When Celebrations Become Nightmares
Independence Day
The fourth of July is a yearly celebration of America’s declared independence from England. Like many celebrations all over the world this date is accompanied by copious displays of fireworks in towns, cities, neighborhoods and backyards all across the land. Bright sudden flashes of light, billowing smoke and powerful discordant booms transform the quiet dark stillness of long summer nights into a landscape of flashing brilliance and thunderous blasts loud enough to wake the dead.
For some this experience of deafening acoustic explosions accompanied by aerial light shows creates an adrenaline rush of excitement and even wonder. However there is a large group of humans for which this same set of variables engenders only confusion, panic, and downright terror. Animals too are negatively affected by this manmade phenomena, leading them to shake, cower, lose consciousness, run through fences, fly chaotically into buildings, abandon their nests, run blindly into streets in front of ongoing traffic.
Genetic Memory
Animals carry a genetic memory which tells them that sudden loud unexplained sounds or the smell of smoke signals a serious danger they need to get away from as quickly as possible. In those humans suffering from PTSD due to war, gun violence, serving in the military or in law enforcement or other traumatic experiences, as well as those with ongoing panic disorder, the sound of fireworks can cause uncontrollable flashbacks, panic attacks, disassociation, nightmares lasting for days and even weeks, rapid heartbeat and dysregulated heart rhythm, nausea, profuse perspiration, trembling, agitation and fear of imminent death. It can affect their cognitive abilities, digestion, respiration, and emotional regulation among other things.
In both animals and humans, this panic response to sudden loud sounds can be traced back to the body’s survival instincts, encoded deep within our brains. These instincts can be “programmed” by epigenetic memory, which becomes encoded into the DNA and even passed down from generation to generation. When an experience has been perceived by your body as dangerous or life threatening, the specifics of that experience - the sights, sounds, location, circumstances- are imprinted on cellular memory. Then if confronted at a future time with circumstances similar to those experienced during the original trauma, it will trigger the fight or flight response and all the accompanying physiological phenomena associated with it. Your body is flooded with adrenaline, bloodflow is rerouted to muscles that would allow you to fight or flee. These overwhelming physical symptoms bypass the rational mind, prompting you urgently to do whatever you can to escape the danger. Some people and animals, feeling there is no escape, or confused about where the threat is coming from, will simply “freeze” or even faint as a way of escaping the terror.
Keep the Nightmares at Bay
Here are a few things we can do to help ourselves, our pets and loved ones cope with this challenge:
- Familiarize yourself with any community or neighborhood plans for fireworks displays. Remember to ask your neighbors if they are planning to celebrate in this way.
- If possible, remove yourself from a location where the sound of fireworks will affect you or your pets.
- If not possible, then prepare ahead of time: Be sure your pets are inside and all exits are secured. Let everyone know to be especially careful when entering or exiting your home not to allow your animals to slip out of the door.
- Close all windows, draw curtains if applicable, and play soothing music or watch a video with volume set to a level that will mute the sound of outdoor booms.
- You may want to ask your vet for medication that will keep your pet from spiraling into sheer panic. Some find that sitting with their animal friends in a small dark enclosed space, playing soft music loudly enough to mask outside noise and wrapping them tightly in a blanket helps. There are also “thunder vests” made specifically for this purpose.
- Prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for these few challenging hours. Use all your calming “tools”: breathing techniques, yoga stretches, qi gong, or other movement modalities to release tension.
- Ground yourself by removing your shoes if rubber soled, using a grounding mat if you have one and practicing slow and deliberate diaphragmatic breathing.
- Drink lots of water and forego any caffeinated beverages.
- Listen to the HUSO programs on your HUSO Home or HUSO ON the GO wearables specifically designed to create a deeply relaxed state in your body. This unique patented sound technology can shift you quickly from a fight or flight state to a deeply relaxed parasympathetic state. You can switch to these calming programs a couple of weeks before the fireworks begin to prepare and then during the celebration, put on your headphones and wristbands and immerse your body and mind in a total sound experience until the fireworks have ended.
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