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Here, you’ll discover what sleep panic attacks are, and, how they can be addressed. Sleep or nocturnal panic attacks aren’t harmful, but can be scary. You’ll also learn why it isn’t your dreams that cause these nighttime attacks, but events that have happened earlier.

Somewhere between 40% and 50% of folks with panic attack disorders have attacks when they sleep, although only about 10% of all attacks happen nocturnally. However, because of the circumstances, the symptoms of sleep panic attacks can seem to be more intense and terrifying than during the day. And an attack can seem to last longer for many sufferers.

The symptoms of sleep attacks are the same as daytime attacks; sweating, tight chest / throat, hyperventilation, palpitations, fear of impending doom, fear you’re having a heart attack, etc. However, just as with daytime attacks, nocturnal panic attacks symptoms cannot harm you.

Do dreams cause sleep panic attacks? No. It is known that your dreams don’t trigger nocturnal attacks. Tests have shown that the majority of nocturnal attacks happen in the early phases of your sleep cycle.

There are 5 phases or stages to your sleep cycle; 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM (not the band! but ‘rapid eye movement’). A complete cycle ( 1 thro’ 5) takes around 100 minutes, and then you repeatedly go through the cycle again. Your dreams occur in REM, but the majority of your sleep attacks generally occur in stage 2.

Nocturnal panic attacks occur for the same reason as daytime attacks: a stressful event or situation occurring on top of an already heightened anxiety level, typically someone with an anxiety or panic disorder.

This event can occur some hours before the actual attack is triggered, so something that happened during the day could trigger an attack during the night. This could be any stressful situation, and / or, overstimulation through alcohol and / or drugs, etc.

Remedies are the same as for daytime attacks; medication, therapies and self-help such as; exercise, diet, breathing exercises, meditation, self-hypnosis, yoga, etc. These basically help to treat the symptoms or help you cope better with your condition.

But a critical element in preventing panic / anxiety attacks and curing general anxiety is the ‘fear’ of suffering another anxiety or panic attack. The symptoms of an attack are just so great that the ‘fear’ of another is implanted in your psyche. This adds to an already higher-than-normal level of anxiety, so that when a stressful situation is encountered, a panic attack can be triggered by it.

This cycle of anxiety can be described as ‘anxiety > fear > panic attack > anxiety > fear > panic attack’ and so on. And unless this vicious cycle is broken, you’re unlikely to prevent further daytime or nocturnal panic attacks, and so be able to cure your general anxiety.

To discover just how you can break this vicious cycle of anxiety and fear in order to prevent daytime and sleep panic attacks and so cure your anxiety, please go to http://eliminatepanicattacks.blogspot.com and get your life back on track.

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You are in a crowded store with a basket full of shopping. Suddenly you become aware of a slight dizzy feeling and your heart starts beating a bit harder and faster. You realise you are sweating slightly and your breathing has become a bit faster. There is a knot in your stomach and a strong feeling that lots of other shoppers are looking at you. Your heart gets even faster and the breathing does too until you feel lightheaded. It feels like the walls are closing in and you really have to get out of there fast. Sound familiar? If so it may be that you have had panic attacks. When panic attacks become frequent and the worry or anxiety of about having them starts to interfere with normal life, then you may have panic disorder. Here are three trusted methods of self help for panic disorder.

*Avoid caffeine and smoking

Caffeine, which is found in coffee, tea, cola drinks and dark chocolate, among other things, is a stimulant, as is nicotine. They can interfere with the brain’s natural tranquilizers and cause insomnia, and can also makes the heart beat faster. As increased heart rate and palpitations are symptoms of a panic attack, it is easy to see that avoidance of these products could be a very simple but effective form of self help for panic disorders.

*Breathing exercises

During a panic attack the breathing becomes fast and shallow, and this is called hyperventilation. This leads to some of the other symptoms that are experienced such as tingling and lightheadedness. If you can teach yourself deep breathing and try to force yourself to do it during an attack, it will reduce the severity of the panic attack. Breathing into a paper bag can help too (yes, really!)

*Relaxation techniques

Meditation and yoga help the sufferer to envisage stressful situations in the mind’s eye under controlled conditions and imagine a relaxed and happy outcome. This sort of technique can improve self-awareness and self-confidence.

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Control your Anxiety Panic Attacks through recognizing the Panic attack symptoms.

You have everything inside you that you to control your anxiety and  attack and the related anxiety. The problem is, often we don’t realize that we have the tools let along being in control to implement that which we need to control the anxiety and panic attack. Why? because we feel so out of control at the time. But the tools are there, you just have to develop the internal skills to use them effectively and we will talk about this latter in this article.

Let’s first look at the barriers we put up that are preventing us from becoming healthy and getting rid of or control anxiety panic attacks and stress. What is it that we do that causes the panic attack? What is it that causes the anxiety, what is it that causes the stress. For lets face it if we delete the stress, we control the anxiety which stops the panic attacks.

All very neat but a long way from reality, isn’t it? Why? Because we need a degree of stress in our lives, we use stress to invigorate our actions and improve our personal health. Excess stress however leads us to excessively smoke, drink or eat. Physical activity drops and a feeling of a general loss of esteem develops as we start to feel bad about ourselves. So balance is the key if we are to stop panic attacks and avoid long term reliance on panic attack medications.

We talked about barriers that cause anxiety and panic attacks. So what are these barriers we build that develop into the grounds for a panic attack. We will look at the three key primary issues that most problems can be brought back to

The first is obsessive negativity.

When you are obsessively negative, it means that you have a tendency toward being “negative” about people, places, situations, and things in your life.

Secondly you have obsessive perfectionism.

When you engage in obsessive perfectionism, you are centered on trying to do everything “just so” to the point of driving yourself into an anxious state of being. You may find yourself making statements such as, “I have to do this right, or I’ll be a failure!” or “If I am not precise, people will let down or maybe be mad at me!”

Finally there is obsessive analysis.

When you are obsessed about analyzing things, you find yourself wanting to re-hash a task or an issue over and over again. I must have forgotten something!” or “If I let things go/don’t do them my self, things will go wrong!”

All sound familiar to you don’t they and the reason why is because we all do them, time and time again. However some people just get obsessed about a certain point and then over analyze the issue beyond all reasonable levels. They build doubts that lead to fear that traps them in a spiral, leading ever down words taking there self worth, their ability and self esteem with it. This results in the development of anxiety and potential panic attacks

Some people are more susceptible than others to stress; for some, even ordinary daily decisions seem insurmountable. Deciding what to have for dinner or what to buy at the store, is a seemingly, monumental dilemma for them. On the other hand, there are those people, who seem to thrive under stress by becoming highly productive being driven by the force of pressure.

What are the symptoms of a Panic attack. There are quite a lot of issues that lead to panic attacks as each individual reacts in a different manner under the same conditions. Many may react in a different manner, under the same set of circumstances, should they be exposed to it again. Let’s look at the key points that cause the reactions within our body to stress, anxiety and panic attacks

Stress is the way our body and our mind react to something, which upsets our normal balance in life. During stressful events our adrenal glands release adrenaline, a hormone which activates our body’s defense mechanisms causing our hearts to pound, blood pressure to rise, muscles to tense, and the pupils of our eyes to dilate.

The principal indicator of stress are as follows;

 An escalation in your pulse rate; (however, a normal pulse rate doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t stressed).

Constant aches and pains,

Palpitations,

Anxiety,

Chronic fatigue,

Crying with out reason or over small issues,

Over or under- eating,

Frequent infections,

Decrease in your sexual desire

These are sure signs you may notice, which indicate you may be under stress and indirectly heading for a possible panic attack. Of course, every time we are under stress, we do not react the same as we may not be under as much duress or fear the next time we are confronted with a stressful situation.

Anxiety, on the other hand, is a feeling of unease within the body usually reflected in a queeze stomach, muscle aches and pains and a lightness in limbs. It is normal to feel anxious when facing something difficult or dangerous and mild anxiety can be a positive and useful experience. Its as we pointed out earlier when we stated a degree of stress and anxiety is good as it improves our performance.

However, for many people, anxiety interferes with normal life. Excessive anxiety is often associated with other psychiatric conditions, such as depression. Anxiety is considered harmful when it is very prolonged or severe. It often appears during a stressful event and continues on after the stressful event. If it is interfering with everyday activities such as going to work or family life it is very important that the suffer of anxiety seeks medical assistance in dealing with the issue.

Unlike stress and panic attacks the physical symptoms of anxiety are caused by the brain sending messages to parts of the body to prepare for the “fight or flight” response. The heart, lungs and other parts of the body work faster. The brain also releases stress hormones. Untreated anxiety is as bad as stress as it will lead into a full blown Panic attack. Such attacks can be totally debilitating and lead to complete breakdowns as previously outlined.

Understanding you stress levels and how you respond under pressure are important to your ongoing health. With this understanding you can make the right choices in the type of work you undertake or the positions you accept in regards to the stress them will apply on you.

Finally anxiety and panic attack medications are now widely available and can be prescribed through your local medical practitioner. As part of the treatment the doctor may refer clients for mental evaluations. Such evaluation will help the individual identify the issues, suppressed or otherwise, that need to be overcome if a full recovery is to be achieved.

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In our lives, we all want peace and happiness. We hope for a happy and pleasant environment around us all the time. However, to have all this we must be living in an ultimate world. However, we all know that our world is not ideal and tensions, panicky situations and anxieties arise every now and then.
However, we should not be afraid of them and whenever these situations arise we must be armed to deal with them in the most efficient manner possible. For this, we must first be able to examine our emotions and accept them as they are. Understanding the emotions can help you to learn to control the emotions without allowing the devastating feelings and emotions take control. As the last step, we must try to transform all such negative emotions like anxiety and panic into encouraging ones.
Anxiety has often been connected with worry and both are understood as the same emotion. Nevertheless, this is not true because although both are forms of fear but anxiety is related more to time and resources constraints whereas worry is a result of an anxiety that something we plan will not work out well.
Anxiety occurs because sometimes we need to complete a tight-string project and we fall in a rush. The project is of greatest importance and because of shortage of time or any other contributing factor you will not be able to terminate it to perfection or on time.
Often worry also results from the same reasons. Nevertheless, the major difference here that we must recognize is that it may not just be a result of lack of resources but may be also due to some problem with your child or spouse or any other personal issue. Worries are a result of our personal attachments with certain beings or things.
Since childhood, all these feelings are absorbed by our mind. We see the way people react to certain situations and emulate them. While some people behave in appositive manner to situations other don’t. Whichever affects us more determines how we behave to those situations.
To throw away all these anxieties and worries one must follow a proper system and diet. In helping you to reduce anxiety and panic situations, the below mentioned points will go a long way.
1.Regular exercises like an early morning walk, jog, or aerobics.
2.Try yoga. It helps in getting better your blood flow and reduces hyperventilation.
3.Whenever a panic situation arises, try to concentrate with deep breathing.
4.Try meditation as a solution searching method.
5.Follow a healthy low fat and high vitamin diet.
Following the aforementioned routine and steps will help you in freeing yourself from negative thoughts and emotions and creating a positive atmosphere around you. Try these positive countermeasures to anxiety whenever it strikes.
1.We must accept that whatever is happening to us has no purpose to harm us. We must give whatever we do, our best shot but it is useless to worry about the results. Once you have given it, your best shot there is no reason why you should fail, so why panic.
2.We must have self-belief in ourselves. We must tell ourselves that nothing is impossible unto us and that we can face all the problems of life without giving up on them.
3.We should never think low about ourselves. Like everyone else, we are all humans and have equal rights to life. We should never worry about what others think about us because at the end of the day you are your best judge.
4.You must be reminiscent yourself at all times that life is meant for being lived every moment and not for worrying every moment what the next will bring about.

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Melissa remembers her first panic attack like it was yesterday. She was coming home from work as usual on the 5:32 train. She was reviewing her to do list for the weekend and thinking about a presentation she had to give at work on Monday. 

While her obligations were many, going to her daughter´s play, arranging catering for her husband´s birthday the following weekend, making baked goods for the school bazaar and getting this work presentation done that cropped up at the last minute, they were no more than usual. She decided to pick up some food for dinner on the way home and went to the supermarket.     

She put her purse in the cart and started wheeling around the grocery store. She went to the meat counter first to see what was available and what looked good.  Suddenly her heart started racing and she felt weak in the knees. She steadied herself and tried to shake the feeling but terror struck her.

Was she going to die on top of the meat? What would happen to her children?  Where was her husband?  Would he marry someone else? She grabbed at her scarf and removed it; she tried breathing but heard only wheezing. She saw people looking at her and tried to act normal but the inability to breathe was too much. She took her purse and ran out of the store, pulling at her shirt, trying to ease the pressure in her chest. 

As soon as the cool night air hit her she felt better. She started to breath, walked a little to get the circulation going. Then she sat down on the bench outside. Someone came up to her and asked her if she was okay. She simply nodded, still unable to speak. She looked down at herself after a few minutes. She was soaked with sweat and her blouse was ripped open at the chest, her bra was showing.

What had happened and why? This thought would continue to plague Melissa in the coming months as her hesitation, fear and uncertainty mounted.   

Melissa missed the school bazaar, missed her daughter´s play, called in sick on Monday for her presentation and made up an excuse to cancel her husband´s birthday party.

This was the beginning of Melissa´s agoraphobia and the fear that dominated her life from the time she had her panic attack in the supermarket standing over the Idaho potatoes. This fear led to the alienation of her husband and children and the loss of her job and self-esteem. 

Six months after this first panic attack, Melissa´s life was unrecognizable. Melissa was unemployed, living separate from her children and in divorce proceedings from the love of her life of 15 years. Just six months ago, her life had been a picture of success and happiness. She had a great job she loved, two great children who were clever and angelic and a husband who was the light of her life and her high school sweetheart. She had a beautiful home and tons of friends and was active in a number of organizations, including the PTA.

Today, Melissa is afraid to venture too far from her home, she won´t ride the train into the city, she can´t go to crowded places and feels stressed, anxious and worried all the time. Her husband tried to help her but she pushed him away. Her children tried to be understanding but they didn´t understand. Her friends tried to be supportive but she didn´t want their support. 

While this case may be extreme, it shows how agoraphobia can start small, you miss just a couple of events, you make just a couple of excuses but the inertia of avoidance can snowball very quickly into severely damaging your life. While there are varying degrees of agoraphobia, they all have the potential to be severely life limiting and should be addressed as quickly as possible. 

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