Nightmares and Sleep Terror – Is there Cause for Concern

Night Terror Sleep Disorder

Experiencing nightmares are a common phenomenon which almost every person would have seen during their childhood. This sleeping disorder is very frequent in children and might have an onset sometimes in children as young as two. Nightmares are a frequent phenomenon in children between the age group of three to twelve and are usually considered normal. A small three percent of children might face sleep terror or night terror. Nightmares and night terrors are very scary from the child’s perspective.

What Causes Night Terrors?

Nightmares are nothing but scary dreams that have a tendency to rouse the person from sleep. Even though it is common in children, adults too can have nightmares and there is no cause for anxiety. It is common for a person to have a nightmare many hours after falling asleep when the person is in the REM phase of sleep that sees more amount of dreaming coupled with a generalized paralysis of the body.

Many children have a tendency to recall their nightmare on awakening and sometimes might recollect it even in the morning. If the nightmares get too frequent, the child might develop a phobia to fall asleep and this might cause deprivation of sleep. It is vital for the parent of the child to be extremely calm and try and reassure the child when he/ she has a nightmare.

Parents can take several steps to avert the chances of their child having a nightmare. One thing they can do is to talk to the child in a comforting and reassuring manner prior to making the child sleep. They can pursue comforting activities like reading from a book or narrating a story. It is important not to relate any kind of scary things or allowing them to watching a horror or violent flick on the television before it is time to sleep. The time surrounding bedtime should be very relaxing and the child should be at ease and comfort. Many times, nightmares stem from emotional issues that the child may be putting up with.

Children face night terrors in the early hours of going to sleep and occur in deep non-REM phase of sleep. The characteristic traits of night terrors will include crying, moaning or screaming loudly. You might even see the child to sit up and scream out at the top of their voice. If you observe the child, you will see that their breathing rate is up and so is the heart rate. The episodes of sleep terror usually occur at the same point of time in the night and might last for anywhere between 10minutes to an hour. Even though the child appears awake because they open their eyes, the child will be far from being awake and will not be able to recall the episode immediately or in the morning.

Treatment For Sleep Terror

Although sleep terrors can be extremely terrifying to the parents, they are in actuality very harmless and are not occurring due to any kind of mental stress or emotion. As the child is not awake during the incident, it is essential for the parent not attempt waking the child or trying to reassure them. The only thing that the parent needs to look at is the safety of the child and preventing them from harming themselves. The condition usually lasts anywhere between some months to years and will usually disappear on its own.

Night terrors can occur when the child is over exhausted, or when they are awake beyond their bedtime, using some medications or from having a heavy dinner and then going to bed.

Though nightmares and sleep terror can be terrifying to the parent and the child, one must realize that this kind of sleep disorder is totally harmless and the child will soon outgrow the problem.

Resources:
Sleep terror disorder
http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Sleep-terror-disorder.html

Night terror
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000809.htm