How to Treat Nocturnal Anxiety Naturally?

What is Nocturnal Anxiety?

Anxiety is a natural and normal human emotion that is expressed in the form of worry and nervousness. Any stressful condition can bring about this feeling of anxiety in you. This situation can be anything like an interview, first date, presentation in the office, lecture in front of hundreds of people, stage performance, etc.

When this anxiety starts to overpower you and linger around you more than the usual time, beware, this can be a panic attack. This can happen at any time of the day, however night time is more common. Panic attack affecting a person at night is called nocturnal anxiety. The night is one of the most common time when people experience anxiety. This nocturnal anxiety can make you sleep deprived and leave tired and worried. It can overwhelm you with fear and worry. Nocturnal panic attacks are characterized by palpitations, sweating, nervousness, anxiety, pain in the chest, clammy hands and feet. As these physical and mental sensations take hold on, you begin to feel restless and anxious. Nocturnal anxiety can be so severe that a person may start to lose control over oneself.

These signs and symptoms can be there from a few minutes to some hours and leave after reaching on the peak. However, even after when these panic attacks are over, a powerful and debilitating impact is still there on the patient. Panic attacks are described as terrifying and devastating by many sufferers.

What can be the Signs and Symptoms of Nocturnal Anxiety?

Anxiety can be experienced by everyone differently. So there can be many symptoms of Nocturnal anxiety. Some of the common symptoms of panic attacks are:

• Restlessness
• Nervousness
• Worry
• Heart palpitations or increased heart rate
• Too much sweating
• Shaking or trembling
• Choking
• Pain in chest
• Nausea and pain in the abdomen
• Dizziness, unsteadiness, lightheadedness or faintness
• Fear of going crazy or losing control over oneself
• Extreme fear of death
• Hot flushes or chills, may alternate
• Numbness or tingling sensation
• Difficulty in concentrating on anything
• Difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep for a longer time
• Feels like everything is unreal
• Gastrointestinal disturbances

A nocturnal panic attack can be severe enough to wake you up from the deep sleep. Even after the attack is over, it may be hard for the sufferer to fall asleep again.

What can be the Causes of Nocturnal Panic Attack?

Issues with sleep and Nocturnal anxiety seem to be the two sides of the same coin. This means they accompany each other. Disturbed sleep can cause anxiety and anxiety can disturb sleep. Continuous running thoughts in the mind, work stress, relationship tensions all of these can act as a triggering factor for the anxiety and panic attacks. A person is not able to control his/her thoughts which further evokes the anxious reaction in the body leading to panic attacks. Anxiety or excitement causes an adrenaline rush in the body that leads to difficulty in falling asleep.

Panic attacks can be associated with some sort of mental disorders like eating disorders, depression, agoraphobia, specific phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Usually the panic attacks are of two types, i.e. expected or unexpected. Expected are those which occur due to certain stimuli or triggering factors like if a person is phobic of height and traveling of this person in an airplane can trigger the panic attack. But this does not come under the nocturnal anxiety attack. Nocturnal panic attacks are covered by the second type, i.e. unexpected. In this type there is no exact cause and occurs unexpectedly while the person is asleep.

Nocturnal panic attacks can even occur when the person is awake; however the typical cases take hold on during the sleep. These panic attacks can disturb the sleep of the person leading to a feeling of tiredness throughout the day. Sleep deprivation can also lead to nocturnal panic attacks. Not taking proper sleep can also trigger a nocturnal panic attack.

Any kind of panic attack can be terrifying; the most frightening one is which startle you from the fast sleep. Just imagine, waking up palpitating, shaking, sweating excessively, shaking and paining chest. It can create a condition like a dream; the person may feel disconnected and lost.

How to Manage Your Panic attacks at Home?

First of all get checked and tested to rule out all the medical conditions that can lead to nocturnal panic attacks. Taking conventional medicines for too long can lead to various adverse effects. So you should go with the alternative treatment of this problem. There are few Ayurvedic herbs that are really very effective in controlling and treating the nocturnal panic attacks. Use herbs like Brahmi, Ashwagandha, Vacha, Jyotishmati, Shankhpushpi, Tagara, and Haritaki. All of them have a therapeutic effect on the brain and nerves which help to fight the stress and treat anxiety naturally.

If there is no specific cause or no pathological finding than stop popping up the pills. Ayurveda is a science of life that treats almost all the disorders that affect the human body naturally. Nocturnal anxiety is not an exceptional case. Besides taking herbs internally, you can also follow a few Ayurvedic basic measures that will decrease the intensity and even some times help you to get rid of these Nocturnal panic attacks completely. As per Ayurvedic learning, vitiation of Vata dosha is responsible for these panic attacks. Hence, follow a few measures that will help you pacify the dosha naturally.

1. Get Warm – Cold environment and cold things aggravate the Vata dosha. So you should try to maintain the warmth of your body. Drinking warm milk with some saffron and honey can help you to do so. Remember! Do this at night before going to bed. It will warm your body and help you to sleep tight.
2. Breathe – Here breathing means Pranayama. Doing yogic breathing exercises on a daily basis can help your nervous system to be calm, the exact thing you need. For panic attacks breathing from alternate nostrils is the best. Doing pranayama can help to maintain the balance of both halves of the brain.
3. Vata Pacifying Diet – Avoid things like caffeine, frozen or cold food, and carbonated drinks. Take warm, salty, sour, sweet and oily food. Avoid drinking icy cold water and have normal water.
4. Yoga – Yoga is the answer to almost all the functional as well as structural diseases. It is not only about stretching and bending the body but also calms the mind and increases mental abilities.
5. Routine – You should have a proper routine for everything. Be it your food timings, sleep timings, exercise timings, watching TV timings etc. Improper routine not only wastes your time but also disturbs the functioning of your body. So try to adopt a proper routine for everything.