Grounding techniques for when everything feels like too much

Sometimes anxiety doesn't build slowly. It arrives all at once. Your chest tightens, your thoughts race, the room feels too loud, and you're suddenly a long way from the present moment and stuck somewhere in the worst version of the future.

Grounding techniques are ways of bringing yourself back. They work by giving your attention something real and immediate to hold on to, so it can't be swept along quite so easily.

Why they work

When we feel under threat, the brain's quick, automatic system takes over. Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman called this fast thinking. It's brilliant in an emergency, but when the "emergency" is a thought or a memory, it can keep you spinning. The slower, more deliberate part of the brain gets pushed aside.

Grounding asks the brain to do simple, concrete tasks: notice, count, describe, feel. Those tasks pull the slower system back into play. They also send signals to your body that you're here, now, and safe enough.

The 5-4-3-2-1 method

This is the best known grounding technique, and it can be done anywhere. Name, silently or out loud:

• five things you can see
• four things you can physically feel
• three things you can hear
• two things you can smell
• one thing you can taste

Take your time over each one. Be specific: not just "a desk", but "a wooden desk with a coffee ring near the corner". Detail is what makes it work. If you lose count, start again. There's no prize for finishing.

Temperature

A sharp change in temperature can interrupt a rising wave of panic. Splash cold water on your face, hold an ice cube, or press a cold drink against your wrists or the back of your neck. Cold water on the face in particular triggers what's known as the dive reflex, which slows the heart rate.

Warmth can help too. Wrap your hands around a hot drink and focus on the heat.

If you have a heart condition, avoid very cold water on the face and check with your doctor first.

Touch and movement

• Press your feet firmly into the floor and notice the pressure.
• Hold something with an interesting texture, like a smooth stone, a key or the seam of your jeans, and describe it to yourself.
• Push your palms together hard for ten seconds, then let go.
• Walk slowly and feel each foot as it lands.

Anchoring phrases

Some people find it helps to have a few words ready, to repeat quietly:

• "I'm here. It's Tuesday. I'm in the kitchen."
• "This feeling is strong, and it will pass."
• "I've got through this before."

Saying where you are and what day it is can feel almost silly. It works because it's so plain and true.

Be kind to yourself afterwards

Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at Berkeley, has studied how feelings of warmth and care help the body settle. His research ties compassion to the vagus nerve, which helps calm the heart and breathing. Once the worst has passed, treat yourself the way you'd treat a friend who'd just had a scare. Sit down, have a drink of water, and don't rush straight back into whatever you were doing.

Practise when you're calm

Grounding is easier to use in a crisis if you've tried it before. Pick one technique from this page and use it once a day for a week, perhaps on your commute or while the kettle boils. Then it will be there, ready, when you need it.

Where to get support If you have frequent panic attacks or anxiety is affecting your daily life, speak to your GP. You can also refer yourself for NHS talking therapies in England. If you feel unable to keep yourself safe, call 999 or go to A&E. Samaritans are available free on 116 123, any time.