Panic Attack Symptoms and Treatment - Watch Your Diet

Your diet can contribute to your frequent panic attacks. This is one of the things you must consider if you want to stop panic attacks without medications. You must carefully check what you eat because your diet can be the trigger for an attack. Several studies have shown that people with anxiety and panic disorders are more sensitive to certain foods and spices. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and refined sugar are all known to trigger an attack.   

If you suffer from an anxiety or panic disorder, it is probably a good idea to cut caffeine out of your diet.  This removes one more variable that could be causing your problem and will generally lower the amount of stress you are experiencing. 

Caffeine is a substance that is known as a stimulant, which means it speeds up your nervous system.  It is the most widely used drug in the world, used in everything from your morning cup of coffee to chocolate, soda, and many common medicines.

When you take caffeine into your body, it can elevate your mood, give you a temporary burst of energy, increase brain activity, and accelerate the function of the nervous system.  But can too much caffeine cause anxiety?

Caffeine temporarily reduces the effects of a chemical called adenosine in the brain, which regulates the amount of calcium your neurons receive.  When flooded with calcium, your nervous system can go into overdrive causing your heart to race, feelings of nervousness or restlessness, and mild headache or stomach pain.

In a study conducted by Yale University and the National Institute for Mental Health, researchers discovered that the majority of people given a high dose of caffeine (about 8 cups of coffee worth) experienced caffeine panic attacks.

  The physical symptoms of anxiety are very similar to those of too much caffeine.  If you’re already predisposed to having an anxiety disorder, you can easily interpret the physical sensations caused by caffeine as the beginnings of a panic attack.

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