Acceptance is very important - calm, relaxed, acceptance that you are experiencing a natural reaction to anxiety. It's the same whether caused by thought or actual danger. As we know, symptoms of anxiety are important for survival and therefore, we can never eliminate it completely.

It makes sense that someone would not have a panic attack when there is a dangerous situation happening around them, but would have a panic attack whilst laying in bed, because in that scenario we have time to add the fuel of scarey thoughts - and so the vicious cricle begins - thoughts, anxiety, thoughts anxiety.

Years of association from panic attacks symtpoms can lead to the scarey thoughts and vicious circle. Staying aware and noticing when it's the thoughts that are causing the symptoms or a series of palpitations that are causing scarey thoughts is important, but difficult. As a child I used to lay in bed with my hand on my heart thinking it was going to stop. It was years before I learned why the natural symptoms of panic were happening at inappropriate times.

In reference to palpitations, as has been pointed out, they are harmless; everyone experiences them at some point. The causes of palpitations are important to learn. It can give you a checklist to go through and figure out why they're happening - is it a lack of sleep, is it dehydration, low electrolytes, caffeine, alcohol, a food intolerance, stress etc.

I had a 2 bad heart racing/palpitation epsiodes in the summer this year.

One time I woke in the night with my heart racing, weak arms, lightheaded - my first jumbled thought was heart attack. However, after a bowel movement, a banana and a glass of coconut water with himilayan salt and tsp of raw honey, my heart gradually slowed down over the next 20 minutes or so. I looked at my food/symptoms diary (I keep it because I have ulcerative colitis) the next day and realised I was very dehydrated (and low on electrolytes as a result). The interesting thing is that I wasn't aware of it e.g. I didn't feel thirsty - the main feeling I associate with dehydration.

The other time was when I started to get a lot of missed heart beats over a few days, which began waking me up at night. Again, I looked at my food diary and realised that I had made a big change in my diet, which had resulted in a gradual decrease in electrolytes (RDA is rarely reached by many people e.g. 4700mg of potassium). The next day I began drinking a glass of coconut water in the morning and eating a banana; same in the afternoon and evening. The palpitations stopped the same day.