The stressors we have to live with today that cause us to lose sleep were not something that our ancestors had to deal with. We tend to feel weary and beat after one of those sleepless nights. If these sleepless nights continue, thus begins the onset of nocturnal anxiety attacks. This will inevitably end any normalcy to your life.
As human beings we need to rest approximately every 16 hours. Our resting period lasts approximately 8 hours and then we're up again. No matter how hard we try to stay awake, there is no way to avoid this cycle. Sooner or later our bodies will give in and we must rest. When something causes a disruption in the normal course of life, the sleep awake balance is lost and problems start to arise. If you regularly sleep less than 8 hours every night you may suffer from chronic sleep problems. One major issue of concern is nocturnal anxiety disorder or sleep panic attacks.
I say may because sleep anxiety attacks is not easily diagnosed. You see it is a mix of many symptoms that indicate various sleep disorders. So a reliable diagnosis may be delayed. During the initial stages of the attack you might be unable to sleep well at night and this would manifest the absence of restfulness after you wake up. You are advised to seek a professional to assist you through this when such a situation occurs.
The standard symptoms of panic attacks while sleeping are insomnia, drowsiness during the day and unnatural sleeping patterns. Insomnia is more predominant than the other two symptoms in the initial phases. Also panic attacks during sleep are routine with people having unnatural sleeping behaviors.
Over 50% of anxiety attacks sufferers are likely to have nocturnal anxiety attacks, but the majority of their attacks occur during the day.
People suffering from panic attacks while sleeping also tend to fear sleeping; this can just worsen situations and lead to complexities. Word of caution: do not try to address or resolve these problems with sleeping pills. They won't work and what you may end up with is an addiction that will complicate your situation.
Sleep panic attacks cannot be connected to dreams as the attack tends to strike at the earlier stages of Rapid Eye Movement or REM.Therefore, dreams cannot be held accountable for setting off panic attacks. Also, the occurrence of nocturnal anxiety attacks can result in sudden waking up, palpitations, shortness of breath, fear, sweating and shudders. Such symptoms usually occur when the person is in deep sleep.
The discovery of the causes of night panic attacks has not been made. Untold experts suspect that the cause may be the buildup of carbon dioxide within the body while we sleep. This has been referred to as the "false suffocation alarm".
Panic attacks while sleeping can be eradicated with medications.
Taking into consideration that these disorders can be cured with restrictions and behavior modifications, the use of medications should only be used as a last resort. To be clear, we're talking about anxiety medications and not sleeping pills.
You can free yourself of the night panic attacks and anxiety attacks in general if at first you can make peace with yourself. This is a very fundamental step. You must understand yourself first and then try to explain it to a friend or your family. The more you talk about your situation the better the intervention. Some life style changes that appear to help rid sufferers from night attacks consist of giving up smoking and limiting the consumption of alcohol and caffeine. These substances can easily increase the intensity of an attack. Additionally I would say that self help is the best help to cure night panic attacks.
More Readings....
Related Resources....
|
