What Are Night Terrors and Its Causes

Routine functions that take place with one’s body and mind are important for healthy living. If this does not take place, ill-health is inevitable. Among the known health problems that arise due to one’s body and mind not resting are sleep disorders. These are various kinds and each of them has its effects on a person with varied intensity.

One particular problem that is known to be considerably stressful is a ‘Night Terror’.

Misdiagnosis

Night Terrors are of different types, and they are unlike the ordinary night mare that one has. A person who has had a night terror would know exactly what it is like and also know that it isn’t simply a nightmare as many believe it to be. Another common misdiagnosis of a night terror is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is largely associated with war veterans. However, it is clear enough that a night terror is nothing like PTSD.

Description Of Night Terrors

A more accurate description on Night Terrors would include suddenly waking up from one’s sleep, extreme fear at night, shrieking, perspiring, confusion, elevated heart rate, and generally one being unable to explain his or her condition. There is also an ability to recall dreams. One may have a memory of frightening images as well, and several people see creatures such as spiders, snakes, wild animals or even people in the bed-room. Some are not able to awake from their condition, and are also quite difficult to counsel. At the same time, they have hardly any memory of what they have seen; they only seem to remember the frightening images that get embedded in their minds.

Occurence Of Night Terrors

Nightmares generally have been known to occur during a stage in one’s sleep known as the rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. This stage usually comes into action around one and a half hrs after one falls asleep. Normally a person at this stage in a sleep wakes up after experiencing a sequence of images just like a movie. In contrast to this movie-type experience that may also be frightening to an extent, Night Terrors occur when one is in a deep non-REM sleep.

This takes place just an hr after one falls asleep. A night terror is known to last anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes, and can even go one while the sleepers eyes are open. In actuality, the sleeper does not awake. It is the condition that causes one’s eyes to open up.

After the person does awake however with his or her eyes open, there is almost no memory of what happened during the terror. Only fear is left behind and they remain insecure. There are however few people that manage to remember portions of their terrors, and only very few remember the whole episode.

Few main points to remember regarding Night Terrors

• Night Terrors are known to come down family lines.
• They are not believed to be dangerous.
• Are not dangerous.
• They may go on for a period of 5 minutes and last up to 20 minutes.
• The terror is known to occur during stage 4 of a sleep cycle.
• There is no age limit for the occurrence of this sleep disorder.

Though Night Terrors may not be fatal they could impact one’s life in any way. Not being able to sleep well affects anyone, and if one has particular fears of sleeping because of being disturbed by this disorder, the matter should be taken seriously.