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Sleep panic attacks cause racing heart, confusion, anxiety, fear, and sometimes nausea while sleeping or waking up. It’s linked to anxiety disorder and other medical conditions, including sleep apnea. Treatment includes medication and self-care techniques. Between 50% and 70% of people with anxiety disorders experience sleep panic attacks.
A sleep panic attack is a frightening situation in which a person feels a racing heart, confusion, anxiety, or intense fear, and sometimes nausea while sleeping or shortly after waking up. While it’s not fully understood what causes people to feel this way, it is likely related to anxiety disorder. Several other medical conditions may also be associated with nocturnal panic, including sleep apnea. In general, this disorder is treatable with a combination of self-care and medication.
Actions
Sleep panic attacks typically take one of two forms, both of which are very frightening. In the first type, a person wakes up feeling as if they are about to have a panic attack, or are already in the midst of one. The person’s heart will beat very fast and they may feel confused, disoriented, anxious and disconnected from reality.
The other type occurs when a person begins to consciously experience a panic attack while still asleep. This may have symptoms similar to a panic attack upon waking up, or it may be accompanied by other symptoms such as teeth grinding, head pain, and a feeling of pressure in the ears. In most cases, the person may not be aware that they fell asleep during the event or may feel like they are having difficulty waking up.
Possible causes
The exact cause of sleep panic attacks is not well understood. Since they’re much more common in people with anxiety disorder than others, however, they’re thought to be linked to that condition. Another theory is that a fear response is triggered by an increase in carbon dioxide levels. This is more common in people who have a tendency to hyperventilate. The increase in carbon dioxide can cause a feeling of suffocation, which can lead to anxiety.
Other possible medical causes are sleep apnea, heartburn, and myoclonic contractions. Sleep apnea sufferers have difficulty breathing during sleep, which can lead to a feeling of suffocation and fear. Similarly, a person with severe heartburn may feel like they are having a heart attack, which can be very scary. Also, some people get startled when they have myoclonic contractions, which are sudden muscle jerks that occur when someone falls asleep. Sometimes they can feel like electric shocks or a falling sensation, which can trigger a panic attack.
Another possibility is that a fight-or-flight response occurs during changes in the sleep cycle. Nocturnal panic attacks usually occur during the second phase of the cycle, just before deep sleep. This leads researchers to believe that this disorder is not related to dreams, as they appear in the last stage, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. However, a scary dream could cause a person to have a seizure after they wake up.
Treatment
Treatment for this condition varies depending on other symptoms present. For many people, a combination of medications and self-care can help reduce the frequency of attacks and make them easier to deal with when they occur. Common self-care techniques include understanding what a panic attack is and recognizing the symptoms so the event isn’t as traumatic; do calming activities like tai chi or meditation; breath control; and get into a regular sleep schedule, since people without one tend to have more panic attacks. Anxiolytic, antidepressant, or tranquilizer medications may be prescribed depending on the situation, as well as the severity and frequency of the episodes. Psychotherapy is also sometimes helpful.
Prevalence
Between 50% and 70% of people with anxiety disorders will also experience one or more panic attacks in their sleep. People who experience this problem regularly are also more likely to experience other sleep disorders, including insomnia and restless sleep.
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