During my anxiety days, I remember getting jolted up in the middle of the night with my heart jumping out of my chest, my hands and feet trembling and ice cold. Tingling sensation flows through my body like waves of electricity. Alarmed and confused, I would wake my family up or call my girlfriend to find rescue. There were times I asked to be taken to the ER because I was certain that something was wrong with me medically.
Tests after tests, they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. They would send me home with some medications to calm me down. The reassurance from the hospitals gave me a short-lived comfort which help me sleep once I got home. But the following nights, the palpitation would happen again. I realized that I can’t just keep going to the ER every night as the mean to find comfort. They would refuse seeing me and I won’t be able to afford the medical bills anyway.
Disheartened and lost, I tried to monitor my body every night to prepare for the attacks. And by anticipation and apprehension, I added more tension and stress on my already tired mind and body. This added stress prevented me to sleep and when my body was so exhausted, I would drift into sleep for a little bit until another attack strikes. It was like my panic attacks tried to ambush me and wait for the perfect moment to pop its head up.
I wanted to sleep but then was afraid to do so. It was a vicious cycle that tormented me for a couple years during my anxiety days. Until the day I realized that the fight I put up was the reason why my nightly attacks kept on happening.
Practice something long enough and you will do it subconsciously
Once we practice something often enough, it will be saved in our subconscious mind. For example, we practice driving consciously until we drive often enough that driving becomes a subconscious behavior. Another example is typing, walking…etc. These are learned subconscious behaviors. Our body also possesses many innate subconscious actions such as breathing, swallowing saliva, blinking…etc.
One thing about the subconscious mind is that it does not sleep. That’s why our heart continues to beat, our lungs continue to breathe while we’re sleeping. Unfortunately for anxiety and panic attack sufferers, our subconscious mind learned the false danger for so long, it sends out wrong signal to our organs to fight the danger at the wrong time including during our sleep. And by being afraid of it and trying to fight it, we falsely confirm with our subconscious mind that nighttime is when the “danger” happens. Our mind will of course continue to perceive nighttime as a time to fight.
Nighttime panic attacks are especially terrifying because they happen when the world is asleep, no one is around or awake to accompany us. Nighttime is the most silent and the darkest time of the day. The lack of movement and noise at nighttime makes our heartbeat seem stronger and louder. This is why most anxiety and panic attacks sufferers perceive nighttime panic attacks to be stronger than the daytime ones.
The one effective way to stop having panic attacks during nighttime is to retrain your subconscious mind. This doesn’t mean erasing what it already has learned, that’s nearly impossible to do. This means training it to learn a new pathway, a new way to response to false signals. This is where A.C.E.R. shines. It teaches you not to react to your panic attacks. I know this is extremely difficult, but it works. Panic attacks will happen less often and with much less intensity. It’s like watching a fire burns out on its own.
Accept, Challenge, Embrace and Repeat
If you wake up in the middle of the night with a panic attack:
Accept that it’s normal and it’s a false signal from your fear center in the brain. Your subconscious mind is reacting to false danger. Your heart will beat like a drum, you might feel shortness of breath and many more sensations. But you have to trust that you are safe, and you have to wait this game out. Adrenaline will burn off and your body will slowly return to the normal state. And most importantly, don’t use acceptance as the mean to feel better. Trust me, you won’t. You will still feel the full impact of a panic attack. The difference this time is that you accept whatever is being thrown at you.
Challenge your panic attacks to speed up the adrenaline burning process. Ask it to get worse. Push your anxiety to its limit. I used to look at my chest and tell me heart: “come on, faster! beat harder!”. If my hands started to get crampy, I would lay still on my bed and tell me hands: “do it! whatever you are trying to do, do it!” If you are checked out by your doctor then trust me, it won’t get any worse. It will actually lose its steam and slow down.
Embrace your panic attacks. I know it sounds silly but once you are able to sit with your panic attacks and embrace it, I guarantee you your attacks will never return. Panic attacks are triggered by fear. And by embracing them, you diffuse the only thing they feed on.
Repeat all these steps night after night, as many nights as you have to. One day you will go through a whole night waiting for panic attacks to arrive and none will show up. Your patience, your determination and courage will pay off. I assure you.