panic attacks in sleep

Are You A Victim Of Panic Attacks In Sleep?
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Yap_Kee_Chong]Yap Kee Chong

Panic attacks in sleep: In our stressful lives, it should not be surprising that a good portion of us is sleeping less soundly than previous generations.

Most of the time a lack of deep sleep is related to how we function during the daytime. For the majority of humanity the whole sleep and awake cycle

is voluntary that is mostly defined by the clock and hence is of no major concern, which is simply how some people are. However, there are those in

whom the balance is indeed a very delicate one. When this balance is upset there is a sudden onset of inability to sleep that, in the initial stages,

manifest as a lack of restfulness after waking up. This problem can reach chronic proportions quickly. Most people who seek medical attention for this

problem will complain of any of the following three symptoms. Insomnia, daytime drowsiness, and irregular sleep behavior. Insomnia is more

common than the other two symptoms and it is estimated that more than 25% of people are affected with different stages of insomnia. According to

studies, women, elderly people, and shift workers are the ones who report more cases of insomnia than other segments of the population. Certain

mental disorders like depression also cause insomnia. Sleep panic attacks are quite common among people who do not get regular sleep.

More than half of the people diagnosed with panic disorder suffer from nocturnal or panic attacks in sleep. Although only 10% of all panic attacks

happen at night they are still an issue of concern. Sleep panic attacks are bad because the patients begin to fear the nighttime and especially going

off to sleep. They fear that during the sleep panic attack they will be comatose and hence unable to do anything if they suffer something violent. The

cardiac arrest like symptoms most prevalent during sleep panic attacks make these people afraid that they might die if they have an attack while they

are asleep.

Sleep panic attacks are not caused by dreams. This is known because medical studies have shown that sleep panic attacks happen during the early

stages of sleep and not the REM phase when dreams usually occur. There are other disorders that are far severe than insomnia and they will often

resemble sleep panic attacks in their symptoms because the victim will often wake up with palpitations, fear, shortness of breath, sweating, and so on.

This type of sleep disorder occurs during the deep sleep.

Sleep apnea also causes the patients to wake up suddenly and though this sort of thing is not associated with any anxiety there is evidence indirectly

linking it with sleep panic attacks since sleep apnea affects heart rate and blood pressure.

The precise reason for sleep panic attacks is not yet known. It is suspected that possible causes might include a build up of carbon dioxide in the

body, a condition that is known as "false suffocation alarm" that causes the body to respond by strenuous breathing and rapid heart rate.

Sleep panic attacks are influenced by the events of daytime, alcohol, drugs, depression, and stress.

Yap Kee Chong writes on various tips and techniques to stop panic attacks. If you like to claim an exclusive FREE report on how to eliminate your

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yap_Kee_Chong http://EzineArticles.com/?Are-You-A-Victim-Of-Sleep-Panic-Attacks?&id=375273

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