When Terror Disturbs Your Sleep—How to Manage Anxiety Attacks at Night

Each day, we can encounter situations that upset us. Sometimes, those situations have serious potential to cause panic. You might feel like you went from 0 to 60 in a heartbeat. Especially if you’re someone who is already struggling with anxiety.

But what about when that kind of panic and/or fear occurs at night? Anxiety attacks, if left unchecked, it can disturb your sleep on a regular basis. The resulting impact may involve worsening anxiety and physical issues stemming from a lack of sleep. Clearly, this is not something to be taken lightly.

When Terror Disturbs Your Sleep

Worries and negative thoughts are part of the daily life of someone with an anxiety disorder. Each person is unique but most times, these intrusive fears involve replaying past situations or feeling anxious about your future. Common areas of worry are:

• Career
• Finances
• Health
• Relationships

All these past and/or future concerns can lead to feeling panic at the present moment. Up to one-third of each day’s “present moments” are when you are sleeping.

Anxiety is not the only cause of night panic. Other possibilities include:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Depression
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Medical conditions like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Regardless of the cause, nocturnal panic attacks may present with:

• Chest pain
• Heart palpitations
• Shaking
• Dizziness and shortness of breath
• Perspiration
• Nausea
• Tingling

Obviously, symptoms like this can impact your ability to sleep and thereby, must be managed.

How to Manage Anxiety Attacks at Night

1. Create a Pre-Sleep Ritual

It doesn’t have to be the same thing every night. But whatever you do, the goal is to shift your focus to something calm. For example, you might try yoga poses, reading an inspirational book, ironing, taking a bath, or meditation.

2. Turn Off Your Devices

Following up on tip #1, it makes sense for everyone — panic attacks or not — to give their minds a chance to cool down after another day of consuming non-stop content. Particularly in times of crisis, your device can be a panic trigger. Using your device for a meditation or reading app is one way to re-categorize it as a potential source of calm.

3. Don’t Eat to Close to Bedtime

This goes double for those with IBS or GERD (see above). Ideally, you should stop eating at least two hours before you plan to hit the sack.

4. Learn How to Manage Your Panic Attacks

All the pre-sleep rituals can’t guarantee you won’t have a panic attack. Therefore, it helps to better understand what’s happening. The night terrors may feel like they’ll never leave but they always do. In fact, they rarely last more than 10 minutes. If one hits, try this:

• Focus your eyes on something nearby, identify and describe it
• Begin to lengthen your breaths — long slow inhales and exhales of equal length
• Consciously relax your face and jaw muscles
• Slowly sip on a glass of water
• If possible, talk to a loved one
• Stand up, stretch, feel your body in motion
• Keep reminding yourself that this panic attack — like all the others — will end soon

Don’t Go it Alone

Any of the conditions that can cause nocturnal panic attacks are serious and require your attention. If the above self-help tips haven’t help your restore healthy sleep habits, it makes sense to contact a therapist. Regular counseling sessions are where you can get to the roots — the underlying reasons for the worries and negative thoughts. Addressing the deep causes enables you to manage your sleep issues in a big-picture, sustainable way.

Please read more about anxiety treatment. When you’re ready, contact us for a consultation. The combination of better sleep and improved self-awareness is a recipe for recovery and healing.