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A rapid heart beat an increase in breathing rate, and an intensified awareness are all symptoms of a panic attack.
Add to these symptoms an overwhelming fear of death or impending disaster, and anyone who's ever experienced a panic attack will tell you that the fear they can induce can be crippling.
But while a sufferer may be able to identify the associated symptoms and recognize when an attack's taking place, it's sometimes more difficult to know what's triggered it in the first place.
During a panic attack the body's natural "fight or flight" response to perceived danger is activated.
Once this automatic response is activated, hormones, including adrenaline, are released into the body and cause various physiological changes: our heart rate increases in order to pump blood to the brain, heart, and lungs; our rate of breathing speeds up to increase our intake of oxygen; and our level of awareness is intensified.
These changes help the body deal with the perceived dangerous situation-to prepare us to fight or to take flight.
In the distant past that danger might have involved a ferocious lion, nowadays it probably involves a journey on the subway or the prospect of having to give a presentation to a room full of colleagues.
A panic attack will typically last between 5 and 20 minutes.
Although some people report attacks lasting for up to an hour, this is unlikely as the body is unable to sustain the fight or flight response for that length of time.
They are more likely to be experiencing a series of consecutive attacks within that time.
Some sufferers will know what triggers a panic attack.
For example, someone who is agoraphobic will very often experience a panic attack when he or she is put in a situation which involves leaving the house.
Other sufferers, however, aren't able to identify what triggers their attacks.
While it's unclear what the exact causes of panic disorder are, it's believed that some people have a genetic predisposition to the condition.
Between 20 and 25 percent of people suffering from panic disorder have close relatives who also suffer from the condition, the cause of which is a deficit of protein that transports serotonin, a neurotransmitter important in the regulation of mood and the ability to tolerate and process anxiety.
For unknown reasons, women are twice as likely as men to experience panic disorder.
Stressful life events can also trigger panic disorder.
For example, researchers believe that stress caused by the loss or separation of a loved one can lower an individual's resistance, allowing the underlying predisposition to be triggered, resulting in an attack.
However, one generally overlooked cause of panic attacks could be the excessive consumption of caffeine.
Caffeine-induced anxiety is recognized as a diagnosable condition by the American Psychiatric Association, along with caffeine intoxication, and caffeine withdrawal.
Caffeine, which is found in many foods and beverages, functions as a nervous system stimulant.
After absorption, caffeine enters the brain and is excreted in urine several hours after having been consumed.
Excessive intake of caffeine can result in a number of symptoms including rapid heart rate, diarrhea, restlessness, anxiety, depression, irregular heartbeat, and a flushed face.
It can be difficult to establish any connection between caffeine intake and a panic attack, though, as most people are more likely to see whatever they were doing at the time of their attack as the trigger - for it.
For example, if someone downs a cup of coffee and then rushes to meet a friend in the lobby of a movie theater and experiences a panic attack, they could very well deduce that their attack is the result of being in a confined space with others, rather than the caffeine they've just consumed.
Therefore, anyone who's prone to panic disorder and suffers from panic attacks should monitor their consumption of caffeine to see if it has any effect on their mood and whether it causes the onset of an attack.
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