Handling Nighttime Panic Attacks

Nighttime panic attacks can really be a nuisance in your life as they are prone to disrupting you sleep leaving you unable to do the activities you are supposed to do during the day. Such is an attack that will often disrupt your sleep for no obvious reason. However, the condition is quite common among people with Panic Disorder with up to 70 percent f them experiencing nighttime panic attacks at least once in their lifetimes. This is the same as a daytime panic attack with the difference being that you are startled out of your sleep with little knowledge of the happenings in your surrounding. This particular panic attack make the victim feel quite vulnerable to the fact that the attack is taking place in the darkness of the night.

'Why is this happening to me', is a question that many people suffering from nighttime panic attacks are always asking themselves. Such and many other questions may bother the individual so much to an extent that he or she thinks that there is no remedy for his or her problem. Not much has been documented about nighttime panic attacks but they have been said to be similar to daytime panic attacks only that this time it happens even when you are asleep and probably not active. However it is important to note that the brain does not go to sleep when you go to sleep hence it still functions the same way as it would during the night hence the nighttime panic attacks.

Knowing how to respond to such panic attacks as they occur during the night is a very important part of knowing how to cope with this condition. Once an individual suffers from nighttime panic attacks, the chances of this individual going back to sleep are very low. It is therefore advised that after such a panic attack the individual should get out of bed and splash some water to his or her face or alternatively drink some cold water. However the individual should go into the living room and turn on the TV or even start reading as this way it will be quite difficult for the individual to get back to sleep. Another effective way of handling the attacks is by working with and not against them. Accepting the situation goes far in helping the individual psychologically. The individual can return to bed and within a short time will feel sleepy again and will wake up in the morning feeling refreshed. If the individual does not feel sleepy after the attack it is advised that he or she engages in activities that he considers boring and not those that excite him as he will not sleep when he engages in the latter.

Nighttime panic attacks just like daytime panic attacks are psychologically in nature as it has everything to do with brain activity. Accepting the existence of the condition goes a long way in helping one cope with the condition. However in cases that the attacks are chronic it is advisable that a specialist be seen for the individual to get a remedy for the same.

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