Hannah Fowles felt herself unraveling.
After a grueling day at work, the 22-year-old from Provo, Utah, returned home with panic rising in her chest. Her thoughts raced, her cheeks flushed, and she struggled to regain control.
“I was getting really overheated and couldn’t calm down,” Fowles told The Post. “None of my usual go-to methods—like breathing exercises or lying in a dark room—were helping.”
Then she noticed the bag.
Hannah Fowles now carries an “anxiety bag” with her to manage stress, overstimulation and other challenges wherever she goes.
Just weeks earlier, she and her therapist had assembled a small, grab-and-go kit filled with items designed to calm her mind when anxiety hits — an idea she first discovered while scrolling on TikTok.
That night, she reached for it. She took her anxiety medication, pressed a cold pack to the back of her neck and switched on a small portable fan, letting the cool air wash over her face. In her other hand, she squeezed a spiky fidget toy, its prongs digging into her palm as the panic slowly subsided.
“Within 10 minutes, I was able to calm down and go to sleep. It normally doesn’t happen that quickly,” Fowles said. “I never would have thought to have these things until I made the bag. It’s been a game-changer — I use it all the time.”
She’s far from alone.
Packing for panic
Call them anxiety bags, panic pouches or calm-down kits — whatever the name, these DIY creations are quickly gaining traction online, especially among Gen Z women.
It’s not hard to understand why. In a survey of nearly 1,000 Americans ages 18 to 26, 61% reported having a diagnosed anxiety condition, while 43% said they experience a panic attack at least once a month.
And while many rely on talk therapy and medication to cope, those strategies don’t always help in the heat of the moment.
“Practices like mindfulness and body scans are effective, but you have to remember to use them,” said Dr. Kyra Bobinet, a physician and behavioral neuroscientist. “In highly stimulating environments, when you’re overwhelmed, it’s not always possible to access those tools right away.”
Anxiety bags are carefully curated, portable kits filled with items designed to help people manage panic attacks and everyday anxiety on the go.
That’s where they come in. Keeping self-regulation tools within reach during moments of intense stress or sensory overload is, as Dr. Kyra Bobinet puts it, “genius.”
“It’s a way of both distraction and soothing,” she explained. “It introduces different sensations to focus on, so you’re not completely overwhelmed by the rapid spiral of anxious or depressive thoughts.”
Sense-ational coping tools
Often labeled the “anxious generation,” Gen Z is facing record levels of mental stress. A 2023 Gallup survey found that nearly half of people ages 12 to 26 say they often or always feel anxious.
For Stefany Staples, a 24-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, that anxiety became very real in 2024. She began experiencing intense physical symptoms — including heart palpitations — that sent her to the hospital multiple times.
“I used to think anxiety was just overthinking or feeling overwhelmed,” Staples said. “But it’s so much more than that.”
Anxiety disorders can present in many ways, commonly including persistent, uncontrollable worry, restlessness, rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling, dizziness and shortness of breath.
When medication didn’t provide enough relief, Staples turned to the internet for answers — and ultimately felt inspired to create her own anxiety bag.
Stefany Staples says her anxiety bag has been especially helpful in easing stress while she’s on the road — a common trigger for her.
Inside the small pouch, she keeps a few go-to items, including lavender essential oil to calm her nerves and sour candy, whose sharp flavor helps snap her attention away from spiraling thoughts.
“It helps me ground myself,” Staples said. “It definitely pulls me out of the anxious cycle happening in my head.”
“An anxiety bag is like your very own superhero toolbox. It’s all about using your five senses to bring you back to the present.”
Carrie Berk, 23
Rapid sensory interventions — like holding an ice pack, sucking on a sour candy or even smelling an alcohol wipe — can help interrupt rising anxiety by jolting the nervous system, explained Dr. Jenny Martin, a clinical psychologist and founder of Gemstone Wellness in Chicago.
“In general, anxiety bag items work by shifting attention away from those anticipatory thought loops and back into the present — back into the body,” Martin said, noting she’s created similar kits with her own patients. “These tools don’t address the root of anxiety, but they can be very effective in acute moments, especially when paired with strategies like cognitive reframing or exposure work.”
Tailoring the toolkit — what works for you?
Not every strategy works the same for everyone.
“Understanding what’s driving your anxiety is key to figuring out what will help calm your ‘worry center,’” said Dr. MaryEllen Eller, a board-certified psychiatrist and Southeast regional medical director at Radial.
For people triggered by sensory overload, she recommends tools that reduce input — like noise-canceling headphones paired with calming music.
If anxiety stems more from racing “what if” thoughts, grounding techniques may be more effective.
“This could include a strong sensory experience, like chewing mint gum or ginger candy while focusing on the taste, smell and texture,” Eller said. “Fidget tools or textured objects can also provide a powerful sense of touch to anchor you.”
Her advice: experiment with different techniques in a calm setting to discover what works best — and once you do, practice using them regularly so they’re easier to rely on when anxiety strikes.
Carrie Berk says her anxiety bag has helped her not only cope with anxiety and OCD, but learn how to live alongside them.
“The more your brain associates the items in your ‘anxiety bag’ with calm, safety and confidence, the more effective they become when you need them most,” she explained.
For Berk, a 23-year-old New Yorker, one of the most powerful tools is simple: a notebook and pen. Writing down her thoughts helps ground her — a habit she says “saved her life” when she began experiencing anxiety and OCD symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her kit also includes familiar staples like sour candy, a fidget ring, aromatherapy items and flashcards with guided breathing exercises.
“An anxiety bag is like your own personal superhero toolbox,” she said. “It uses your five senses to bring you back into the present, instead of getting stuck in your head.”
Before assembling the kit, Berk’s coping tools were scattered and harder to access.
“Having everything in one place makes it more practical,” she said. “You can open your bag and immediately reach for what you need, which helps you feel in control during a moment that otherwise feels overwhelming.”
Learning — and letting go
“The anxiety bag is a helpful strategy for managing anxiety and panic attacks,” said Dr. Vinay Saranga, a psychiatrist and founder of the North Carolina Institute of Advanced NeuroHealth.
“But over time, the goal is to rely on it less,” he added. “Ideally, patients gradually reduce the number of items they carry — perhaps down to one or two small tools — or even learn to manage without the bag altogether, so they don’t become dependent on it.”
Cassie Rodgers, 27, of Hillsboro, Oregon, has already started moving in that direction — trimming her larger anxiety bag down to just two everyday essentials.
Cassie Rodgers, 27, has been managing anxiety since her teenage years — and over time, she’s learned exactly which tools work best for her.
The first is an aromatherapy pen infused with lavender and peppermint, which she says helps “calm me down if I’m already in a panicked state.”
To get ahead of anxiety before it fully sets in, she keeps something on hand to engage her senses and redirect her focus — like gum, Life Savers or sour mints.
“Recently, I was in the middle of a store and could feel it coming on,” she said. “I immediately popped a couple of mints in my mouth and was able to finish shopping and get back to my car before it escalated. I could talk myself down because of these tools.”
Even just carrying the items provides a sense of reassurance.
“It makes me feel like I can handle whatever comes my way,” Rodgers said.
Her message to others is simple: You’re not alone — and there’s no shame in needing support.
“Taking a moment to step away and use your kit isn’t a failure,” she said. “It’s how you keep moving forward through something you can’t always control.”
