sleep disorders |

It’s been a long day and now the sun has set and the world is bathed in darkness. It’s night time and it’s getting later and you start to feel the pull of a long day’s sleep. You wrap up all that needs to be done. You move yourself away from the television, brush your teeth, change into your nighttime attire, pull back the sheets, crawl into bed and with the flick of a switch – the light is out. Silence and now you are all to yourself and eagerly awaiting a good night’s sleep. Perhaps you are even married and find that your partner is already fast asleep beside you, but for whatever reason you cannot let down. You may even find yourself jealous or envious of other people who seem to easily fall fast asleep.

According to SleepMed 1 in 3 individuals will experience insomnia at some point in their lives. As the day closes off it can be quite common to experience a panic attack at night. The reasons can be many:

Work-related stress
Diet
Worried about life expectations
Feeling like you’re not caught up
Feeling that you’re going in the wrong direction in life
Financial worries
Thoughts of mortality for self and others

The list can go on-and-on and you probably are very aware of this. All of these things have to do with future and events that have yet to unravel or may will never, but somehow the anxiety in your mind tells you that these things will surely be inevitable. Anxiety can easily be triggered by one unpleasant thought; which then causes the mind to spiral out of control and soon enough you feel it in your body. From your breathing to your heart. Deep down inside you know that there is nothing that you need to do to fix tomorrow’s problems, tonight. If you could just get the rest you need you can address any concerns your mind has tomorrow. You know this, but how do you do it? Let’s see if there are some solutions…

Stopping Nighttime Panic Attacks By Removing These From Your Diet

This won’t solve the problem completely, but think of it as an important piece of the puzzle. Do you drink alcohol? do you consume a lot of coffee? can’t get away from sugar? what do these things all have in common? caffeine! and even a consistent dose of caffeine throughout the day may set you up for failure to fall asleep at night. Try to avoid drinking alcohol at night, because alcoholic beverages are a stimulus and a depressant; which is a bad combination. Also try to limit your intake of sugar and don’t assume that it’s all coming from beverages. Many solid foods contain high levels of sugar as well. Even so called “health” foods can contain a lot of sugars so make sure that you read labels and monitor your intake.

Avoid Light Stimulation

This website talks a lot about Light Boxes, but it also points out that they are best used in the morning, because using such a powerful source of light at night can cause sleep issues. Likewise; TV, computer and even smart phone screens can bombard your brain with stimulating signals that can make it difficult to get to sleep. Try to make a pact with yourself to avoid such devices for a couple of hours before sleep. What are the alternatives? working on a puzzle, reading, writing, drawing, shuffling cards. If any of these things seem boring to you then this may be a good idea, because it’s that restlessness of “needing to accomplish something now!” that we all have in us; which can set the mind up for a panic attack at night.

Using Meditation To Ease Anxiety At Night

Meditation may sound like a cliche answer and you’ve probably read about it’s benefits over-and-over again, but the simple truth is that it does work. It may not work immediately and does require discipline and a routine. Many people want to practice or have tried meditation to ease their anxiety, but will admit that they have a hard time sticking with it. This is because when you are fresh to meditation your thoughts want to fight you left-and-right. “This is stupid!”, “I’m wasting my time!”, “My grocery list is more important!”, “I can’t relax!” – these are all common thoughts during your first attempts at meditation and it’s normal. Meditation is about getting your normal voice out of your head and it’s worth it, because you may have some amazing experiences overtime.

Even in the daytime when you start to experience panic coming on, if possible to take 30 seconds to “clear your thoughts” you may find that you feel completely different and “clear-sighted”. Guided meditation is one option or meditating with the accompaniment of sounds or music, but ultimately total quietness while distancing the mind would be ideal. This is also going to be the form that challenges you the most, because you are asking your mind to ignore all that is around you. True meditation is the absence of thought; which you can think of as your little, daily vacation from all of your troubles. Instead of thinking that you are going to miss out – try thinking of it as a gift that you were born with being able to do.

Natural Aids For Creating Positive Drowsiness

Alcohol is an example of an aid that many people turn to at night which can make you feel drowsy, but it can also interrupt your sleep/wake cycle. So that’s not exactly healthy, but there are some natural solutions that can help you over the course of a week get into a routine of actually feeling sleepy before bed time.

Calcium tablets
Ashwagandha
Valerian
Melatonin
Chamomile tea
Magnesium

There are plenty more such as Power to Sleep PM which contains many helpful ingredients such as passionflower ,GABA, lemon balm and hops extract. One word of caution is that just because you may want to conquer having anxiety at night doesn’t mean that you should try loading up on all of these at once. You should test everything out to see how your body responds first. Power to Sleep PM does contain the majority of the active ingredients listed above, but they seem to be the right amount for most people according to the reviews at Amazon.

Adjusting Your Bedroom Environment

It may seem like Hocus Pocus, but having the right bedroom arrangement can really make a difference in whether you are able to get calmed down at night or not. Certain ways that you have furniture angled, how you have your bed positioned and the direction of where your bed is pointed really can change everything. Feng Shui That Makes Sense covers a lot of what you may be interested to know and even has a special section dedicated to bedroom space.

Aromatics To Prevent Having Panic Attacks At Night

Having lit candles are an excellent way to calm the body and mind. One reason is that they can provide a sort of hypnotic, flickering source of light as a substitute for normal lighting such as a bed light. Plus you can have as many as you want. When you get ready to blow them out even the aromatic smoke left over can feel soothing. Three of the most calming scents are lavender, pine and sandalwood. You may want to find candles or scented oils that contain these soothing smells, but you can also find linen sprays to use for your bed sheets, covers and pillows.

Aural Ambiance For Sleeping

Some people cannot sleep with any noise going on around them at all; while others may benefit from this tip. There are certain sounds that you may find will help your mind drift into a sleepy state. For some it may be having the continuous, droning noise of a box fan near by. For others it may be the sound of Tibetan wind chimes or a Rain CD. And even believe it or not some people sleep better with the busy, background chatter of inner-city sounds. Whatever may work for you, if you have never tried aural ambiance before then don’t rule it out quite yet.

Still having trouble with panic attacks during the night OR day time? You may consider trying this approach to managing your anxiety.

The whole concept of the circadian rhythm is both equally exciting and fascinating. Basically stated; it’s the 24 hour cycle that the human body and any other biological process that can be found in plants and animals goes through.

The circadian clock as it is often times referred to dictates our sleep, eating, cognitive and behavioral patterns in a given time length. This natural rhythm is important to our health and well being on planet Earth, but having a healthy circadian rhythm is important to a quality life style.

Seasonal Affect Disorder for instance is thought to be caused by a lacking of sunlight during the later months of the year; which can lead to depression and a major change in mood.

Life operates on a schedule. Even when most people are sleeping in one part of the world, the sun is just rising in another part and people are entering the productive phase of the day. This natural process helps trigger when it’s time to sleep, eat, work or even play.

What’s very interesting about circadian rhythms is that although outside factors such as your environment can play a role; much of what controls your internal clock is based on genetics.

This system is brilliantly controlled by something called the “Master Clock” which is a complex set of nerve cells that are known as the suprachiasmatic nucleu. These cells sit in an area of the brain called the hypothalamus. This is located slightly above where the optic nerves for the eyes reside.

The location of the master clock is very important to understand. It does have a connection to how light is processed by the brain. As a result, when the outside environment is darker, the suprachiasmatic nucleu tells the body to produce more melatonin; A hormone that contributes to sleep.

Likewise, being in a well lit environment will trigger the opposite effect. This is also why you can play an important role in your own circadian rhythm and develop a better schedule by keeping a consistent bed time, turning off the television when you go to sleep and making an effort to rise at the same time every morning.

The issue with something such as seasonal depression is that the days get shorter and the human body wants to go into a hibernation mode. This is problematic as people still need to continue about their daily lives as though it was any other time during the year.

Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders

Sleep disorders may also affect the circadian rhythm, by interrupting it’s natural pattern. One of the more common of these disorders is Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, which delays the actual point of falling asleep until very early in the morning. This causes the body to want to rest through the morning hours when people normally wake up.

The opposite is Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder which is where a person will fall asleep in the evening hours relatively early and then awakes early in the morning; such as 2AM – 4AM and cannot get back to sleep.

A healthy sleep cycle can be had, but does require work on the person’s part. Usually, with Delayed Sleep Disorder a patient will force themselves to climb into bed an hour or two earlier than normal. This does not come to fruition yet, but over several weeks the body may adjust and finally get the idea that it’s actually time to enter sleep mode.

With Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder a patient will force themselves to stay awake a little longer each night to adjust the sleep cycle. Finally, another method of treatment that may be incorporated is a careful dosage of light therapy to adjust the circadian rhythm.