Panic attacks at night - causes and treatments

Panic attacks at night are becoming relatively common in the recent years and one of the major reasons for this mental disorder is excessive stress during the day or during non sleeping hours. A person who does not expresses his anxiety or stress during the day actually ends up expressing it in the form of panic attacks at night with or without the person’s knowledge.

Some of the symptoms of panic attacks at night are breathlessness, feeling choked, disturbing thoughts, abnormal sweating, rapid heart rate, etc. These symptoms are just indicators and not conclusive proofs. So it will be better to consult a doctor relating to this problem rather than sitting over it and expecting it to get cured automatically.

Or, you can learn from programs on self help for panic attacks, such as Panic Away and the Linden method.

There are lots of causes of panic attacks while sleeping and some of them are examination stress or worries, problems at the work place, marital and relationship problems, etc. These causes do not look pretty obvious on the face of the person or through his actions during the day as he is active and can have control on his actions. But during the night when the person is in a state of sub consciousness, such things show up very easily.

Along with these problems there are also certain medical disorders that cause these problems. Hyperthyroidism, heart problems, hypoglycemia are some of the medical disorders that contribute to these problems.

As per scientific findings, people who get heart strokes or attacks are the ones who are more vulnerable to these problems. This is one reason why most of the senior citizens are victims to such emotional disorders while sleeping as they already have a history of heart attacks and strokes. Fear of impending death or fear of dying in sleep and not waking up in the morning also triggers this problem.

There is a common belief that dreams also influence such problems. But the fact of the matter is that it is just a myth and dreams are not even remotely related to this problem.

These emotional disorders can be effectively cured only if the person is aware of it or realizes such problems with him or her. And after that realization, it is important that the person does not succumb to the negativity of the attack and tries to stay calm and reassures himself that everything is fine.

Just forget them and move on with your work. Do some breathing exercises as that will help in bringing down the tension and reducing the anxiety levels. One can also try psychotherapy, which is a relaxation technique that is very effective in curing problems relating to panic attacks at night.