Panic Attacks in Your Sleep
Panic attacks in your sleep or nocturnal panic attacks are a particularly disturbing aspect of anxiety disorder and panic attacks. Somehow you feel that once you go to bed and switch off for the day, all your anxiety should leave you alone. How can you have panic attacks at night when your brain is resting and you stop thinking?
Unfortunately panic attacks during sleep are very common with up to seventy five percent of people who suffer from panic attacks during the day also reporting that they suffer from night time panic attacks.
Some people start to feel an increase in anxiety as they start to drift off to sleep, thoughts and worries start to go round and round in their heads seemingly cheating them of any opportunity to get to sleep, others can wake up in the middle of the night in a complete panic having managed to get to sleep with absolutely no problem. Symptoms can include palpitations (a rapid or irregular heartbeat) cold or hot sweats, pins and needles, tingling in the extremities, shortness of breath and an overwhelming sense of fear made all the worse by being in the middle of the night.
The symptoms of a night time panic attack are exactly the same as a day time panic attack but are exaggerated by their happening at night. We also start to worry about losing sleep and being tired the next day and this further anxiety about being over-tired and run down simply adds to the anxiety creating a vicious circle of worry that helps to perpetuate nocturnal panic attacks.
Most people report that night time panic attacks are not related to dreams or nightmares, indeed almost the opposite. It is almost as if something started a panic attack completely out of the blue, they have no recollection of a bad dream but simply remember waking in the middle of a panic attack.
So why do we get panic attacks at night?
Well the reasons are identical to why we get daytime panic attacks. A prolonged period of stress or a series of stressful events coming one after another can sensitize us and make us susceptible to either daytime or night time panic attacks or as is often the case both.
Because of our anxiety disorder we often go to bed at the end of the day in a heightened state of anxiety. We are tired, often at the end of our tether and as such we are very susceptible to anxiety and panic attacks. If you already suffer from an anxiety disorder you will have become introspective, analyzing your every thought and feeling. By going to bed you take away all the things that have been distracting you and almost allow the anxious thoughts to take over.
If you manage to get to sleep, something may wake you but because of your heightened state of anxiety it may wake you with a jump. The sudden wakefulness can mimic the physical reactions to anxiety and trigger a panic attack.
When I suffered from anxiety I also had night time panic attacks. Mine were usually triggered by either one of my pet cats doing something to wake me suddenly or by one of my two young children crying out in the night. I would wake up with my heart pounding, completely disorientated and in an absolute panic. Having sorted out the problems I was then left to try and get back to sleep with a head full of anxious thoughts.
The cats, I could deal with, they got shut out of the room. The kids, I just had to deal with until I managed to learn how to avoid night time panic attacks.
So how can you cope with night time panic attacks or panic attacks in your sleep.
If this is your first ever panic attack, as is sometimes the case, get yourself checked out by your doctor just to make sure that there is no underlying physical condition that is causing the symptoms.
Once you have done this you are left with an anxiety disorder as the root cause of your nocturnal panic attacks. Other pages on this site give information on overcoming anxiety in general so I will focus on what you can do to specifically help with night time panics.
Firstly, get into a good night time routine. Try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time no matter how bad a night’s sleep you had. Don’t let your anxiety change your sleeping habits, so if you haven’t slept well still get up at the same time as normal. This way, you will be tired at night and stand a better chance of getting to sleep next time.
Avoid caffeine or alcohol and other stimulants like chocolate or spicy food. Some people talk about avoiding caffeine after 2.00 p. m. Personally I found it useful to avoid caffeine altogether.Avoid eating just before bed time. Go to bed with a good book. Reading for ten or fifteen minutes will help distract your mind from the constant checking in that is associated with anxiety. “How do I feel? Am I anxious? Etc etc..”
One thing that I found useful was to download my mind onto a piece of paper before going to bed. Write down everything that I was thinking about so that I could forget about it overnight. I know it’s just a mind trick, but it worked for me.
Deal with the panic attack in exactly the same way as you would during the day. Remember it cannot harm you, you are not ill, there is nothing serious wrong with you, you are simply experiencing a panic attack which is your body playing tricks on you.
If you find that you can’t get back to sleep, give yourself permission to be awake, get up and do something, perhaps read our article on anxiety disorders and sleep.
Night time panic attacks are a symptom of an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders and sleep problems often go together but if you treat the anxiety disorder through a self help programme the night panics will go away.
Read Anxiety and Irrational Thoughts next