, this adrenaline enters the bloodstream in quick bursts—designed to prepare you to fight or flee.

And here’s the part that often gets missed:

It doesn’t stay indefinitely. Each surge takes only a few minutes—often around 2–3—to be metabolized and reabsorbed.

But if the mind reads those sensations as dangerous—something is wrong with me, this isn’t stopping—the body releases more adrenaline.

The body is responding to the story the mind is telling. And the cycle continues.

Panic isn’t the body malfunctioning.It’s the body responding to its own alarm signal.

What the Body Is Telling You

Panic can look different for different people:

• A racing heart
• Chest tightness
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness or tingling
• Sweating or nausea
• A sudden sense of unreality
• A fear of losing control entirely

None of these sensations are harmful—even when they feel incredibly convincing that they are.

What Helps

When panic rises, the goal isn’t to make it stop immediately. The goal is to help your body feel safe enough to come back down on its own.

Orient to the room

Let your eyes move slowly around the space. Name a few things you see—something steady, something ordinary.This isn’t distraction. It’s a way of letting your nervous system discover that the present moment is safe.

Try the 5–4–3–2–1 practice

• 5 things you can see
• 4 things you can feel
• 3 things you can hear
• 2 things you can smell
• 1 thing you can taste

Try a double inhale with a longer exhale

Inhale through your nose, then take one short second inhale on top of it—and slowly exhale through your mouth, letting the exhale be longer than the inhale. This helps regulate carbon dioxide and gives your nervous system a clear signal to begin settling.

Feel something solid

Press your feet into the floor. Notice your back against whatever is behind you. Let yourself be held by something outside your own body.

Speak to yourself simply

You might quietly say: This is my body responding. I am safe right now. This will pass. Not as a command—just as an anchor.

If Someone You Love Is Panicking

Stay calm in your own body first—your regulated nervous system is the most powerful thing you can offer.

Use fewer words and a slower voice. Gently invite them back to the present: Can you look around and name a few things you see?

You might gently encourage a slow exhale rather than a deep breath.

And avoid telling them to calm down—the body already knows what it needs.

If it feels appropriate, you might gently ask if touch would feel supportive—like holding their hand or placing a hand on their shoulder. For some, this can be deeply grounding. For others, it may feel like too much. Let them lead.

Sometimes the most helpful thing is simply being there—steady, present, and not trying to change what’s happening.

Your presence, more than anything you say, is what helps.

A Different Way to Hold This

Panic is not a sign that something is wrong with you.

It’s a sign that your nervous system is trying—very quickly, very intensely—to protect you.

Sometimes it’s responding to something current. Other times, it’s something old that hasn’t fully settled in the body yet.

Either way, the body is not your enemy here.

It’s a system that learned how to keep you alive.

Warmly,

Lillian