4. Use Wide Angle Vision
This is a trick for fighting panic attacks that most people have no idea about! The idea is that you’re going to be looking through your eyes using your peripheral vision – rather than just focussing on one point, you’re going to widen your gaze and include things in the corners of your vision.
One way to ‘engage’ this wide-angled vision is to hold your hands out to either side with your arms straight. Now ‘wiggle’ your fingers and make an effort to watch them wiggling out of either side of your eyes.
By doing this, you’ll be able to avoid the tunnel vision which comes from panic attacks. At the same time, this once again provides feedback to your autonomic nervous system. Because you aren’t intently focused, it suggests that you aren’t in immediate danger and thus your heart rate, etc. will slowly calm back down and return to normal – especially if you combine this technique with others listed here.
