The autonomic nervous system in in charge of the body’s involuntary responses like respiration and digestion. It has three divisions – parasympathetic, sympathetic and enteric.
Sympathetic Nervous System is that part of the nervous system which responds to fears and feelings of insecurity or feeling unsafe in an environment. When your sympathetic nervous system is activated it takes our body into a fight or flight response. When it gets ready for the response its fired up with lots of adrenaline. When in that state of the heightened arousal of the sympathetic nervous system fails to do it job this results into a full blown Panic attack –
DIFFICULTY IN BREATHING
You may experience shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing when you have a panic attack. There may be shortness of breath as well. As the brain struggles between the fight or flight response it also tries to gear the body. This usually happens by making the heart pump more oxygen. This oxygen helps the blood reach faster in all the organs and the muscles are ready to perform the needful responses. Hence you experience the shortness of breath during a panic attach.
SWEATY PALMS AND FEET
Sweaty palms and feet are a common symptom if you are having a panic attack. When the brain perceives anything as a threat of danger to its well being then its starts sending certain signals. These signals spread down to the entire body. They communicate with the nervous system that it needs to prepare itself to fight the danger. These signals pump up the heart rate, the blood pressure and the internal temperature of the body rises. Thus the body starts to sweat.
MIND FOG
Many people also report going blank during a panic attack. This is because when the sympathetic nervous system is unable to function properly the the body chooses the freeze or fawn response. The fawn response gets the mind and body in a submissive resigned state where its gives up and obeys the predator or the abuser. The freeze response is the one that causes the Brain Fog because of the minds inability to think rationally in the moment.
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