Night terrors are known by different names as sleep terrors, Pavor nocturnes etc. It is a kind of sleep disorder that is similar to a nightmare but is more that just a bad dream. It at times is related to sleep walking but not always.
A night terror is a rare disorder that is more common in children than in adults. Even though night terrors are more noticed in children aged from 4 to 12, it can start at an early stage of life as 9 months. This disorder happens in the profound and non dreaming stage of sleep. The difference between a night terror and a night mare would be that; in a night mare, the person wakes up from the sleep and do recall their bad dream. Where as in a night terror, the actions of the person would be more dramatic and they wouldn’t wake up during the course. When in children, they wouldn’t remember anything about the dream they had during the night terror episode, the next morning and in case of adults, they might have a blurry idea of the dream they had.
While in night terror, a person would sit up, scream, kick, sweat with high pulse rate and breathing heavily, stare wide eyed, run around the house, indulge in violent behavior, hard to console and also be hard to wake them up. Usually night terrors are nothing much concerned about, but incase it cause problems as frequently disrupt sleep or fear to go to bed, frequent night terrors, or even violent acts, its always better to consult a doctor.
The causes of a night terror would be sleep deprivation, stress, tiredness, anxiety, fever, uncomfortable sleep surroundings and even noises. Other medical conditions as migraines, head injuries and even having breathing pattern disorder while sleeping disturbs the sleep stages that can end up in night terrors. Also alcohol, Drug addiction and certain other medications can cause these episodes.
Usually night terrors do not have any specific treatments. It usually wears out with age. The approach to a person having night terrors must be very calm and soft. Violent, loud and aggressive behaviour may simply worsen the condition. In case the cause of this problem is due to other medical reasons, the treatment would be connected to the medical cause. And if Stress and fatigue contributes to the night terror episodes, then it is advised to meet a counsellor to deal with the purpose.
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