RET is more of a blanket approach in which overall stress is reduced simultaneously to reducing the stress of individual issues – known as a holistic approach. When overall stress levels are low and not easily triggered to higher levels, one is much less likely to experience a panic attack.

Rapid Eye Technology (RET) could save your life – literally! Why? Recent studies have demonstrated that panic attacks in post-menopausal women can substantially increase their risk for stroke and heart attack. RET tends to lessen spontaneous panic attacks by lessening overall stress levels while increasing overall resilience. RET is also amazingly effective on fears of any kind – fewer fears means fewer panic attacks.

Jordan W. Smoller, M.D., Sc.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues studied 3,369 healthy postmenopausal women (age 51 to 83, average age 65.9). When they entered the study between 1997 and 2000, the women filled out a questionnaire about the occurrence of panic attacks in the previous six months. They were then followed for an average of 5.3 years to see whether they had a heart attack or stroke or died from any cause.

About 10 percent of the women reported having a full-blown panic attack in the six months prior to the study. After the researchers adjusted for other cardiovascular risk factors, having one or more panic attacks was associated with four times the risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack), three times the risk of having a heart attack or stroke and nearly twice the risk of death from any cause. These associations remained after controlling for depression, suggesting that panic attacks may be a separate, independent risk factor for cardiovascular events.

The results add panic attacks to the list of emotions and psychiatric symptoms that have already been linked to cardiovascular risk, including depression, anger and hostility, the authors note. Panic attacks could be associated with other cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension. Alternatively, anxiety could contribute to adverse cardiovascular effects, such as coronary artery spasm, tendency toward increased blood clotting or disturbances in heart rhythm.

“These results suggest that panic anxiety is a marker for increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among postmenopausal women,” the authors conclude. “Future studies are needed to clarify the causal connection, if any, between panic attacks and cardiovascular events. Our results imply, however, that older women with a recent history of panic attacks represent a subgroup at elevated risk of myocardial infarction and stroke in whom careful monitoring and cardiovascular risk reduction may be particularly important.”

It’s more than just feeling better or achieving goals – like overcoming test anxiety – it’s about physical survival. If you are post-menopausal, panic attacks can kill you or leave you functionally disabled.

I recommend learning one of the better stress reduction techniques like Rapid Eye Technology’s Immediate Release Technique (www.rapideyetechnology.com) or EFT (www.emofree.com) – that you can apply to yourself. My own simple-to-learn and apply Anxiety Neutralization Process (ANP) is based on EFT and approaches each stressful issue at a time.

The full model of RET is more of a blanket approach in which overall stress is reduced simultaneously to reducing the stress of individual issues – known as a holistic approach. When overall stress levels are low and not easily triggered to higher levels, one is much less likely to experience a panic attack. A preemptive 6-12 session RET program can virtually eliminate panic attacks. That’s good news for the millions of post-menopausal women who are at risk. You can find a RET Technician near you at www.rapideyetechnology.com.