Night Terrors

There are many different types and degrees of night terrors, sometimes referred to as sleep terrors. These are a form of parasomnia which can have some sufferers thrashing around in their sleep, shouting, crying out, screaming or performing violent acts on those next to them. Some may even move about or get up and walk around without even knowing it.

People who suffer with night terrors are still asleep during these outbursts and cannot be awakened without great difficulty. An episode can last up to about twenty minutes after which the person returns to normal sleep. Sometimes they may awaken but experience confusion.

Although night terrors are often confused with nightmares they are quite different in that nightmares are dreams. In dreams people may remember images, sounds, feelings etc and they take place during the REM stage of sleep. Night terrors occur before REM sleep, and rather than an image or sound it can be more of a deep rooted sense of dread, fear or terror.

This kind of sleep disorder is easy to spot as the person who experiences it will scream or cry out loudly in a way that wakes others and can seem terrifying to them. However unless they are lashing out violently at those around them the terror is not dangerous, particularly as most people don’t remember what happened, even when others tell them.

Remember night terrors, and other kinds of parasomnia, take place during the stage before deep sleep. It can therefore be helpful to take some measures to try to get into a deep sleep faster. This could maybe help limit the number of parasomnia outbursts. Having good sense of sleep hygiene, for example comfortable sleeping conditions, limiting the different kinds of stimulants, a regular bed time and so on may be a good place to start

#nightterrors #nightmares #sleepwalking

Tags: dread, fear, parasomnia, sleep disorder, terror