Many people — from friends to doctors — told me to start exercising. My friends said it would reduce my stress and help me to sleep better at night. Research studies say it can reduce my anxiety. My doctor told me that …
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At times, the fear of what might happen has kept me from exercising… (if I’m already having palpitations, I might drop dead on the spot if I pushed my poor body any more!) but if something makes me get up and actually get moving and just do it I stop worrying about it. The biggest stressor for me is low light/twilight – my night vision is fairly poor and it feels like I’m not making any forward progress even though I KNOW that I am, and that freaks me out bigtime.
If I’m feeling bad and I make myself get up and go for a walk, it usually feels pretty good and I definitely feel much less stressed and anxious afterwards. It gives me something to concentrate on other than the anxiety, and if you’re not focusing on it a lot of the times it just fades away…
Walks are pretty helpful for me, too — unless I get that twinge of agoraphobia when I move beyond my radius of safety. Then, all I focus on is my strategy for running/walking/crawling back to my apartment IF a horrible panic attack were to occur.
It takes a lot of work to change that kind of thought cycle!
Having suffered panic attacks myself in my late teens and early twenties, I empathize with your justified reluctance to trigger another attack by duplicating the physical effects. Taking a walk, dancing etc, are good ways to get into the game.
There are also forms of exercise targeted at regulating the nervous system and calming the mind: Yoga and Tai Chi are two well known examples. Nia also incorporates movements from these practices, and moreover is directed at self healing through developing attention to sensations of pleasure in the body.
With all the excellent research on the benefits of exercise for physical and mental/emotional health, I hope you will find a solution that invites you into your body. It’s the place to be.
I’ve never heard of “Nia” — thanks for introducing me to something new!
And I like the way you’ve worded this: “a solution that invites you into your body”. Well-put. Panic disorder transforms the body into an enemy of sorts — a wild and uncontrollable threat — that feels so distinctly separate from one’s mind. An invitation from my body to reconcile our differences sounds like a great metaphor!
I know that sensation of threat. I would either feel trapped and muffled inside, or swept over a precipice in uncontrollable falling; hugely disorienting, and dissociative from my body. I’m thinking too, that since the more intense breath and sensation of exertion can be triggers, why not focus on ‘movement’, rather than ‘exercise’?
Roll around on the floor or the grass. Stretch like a cat. Roll, creep and crawl like a baby. Move for the sheer delight of the pleasurable sensations your body encounters, without any agenda as to cardio, Somersault. Shake your feet at the sky. See how many times you can roll down to the floor like a rag doll, and pop up again like a jack in the box. Do it to play, not to get fit! Really, the play element is the key to any good functional fitness programme, and IMO the pleasure principle is a greater personal trainer (and re-regulator) of the nervous system than the no pain, no gain approach.
As a fitness professional with some psychotherapy training, I follow this thread with interest, and faith that you and others will find the way to enjoy yourselves into greater fitness, pleasure and peace.
Walks are pretty helpful for me, too — unless I get that twinge of agoraphobia when I move beyond my radius of safety.
Thank you for post..
I cannot tell you how much I relate to this article. Being a panic attack sufferer myself, the advice of exercise was always given to me. When exercise itself caused me to have panic attacks, I avoided it like the plague, and many people looked at me with a confused expression as I tried to explain this. I finally went through exposure therapy with a therapist just for exercise, so I wouldn’t be afraid of having a panic attack while exercising! Thank you so much for writing and sharing this article!
Great article, Summer
On the list, I especially like #2. It is SO IMPORTANT to take baby steps (well, pretty much with any life change!), not only for the important reasons you’re listing, but also because it can help avoid burning out. It’s so common for people to get started, but push themselves too hard (whether physically, mentally, or any other way) and then give up because they think they can’t handle it – when really what they’re having trouble handling is the too-high-for-now standard they’ve set for themselves. I’m pulling for you! Let us know once you’re jogging!! 
Thanks for this article, I am an exercise avoider, as sweating, and heart rate increase I usually attribute to anxiety.
My T asked was it because of walking into the hospital or that the last stretch was uphill?
A light went on for me! Attribution errors are common and I now know to check in to see if there could be anything from my past that is causing the anxiety.
So now if I am feeling anxious during any part of the walk I walk slowly and pace myself, until I am sure that the increased heart rate is from the activity and if anxiety I stop and use breath work and get in touch with the present, such as the birds song, the feeling of the sun, then it seems once I get back to reality I have a fresh start.
Thanks for so many good ideas and the idea of starting exercise in minutes is a great way to build the discipline and there is comfort in discipline. This is what I have learned in managing my depression. I will start today!
I used to suffer from panic attacks and was always told that exercise would help get rid of them. After years of studying the subject, however, I realized that it’s almost impossible to exercise when your body is sensitized (due to mental, physical or emotional exhaustion) because even normal heart beats feel strange. Preventing panic attacks in general is very easy, i.e. not being afraid of them, in which case your body doesn’t release adrenaline at the slightest sign of a panic attack ‘symptom’. But getting rid of the main reason why you are having panic attacks, which is being physically, emotionally or psychologically depleted, is another story. Fearing that you’ll have another panic attack itself is draining, and gets you into a vicious cycle. If there’s anything I could add to this, it would be to say 1) Do not be afraid of panic attacks, in fact, next time you’re having one, tell it to give you it’s best shot! 2) Find out what’s causing exhaustion in you, and find away to replenish that area. My panic attacks ended the same day I learning to apply this. Granted I’m not good at explaining these things. All the best! And great article
Do you even lose weight if you are exercising and taking Paxil. I’ve become terrified of leaving my house since going on Paxil and gaining SO much weight. I’m so ashamed of how I look. Granted, I’m not panicking anymore, but me and exercise don’t mix exactly for the reasons you wrote about. I love/hate Paxil, but no other med works for me like it does, but now I’m lost in this huge bubble of fat on my face and belly. I sometimes pretend I’m pregnant in public so people won’t stare.
This article does a much better job than I ever have of articulating why I don’t like to exercise. I would try and then I’d start feeling like I was having a panic attack and get so freaked out I’d really give myself one. And I never wanted to say anything because “Oh, no thanks, I’ll have a panic attack if I exercise.” sounded stupid in my head.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll have to start trying them out!
Omg I thought it was only me that goes through this. I tried getting on the treadmill for starters and when I got off felt like I had a panic attack, which caused me to stop going. I do suffer with panic attacks and any increased heart rate scares me. Sometimes you feel helpless, but one day I will conquer this without my anxiety
Thought I was the only one. Thanks so much for this article.
Summer,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this article. I had a severe panic attack during a work-out on the treadmill almost a year ago now. it scared me so badly, I was convinced that I was going to die. I walked away, and haven’t exercised at all since then. I went on a short walk with my husband tonight, and started experiencing all the same symptoms as soon as we got home. Thank you for giving me the courage to keep at it, and not give up. Thank you for encouraging those of us out there who are dealing with anxiety that it’s O.K. to start small. My hubby and I walked for about 20 minutes, and it was definitley too much for me. I am not throwing in the towel. Thank you so much.
Thanks – this is the first thing I’ve seen written on this. When I first started running – I found it really hard, running (and its panic-like symptoms) would lead to a panic attack, then dissociation, and then I’d be in bed the rest of the day. I found a learn-to-run (very gradual starting by running one minute at a time) group very helpful, and also gentler exercise like yoga and walking. Over time, getting more exercise reduced anxiety, which made it possible for me to do more vigourous exercise and get used to what it feels like without panicking.
Hi Summer,
Thanks for sharing your experiences, I can imagine the anxiety even writing a post and putting it out there for people to read and comment on. I know a lot of people who hate gyms for a number of reasons however mostly because the feel judged when they are in them. I totally agree that exercise can easily be done in a safe comfortable environment.
Just make sure you stay away from the hardcore training vides like rushfit and px90!!! they make even seasoned fitness instructions freakout!
Cheers,
Justin.
I’m so glad I found this. I’ve also associated exercise with my panic attacks recently. I felt alone in this problem. I’ve been avoiding the gym most of this year because I’ve left in a panic the majority of the times I’ve worked out. I thought it was just the gym until last week while on a brisk night walk with friends. I had no reason to feel uncomfortable except for my physical symptoms which feel much like my panic attacks and that led me to having one on my drive home that night. I’m inspired by your determination and wish you the best of luck. I look forward to making baby steps of my own.
Omg I thought I was the only one!!!!! Thank u ladies I was doing extreme workouts like p90x n it was making me so anxious!!! More panic more depressed! I’m gonna start slowly n build my stamina! I love this posting!!! U really made me feel not do down on myself
I have known for many years why I don’t like to exercise or exert myself…but I have never heard it explained so well – or at all for that matter. I honestly did think I may be the only one. Every one and their mother tells ya to exercise to cure anxiety/panic/depression. But it has never helped me. I do not get those oh so popular endorphines people talk about. It does NOT make me feel good or better in any way. I do exercise 5-6 days a week because I know I HAVE to. But I hate it each time. And I feel resentful that I do not seem to get the tangible benefits that others seem to.
I found this article by googling Panic and Exercise after being on my treadmill this afternoon. I was walking uphill as I always do – watching TV – not stressed. And BAM. A wave of adrenaline and muscle tension. So I instinctively figured I was having a heart attack. Ugh.
Adrenaline is my enemy.
See, my issue is that my health anxiety was spurred from having an actual undiagnosed/untreated heart arrhythmia for over a decade. I have written about it here – http://heatherrayne.wordpress.com/2006/03/30/exhausting-vigilance/
Anyway, at 37 I am STILL dealing with these bad days. I do wish it would stop so I can fully enjoy my life. AND lose these dang 10 pounds!!!
Thanks so much for your words.
Thanks for posting this. I have suffered from anxiety for over 10 years now. I can’t do the gym thing and certain types of exercise brings on panic attacks for me (one of them being yoga – which I did not find to be relaxing at all). I am however able to play tennis without any problems. One reason I think is because it brings me back to my high school and college days when I used to play on a regular basis. I also think it is because it keeps me focused whereas doing a bicycle or treadmill at a gym allows me to zone out. I also find I am completely fine if I do yard work and house cleaning (again focused activities). I have been wanting to try dancing (as I used to love doing this years ago) and I am going to try your method. Thanks again for sharing your experiences.
I have had issues with anxiety all my life, but in the last month and a half I have been getting constant anxiety and panic attacks. I found this article because I am finding that I am getting moderate panic attacks as I am running. I get them when I am not running too, and it does not happen every time I run. What happens is, I feel a tension start around my head, then I feel a little strange, dizzy and foggy headed. I feel my legs get tight. It lasts about 20 or 30 minutes. I can feel the adrenaline in me. Almost shaky with it. The dizziness is the worst part though.
My doctor has checked me out and says I am fine, just worsening of anxiety. I really hope he is right. I am fighting through this thing. I am going to keep running, just loop around close to home with me cell phone on me. The exercise does relax me, if it doesn’t give me an attack!
Thank you for posting this. I thought I was the only one that felt this way. I was an athlete all my life and had my first panic attack while I was excersicing. I was 16. That was 16 years ago and I still can’t excercise with out freaking out. Hopefully one day I will be able to.
Hi Linsey, your story is my story as well. I was 15 or 16 when I had my first panic attack while exercising. I gave up all my sports and that one moment changed my life forever. Now 16years later I am still struggling. At the moment my anxiety is so bad I can’t even go for a walk around the block. I went from being a happy, outgoing, funlovin boy to a bitter, depressed man.
I have a situation similar to Linsey and ChaelSonnen. ChaelSonnen, I know intimately how you feel. But I also believe you deserve to have the things you love in your life, not to have to surrender them to anxiety.
I began running in college, lost a lot of weight, and eventually ran a half-marathon. Running made me feel phenomenal about myself and my abilities. I’ve truly never experienced anything so rewarding.
On Memorial Day in 2008, about a year after I graduated, I went running when it was 95 or 100 degrees. I was not prepared for it; I pushed myself much too hard. When I got back from my run, I felt nauseated, lightheaded, and shaky, and my heart was beating incredibly fast. I eventually calmed down, but that experience was enough to make me quit running for three and a half years. I tried to do it a few times in that period, but whenever my heart began to beat even slightly faster than normal, I felt convinced that I was about to have a heart attack.
It’s now been more than four years since the day I went running in the heat. I started jogging in the winter; up until about a month ago, I thought I was making great progress. But I’ve been experiencing setbacks. Every time I try to push myself to the next level, I freak out. Some part of my mind reads my physiological symptoms as dangerous. After a moderate workout, I panic if my heart rate doesn’t go down quickly enough. I just played my first softball game of the summer, and all the running I was doing set my mind reeling. I experienced symptoms that some poorly wired part of my brain interpreted as grave, threatening, lethal.
Even though I’m frustrated, this article and all the comments have given me some hope–at least that none of us are alone in this. Thanks, Summer, for your words. And I ardently wish that everyone who has to deal with this will conquer it. I know that, with persistence, we will.
I have suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for over 40 years now. And I guess the best solution to this is to accept the sensations, and don’t fear them. Once you stop fearing them they will disappear, let them come and go and don’t give them any attention. The Panic Away Program is awesome and it teaches you how to do this.
Good Luck!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I am going through the same thing and it is so helpful to hear I’m not alone! I’ve been to the gym 3 times now (on my new membership), and each time I end up leaving prematurely in panic. I start out really enjoying my workout so I crank it up a bit… I think thats where I’ve been going wrong, I will definately try to take it slower. Thanks for the great advice!
I know exactly how you all feel. I have been a runner all my life and one day, a few weeks, ago I set off for my usual run. Halfway through it I felt a strange nauseaus feeling in my stomach. My dad had a mild heart attack a month before this and said he had complained of a stomach ache before, so naturally I thought I was having a heart attack too.
I get back to my apartment very panicy and grab my wallet and cell phone and called EMS. They came and checked me out. At first, I was ok until they brought out all their equipment and hooked em up to an EKG, then I flipped! My hr soared to 170 and all my extremeties went numb, I thought this is it, I am going to die. Well, my state must have really freaked out the paramedics because they rushed me into the back of the ambulance and gave me a dose of adenosine to slow my heart. Adenosine makes you feel absoultely terrible, it stops your heart for 2-3 seconds. The paramedic said: “I just saved your life, buddy.” But I kept freaking out and my HR started going up again so they gave me some sedative that really did the trick.
Once in the ER, they did blood work, EKG, chest X-ray, and they all came back normal. They kept asking me if I had taken Crystal Meth because that was the way I was acting having such severe anxiety. They did a drug test and of course, negative. Finally, with one last Ativan injection I came down and felt completely normal.
The ER Doctor came in and told me that my tests were fine and that the Paramedics should not have given me adenosine because I was not having a harmful arrhythmia, just rapid heart beat.
About two weeks later, I went to the Cardiologist and had a severe panic attack in his office. He finally calmed me down some enoguh to check me out and said I was fine, I am going to do an echo cardiogram just to be safe.
So, you can see from the mental trauma I went through with the paramedics and the ER people thinking I was on drugs; just how little the general public and medical professionals really understand anxity and panic disorder.
I have not been the same since. Everytime I try to go for a job or to the gym, after a few minutes I freak out thinking I am having an arrhythmia and the vicious thought process begins. I don’t like medecine, but if it wern’t for my ativan prescription I would have probably landed in the ER a few more times since.
I just want to get past this!
Warren,
I understand how you feel. I Have had anxiety & panic attacks intermittently for the past 30 years. Three years ago, I experienced a severely traumatic event and I have not been the same. Usually, I can work through an exacerbation in a month or so. This time, I can’t find normal again. I’ve seen 3 therapists & 3 psychiatrists. Meds work well, at least I can function enough to work. I feel weak, tired & muscle pain. I feel like I am 80 years old and I want my life back.
So glad I found this subject and article. I just “Googled” for the fun of it about Panic Attacks While Working Out. I came across this and other articles. This one explained it the best.
Around four-and-a-half years ago, I felt something strange when I was out in my bike and had been a long way from home. I felt that my breathing was hard and my heart racing. I had never felt that before. It went away in minutes. It didn’t come back again that day and I finished my ride back home with no problems. I thought that I would have to call 911 that time.
But then a couple of days later I felt hurried to get home so that I can work out with the weights like I’ve always done for years. The traffic on the freeway was very heavy and it was hot outside.
Within a few minutes I got driving at 60 MPH when the traffic lightened up and then I felt that hard breathing and heart racing. I thought that I was going to pass out going 60 on the freeway. I got home safely and layed on the couch. My heart was racing and I called my doctor. She told me to go to Urgent Care. I went and they told me to go to hospital. After a long wait there and nothing much that they did to me, they told me I had a panic attack.
For three months after that I was having panic attacks everyday and was too exhausted to work out.
I took one-hour bike rides instead. It made me feel like crap during that period.
I got over the panic attacks and went back to my routine. It felt wonderful. But a few months later one day, a friend of mine wanted to come over at the time I would be finishing my working out. I was behind finishing and when he came over, I had a panic attack. It was terrible and that incident made me stop working out for about five months.
I’ve gone back to working out since then and still doing it now. There are times when I do have an attack when working out and I just go crazy. One thing that can give me a panic attack when I work out is when I hear a siren outside. It’s like the paramedics are coming for me!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I have tried exercising so many times. I give up every time because of my racing heart and sweating. My excuse is always because I hate to sweat. This article brings it all together and makes it make sense. I now understand my issue even better. I’ve been dealing with and overcoming my anxiety issues for 12 years now. Hopefully with your shared insight, I can now overcome one more hurdle. Thank you so much! Tonya
This was an excellent article. Thank you for telling your story. I bookmarked this page so I can re-read it before my attempts at exercising. I desperately want to conquer my fear of having a panic attack while working out. My biggest fear is that exercising will be ‘too much’ for my body to handle and I’ll pass out or have a heart attack right on the spot. This fear is probably so irrational. I’m going to start taking baby steps to prove to myself that my body is stronger and healthier than I think it is.
I have no reason to fear death from exercise. I’m 24 with a healthy weight and normal blood pressure, panic is just such a powerful thing.
One form of excercise I can warmly recommend is to acquire a jumping rope and start doing some skipping.
It’s solid cardio, it’s efficient and cheap and it can all be done in the comfort of your own home (because trust me: The last place you want to be when you start getting freaked out from excercising is smack dap in the middle of a gym).
Today at 1:30 I went to the gym and about 10 minutes in to my weight lifting routine I had a massive panick attack thinking I was going to pass out. I have been dealing with Anxiety now for over 12 years… some years are better than rest but over all it sucks. At times I get anxiety at the gym but lately they have been getting worse and daily life seems to be getting harder. I took a half of xanax to calm down and then I came home and felt pretty defeated that once again my workout has been cut short due to panick/anxiety… So I rested, 30 minutes later i went back and started to finish my workout where the symptoms came back but this time I told my self that I will not give up nor quit! I worked out and lifted through it, it got better as I fought it and eventually it went away and I ended up working out for 80 minutes! I will not let this menace of a disease/disorder to ruin my life…. granted I am sure the half of Xanax helped but I truly believe the cure is all within our own body and soul.
Yes, thank you so much for posting this and thank you to everyone else that has the exact problem as me, I suffer from bad panic attacks daily, I am on Xanax and it does help although I try to take as little dose as possible I seem to be needing them 5 times a day, but if I walk up a hill or anything I get short of breath, I used to be able to run up and down the basketball court till about age 18, although I had panic attacks since 14, it started to seem like exercise started bringing them on now, and I’m 34, my psychologist told me that if say you we’re walking upstairs and you got short of breath, then the next time you have to walk up steps again your gonna be thinking about the last time you got short of breath and just keep getting the panic attacks, my symptoms are very hard to breath, chest pain, dizziness, I had several ekgs, I could not finish a stress test cause I freaked out and had a panic attack after 6 minutes they wanted me to do 12 minutes and I jumped off the treadmill, but I believe baby steps back into exercise may be the key, I wish you all well, and thanks a lot for this article