Swore those $40 meditation apps were a total scam until I used one during a panic attack

After my wife talked me into trying Calm for the anxiety that hit me during a layover in Detroit last month, I sat there fuming as if I'd wasted $40 on a gimmick. But the guided breathing thing actually made my heart stop racing in under five minutes. Has anyone else tried something they were dead set against that somehow proved them wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_dylan24d ago

I sat there fuming as if I'd wasted $40" - dude I felt the EXACT same way when my brother made me try his Headspace subscription. But here's something nobody talks about: the reason these apps work for panic isn't the mindfulness magic, it's the fact that your brain has to focus on something SPECIFIC and simple when it's freaking out. Like when you're in a full blown panic, your thoughts are all over the place and that's what makes it worse. But having a calm voice tell you to breathe in for 4 seconds forces your brain to stop spinning. I think the app creators really understood that our brains can't multitask when we're in crisis mode. Just having ONE thing to concentrate on breaks the panic cycle faster than any of that deep breathing stuff I learned in therapy.

leo61224d ago

Hard disagree on this one. The whole point of therapy breathing techniques is they give you something to focus on too. Box breathing is literally count to four for each step. Same thing the app does, just without the subscription fee. And apps can backfire hard when the voice or music or whatever doesn't match your current mood. If the person sounds too happy or the background sounds are too loud it just adds another thing to get pissed off about. Plus you can't control the pacing of the app like you can breathing on your own. When I'm in panic mode I need to go slower or faster than what some prerecorded track is dictating. Saved forty bucks and learned something that works anywhere without needing my phone.

the_max23d ago

Oh geez, here we go again with the app vs. no app debate... I swear this thread is giving me more anxiety than any of my actual panic attacks ever did. Look, I'm not saying apps are the cure for world hunger or whatever, but sometimes you just need someone or something to yell "INHALE" at you while your brain is doing backflips. The irony of fighting about which breathing technique is better while we're all clearly still losing our minds is something else.