Nate Bryne, a weather presenter from Australia, recently suffered a panic attack on air and was forced to halt his morning broadcast. The ABC News Breakfast reporter abruptly stopped speaking in the middle of reading Queensland's weather report around 6:30 am local time on Tuesday. The incident was captured on camera.
"I'm going to need to stop for a second," the meteorologist told viewers as he struggled to speak. "Some of you may know that I occasionally get affected by some panic attacks, and actually that's happening right now," he added.
Further, Lisa Millar, Mr Bryne's co-host, took over the show right away. Later, he returned and apologised to anyone who had been alarmed by his abrupt departure. "Thank you all so much for helping me out. Sorry if I gave anybody a bit of a scare," he said.
Brilliantly handled by Nate Byrne and ABC news colleagues pic.twitter.com/aSeM3sFjnS
— Kel (@kellulz) August 13, 2024
In 2022, Mr Bryne talked about his first panic attack, describing it as “terrifying” and how it altered his perspective on mental health. “As I stood there under the studio lights, talking to people having their morning coffee and wiping sleep from their eyes, my heart was racing, I was gasping for breath and sweat was pouring out of every pore as my brain screamed ‘RUN!'” the weather presenter wrote.
He recalled the situation and added that he "had just jogged the 40 metres" from his desk to his position at ABC News Breakfast's weather wall. "I had left it a little too late and the show's control room was worried I wouldn't make it in time. I did, and it was barely an exertion. But it was enough to trigger an anxiety problem I still deal with to this day," he said.
Notably, a panic attack is characterised by intense physical reactions to common, non-threatening events as well as quick, transient sensations of anxiety. You can feel like your heart is pounding, sweat a lot, and have trouble breathing when you're having a panic attack. You can have what seems like a heart attack, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
These attacks are unpleasant and can be frightening. They usually last five to 20 minutes. Symptoms often peak within 10 minutes of onset and then fade quickly.
