Man Explains How Biting Lemons Could Help You Overcome Panic Attacks

A man in the US claims biting into a lemon can help you overcome a panic attack.

Eric Zink, from California, advises that people who suffer from anxiety attacks should carry lemons on their person as it could help to 'ground' them.

The 39-year-old has battled with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, as well as drug and alcohol addictions. Through therapy, he has been able to overcome most of his struggles, however, he still suffers panic attacks and uses his TikTok channel as a place to share tips that could help others.

His lemon-biting video has gone viral and has been shared across various social media platforms, amassing millions of views.

In the video, he says: "You keep lemons on hand if you're having a panic attack. What you do is you grab a lemon and bite into it. This grounds you.

"Lemons are extremely bitter. When you bite into this, the texture and the bitterness is going to stop the bullshit that's going on here and focus you to force on your mouth.

"It will bring you out of a panic attack, that's why it's called grounding techniques. You know what, they work. It's using your senses and your strongest senses to bring you out of a panic attack.

"Panic attack is a massive amount of emotions and it's so overwhelming that it feels like you're dying sometimes. It feels like you're having a heart attack.

"Lemons, the bitterness from these things... Bite into them. Get the juices into your mouth. Get out of here and get back to here and fight through it."

Jam Press

The viral popularity of the video has no doubt pleased Eric, who shares videos such as this one to help people who have been through similar struggles as him.

He said: "I lost a wife and father to suicide, I have self-harmed, I am a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict, I am diagnosed with ADHD, PTSD, GAD and MDD. I wanted to make a difference and not sugar coat what we are going through in life.

"I think when we see others that go through struggles, it reminds us that we are not alone.

"It also helps us start our trial and error process to find out what works for us, so that we can have the tools needed to help us.

"Find the triggers and senses that work best for you to ground yourself when a panic attack hits - sometimes therapy can help in finding those and finding more techniques that work."

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Topics: Interesting, Community, Health

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey