Living with problems anxiety and panic attacks is a challenge that has affected people all over the world. Breathing seems to become impossible, the heart begins to beat extremely fast and staying in the present seems increasingly difficult. Therefore, some techniques that stimulate your senses can help you to go through these panic attacks much faster. Get to know technique 54321 now.
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The technique 54321
Correlated with problems of anxiety peaks, the panic crisis consists of episodes that happen suddenly, and may last only a few minutes or for hours, with symptoms such as a racing heart, chest pains, nausea, body tingling and tremors, difficulty breathing, and fear excessive. Dealing with them is always a big challenge.
However, there are several techniques that can help you overcome a panic attack. Among them is the 54321 technique, which uses focusing on the five senses to stimulate mindfulness and bring you back to the here and now.
When we're going through a crisis, it's very difficult to concentrate, after all, catastrophic thoughts seem to loop in the mind. In this way, using each of the senses in isolation to focus attention is a great device to reconnect with the present.
How to use this technique?
1. Focus on what you see:
There are many things happening around you, no matter where you are. So keep all your attention first only on what you see, whatever it is. A door, a TV, a stereo, it doesn't matter, just name 5 things you're seeing right now.
2. Focus on what you play:
Now, you need to use your touch as an ally and focus only on what you can touch. Feel 4 objects with any part of your body, perceiving texture, size, etc. All that matters now is what you're playing.
3. Focus on what you hear:
When we stop to pay attention to sounds, we can be surprised by the amount of noise around us. Focus your attention on 3 of them, as hearing is a powerful sense to hold our concentration, so stimulate it.
4. Focus on what you smell:
Through smell it is possible to stimulate various parts of the brain, including memory. So, find 2 things around you that you can smell, whatever it is. They will bring important sensations to hold your attention.
5. Focus on the flavor you can taste:
Just like smell, taste is a great sense to involve us in sensations and memories. So focus on tasting something. If you have a sweet or a juice, for example, it's perfect, but if you don't, pay attention to the taste that's in your mouth at the moment.