Everything You Need to Know About Sleep Terrors
Sleep terrors, also called night terrors, are a type of parasomnia. These sleep disorders cause irregular behavior during sleep.
While some people might describe sleep terrors as a more dramatic or intense nightmare, these are two different things.
Sleep terrors happen shortly after you fall asleep, during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Nightmares happen during REM sleep.
It’s also pretty typical to wake up during or after a bad dream. But after a sleep terror, you might return to a natural sleep without ever fully waking up.
Sleep terrors also aren’t the same as sleep paralysis, another parasomnia that happens during the transition between sleeping and waking.
During an episode of sleep paralysis, you might have the sensation of a harmful presence in your bedroom, or pressing down on you — but you can’t move or scream. This experience can feel pretty darn terrifying, but it typically ends within a minute or two, if not sooner.
To contrast, screaming and moving are very much a part of sleep terrors. You might cry out, flail, or even get of bed. In some cases, people have even fallen down stairs or jumped out of windows.
Read on to get the details on sleep terrors, including:
How to recognize sleep terrors
Most people who have sleep terrors don’t remember anything about the episode. It’s often others in the household, like parents or romantic partners, who first notice the sleep disturbance.
During a sleep terror, you (or your child) might:
After a sleep terror, which can last up to 20 minutes, you may:
Sleep terrors usually happen within the first 3 hours of sleep. You (or your child) have a higher chance of experiencing them when:
What causes sleep terrors?
Experts don’t know exactly what causes sleep terrors, though some have suggested a link between serotonin and night terrors. A family history of sleep terrors also seems to play a part.
Other factors known to contribute to sleep terrors include:
Disrupted sleep
Sleep terrors are more likely to happen when you get poor sleep.
Any number of things can disrupt your rest by keeping you from falling or staying asleep, including:
Other sleep disorders
Having another disruptive sleep disorder may also increase your chances of having sleep terrors.
These sleep conditions include:
Mental health conditions
You may have a higher chance of experiencing sleep terrors if you live with certain mental health conditions, including:
Medications
Some medications can contribute to other parasomnias, like vivid dreams, nightmares, and sleepwalking. They could also contribute to sleep terrors in some people.
These medications include:
Parkinson’s disease
In a 2014 study involving 661 adults with Parkinson’s disease, 3.9 percent reported having sleep terrors. Participants also reported other types of parasomnias, like sleepwalking and nightmares.
According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, sleep issues are common in people living with this condition, in part due to brain changes it causes. But the medications used to treat Parkinson’s disease can also have sleep-disrupting side effects.
Who’s most likely to experience them?
Around 30 percent of children have sleep terrors. They tend to happen most frequently between the ages of 3 and 7, and they usually stop by the age of 10.
To contrast, only around 1 to 4 percent of adults have sleep terrors.
So, while anyone can experience sleep terrors, they’re much more common in children:
How can they affect you?
Even when you don’t remember your sleep terrors, they can still have a lasting impact on health and well-being.
Sleep terrors can lead to:
Loss of sleep
Since they can affect your sleep quality, you might feel tired and find it difficult to focus the next day.
And of course, sleep terrors might not wake up whoever has them — but other people in the household might wake up, especially those sleeping in the same room. To put it another way, everyone in the house might have trouble sleeping.
If your child has a sleep terror, you might worry it could happen again and have trouble sleeping as a result of your concern.
Emotional distress
When you get sleep terrors regularly, you might feel a little embarrassed or guilty because they disrupt everyone’s sleep. (It goes without saying, though, that sleep terrors aren’t your fault.)
If you remember the sleep terrors, you might feel anxious and fearful, because, well, they can be pretty terrifying. Worrying about them happening again could make it difficult for you to fall asleep.
Injuries
The possibility of injury is one the most serious potential complications of sleep terrors.
People who have sleep terrors may:
Generally speaking, it’s best to avoid waking someone during a sleep terror. Instead, stay close to monitor their movements so you can step in if they seem at risk of getting hurt. When it’s over, you can gently guide them back to bed.
Coping tips
In search of strategies to help manage sleep terrors for you or your child? Try starting with these:
Helping your child with sleep terrors
Most of the above tips also work well for children with sleep terrors.
A few additional considerations to keep in mind:
When to get support
Diagnosing sleep terrors can be tricky because the people who have them don’t usually remember them. What’s more, they happen sporadically and can come and go over time.
That said, reaching out to a healthcare professional could help you identify any contributing factors. A therapist can also help you identify potential sources of stress or anxiety, or any other underlying conditions that might play a part in sleep terrors.
It never hurts to connect with a sleep specialist or other healthcare professional if sleep terrors cause lasting daytime distress or persistent:
Here’s how to find a sleep specialist.
The bottom line
Experts have yet to find a cure for sleep terrors. Still, you have options to help prevent them and improve your rest.
Taking steps to improve sleep and relieve stress in your life can make a difference.
If the sleep terrors continue, it may be worth connecting with a healthcare professional to explore potential causes and helpful approaches to managing them.
Adrienne Santos-Longhurst is a Canada-based freelance writer and author who has written extensively on all things health and lifestyle for more than a decade. When she’s not holed-up in her writing shed researching an article or off interviewing health professionals, she can be found frolicking around her beach town with husband and dogs in tow or splashing about the lake trying to master the stand-up paddle board.
Posted : 2024-09-30 09:08
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