Night Terror: Information, Symptoms and Causes

Night Terror (also called Pavor Nocturnus and Sleep Terror), is a parasomnia sleep disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. During a Night Terror episode, a person wakes abruptly from the fourth stage of sleep (a very deep stage of sleep), with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or even screaming. It is difficult and often impossible to fully wake the person, and after the episode they normally settle back to sleep without waking. Occasionally, the Night Terror episode can be recalled by the person in the morning, but normally it is not remembered.

Symptoms

While each Night Terror is usually different, all episodes by the same person will generally have similar features. One seemingly universal quality of night terrors is a strong sense of danger.

Night Terrors are distinct from nightmares in several key ways:

The person is not fully awake when roused by a Night Terror episode, even when efforts are made to wake the sleeper, and they may continue to experience the night terror for a prolonged period of 10 or 20 minutes.

Unlike nightmares, Night Terrors occur during the deepest levels of non-REM sleep.

Even if wakened the subject can often not remember the Night Terror episode except, perhaps, for a sense of panic, while nightmares are easily recalled.

Nightmares are frequently dreams about a frightening event, such as a monster under the bed, falling to one's death, drowning, etc. However, Night Terrors are not dreams like this, instead there is no situation or event, scary or otherwise, that is dreamt but rather strong emotions of fear is felt, often with tension and apprehension. These emotions without a focusing event or scenario that make up the dream itself compound and add to each other increasing the emotional build-up with a cumulative effect. As a result, the lack of a dream itself leaves those woken from a night terror in a state of disorientation much more severe than a normal nightmare. This can include a short period of amnesia during which the subject may be unable to recall their name, location, age, or any other personal or identifying features. This confused state generally passes after one or two minutes.

Night Terror episodes may occur frequently for a couple of weeks and then suddenly disappear. Each episode usually occurs during the first couple of hours of sleep.

Causes

The main causes, risk factors, and triggers for Night Terror include:

Random Sleeping Tip

Different people need different environments for sleeping and if there is any change in their sleeping environment, they are unable to have a good night sleep. There are people who do not find any comfort in soft beds. It is advisable for those people that they should think about getting hard surfaced beds because it is good for the back, as well as the spine. The hard beds support the entire body and relax it throughout.

Age: Children from age four to six are the most prone to experiencing Night Terrors, and they affect about three percent of all youngsters. However, people of any age may experience them.

Genetics: strong evidence indicates that a predisposition to Night Terrors and other parasomniac disorders can be passed genetically. That is, the disorders run in families.

Emotional Stress

Fever - especially High Fever

Lack of Sleep / recent disturbed sleep

Emotional stress during the previous day and a high fever are thought to precipitate most Night Terror episodes.

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