How to Prevent Panic Attacks

Video Transcript

"Hi. This is Ben Brennan from Austin, Texas. I'm coming to you on behalf of Expert Village and today we are going to be talking about panic attacks. Although there are many biological factors that result in our being more or less predisposed to developing panic attacks, our environment and our behavior can often be important factors in causing or in the prevention of panic attacks. Of course, we can't always control our environment. Many stressful situations are beyond our immediate control such as being a single parent, disliking your job at the moment, or having a loved one pass away. However, there are many ways our behavior can increase or decrease the probability that we will have panic attacks. It can be our own behavior that leads us to being predisposed to having panic attacks. On the other hand, the good news is that changes in our behavior that we make (that can be pretty simple to do a lot of times), can actually prevent panic attacks from occurring or prevent us from developing panic disorder which greatly improves the quality of life. Often, especially when a person is predisposed to panic attacks, how they take care of their body is the difference between developing panic disorder or not. Overuse of stimulants such as nicotine, caffeine and amphetamines can increase the likelihood of panic attacks occurring. The same is true for consuming food that is high in fat and high in cholesterol. Eating heart healthy foods, quitting smoking, and not abusing drugs and alcohol can greatly reduce the probability of having a panic attack. And it is an effective way for individuals who are biologically or genetically predisposed to having panic attacks to avoid developing those in their lifetime. "