You may enter a crowded store, or an airport, and suddenly are overcome with dizziness, trouble breathing and chest pains. You may feel unnaturally afraid all of the sudden, and in mortal danger. You are not alone. Between 6.5 – 10% of Americans have been diagnosed with Panic Disorder, which means the individual has suffered more than one panic attack within a period of time. Anxiety attack heart difficulties can arise from the heart being told to work too fast by the brain, which is in charge of the “fight or flight” mechanism. At this point, the body often decides to simply shut down because it’s easier on the systems involved. For this reason, the heart once again runs the virtual gamut of both beating faster and beating slower; calming the body down and slowing blood flow one moment and then speeding the body up and creating more blood flow the next minute. If you are someone who suffers from these kinds of attacks, it is important to know as much as you can about them as to help control them. Causes of Anxiety Attacks The cause of an anxiety attack can vary from person to person. They may be caused by an upsetting event in someone's life or a fear of something they have experienced growing up. Anyone who experiences frequent nocturnal panic attack episodes should begin to question their nightly regiment before they go to bed. Ideally a person who experiences frequent nightly attacks should make it their goal to reduce the common causes of panic attacks. Unfortunately, when it comes to panic attacks, almost anything can be the trigger. This fear can range from not being able to travel a few hours away from the home, all the way down to not being able to leave your home all together. An agoraphobia panic attack is basically an attack that occurs when an agoraphobic attempts to go beyond their safe boundaries. The problem with treating an agoraphobia panic attack is that the only real way to overcome the attack is for the person to attempt to push their limits. Although panic attacks may seem to be random to some, there are actually a great number of factors and biochemical processes that occur during a panic attack that make it anything but chaotic at the outset. The human body actually reacts in a set number of stages, all of which help prepare the body and train it how to react.