🧘♀️ Episode 30: Anxiety, Panic, and Breathlessness
📅 Release Date: November 30, 2025
Welcome back to The Cozy Lung Lounge Podcast, brought to you by BluZone Health. This week, we dive into a crucial but often overlooked challenge for pulmonary patients: the vicious cycle of anxiety, panic, and breathlessness (SoB). When fear takes hold, it can make managing your breathing much harder. We'll give you the strategies to take control of your mind and your breath.
🎙️ Hosted by: Kelly Welton-Lewis | Gina Hoots | Amy Sheldon
💬 What We Cover:
Understanding the Cycle
- The Vicious Cycle: We explain how anxiety increases your heart rate and breathing rate, leading to hyperventilation and worsened SoB. This cycle is very common in pulmonary patients.
- Lifestyle Impact: Anxiety can trigger a withdrawal from life, leading to stopping exercise, avoiding stores, social events, and family gatherings, which may result in depression.
- The Mind-Body Connection: We discuss how SoB can trigger the body’s primal "fight or flight" response.
Calming Techniques for Control
- Breathing Techniques: Learn essential techniques to immediately reduce panic, including Pursed-Lip Breathing, Diaphragmatic Breathing, and Box Breathing.
- Grounding and Relaxation: Simple exercises to bring you back to the present moment, such as Body Scanning and the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding method.
- Mental Strategies:
- Utilize positive self-talk and visualization to calm the mind.
- Explore apps like Calm, watch nature videos, or use BluZone Mindfulness Videos with earbuds when feeling tense.
Preparing for Peace
- Be Body Aware: Learn to recognize the early signs of panic or tension to intervene before a full episode begins.
- Have a Plan: Create a pre-prepared action plan (e.g., where your inhaler is, what breathing technique you will practice) so you feel prepared and in control when breathlessness strikes.
📌 Resources: Explore Social Planning Tools and BluZone Coaching for more COPD support.
🎧 #CozyLungLoungePodcast #COPDLife #AnxietyManagement #BreatheBetter #BluZoneHealth #PanicAttack #Mindfulness #PulmonaryCare
