Laying, half awake, half asleep, I’m standing on the edge of a bridge, and then I fall, the wind rushes past me, before I know it I’m bolt upright screaming.
The difference between a night terror, and a nightmare, is that a night terror wakes you up.
In one of the articles I’ve studied lately (Night Terrors and your Children) it suggests that night terrors are most common between three and twelve year olds, they can occur at any time but most typically occur during the first part of the night, within the first hour of sleep. Nightmares usually occur in the last hour of sleep.
According to this study the following factors can cause night terrors:
- Stress and anxiety
- Fever
- Traumatic events or fatigue
- Medications that affect the central nervous system (the brain) such as antihistamines, decongestants, levodopa, reserpine
- Sleep deprivation
One quote from the article that really surprised me was their recommendation not to wake the child or try to comfort them during the episode, it states:
You must not wake/yell or shake your child during episode. A child who is having an episode will return to a regular sleep without ever fully regaining consciousness and may further have absolutely no recollection of the event.
According to the article the recommended treatements for this include: allowing your child to get an adequate amount of sleep, deal with the tension, or stress the child is facing, during an episode be with your child, try to soothe them through it, if it’s really bad, wake them up fifteen minutes before they usually experience this.
Have you faced this with any of your children? How would you deal with this? Do you face night terrors?
The most valuable part of this article to me was that it really highlighted the difference between a night terror and a nightmare. (I was going to post a picture of a clown to represent the night terrors, but I didn’t want to give you nightmares.)
Bibliography
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:44 am
The picture you did post was enough for me. It reminded me of the rolled up paintings we found in the basement of our old house when we were kids. We must have walked past those overhead pipes a thousand times until we finally saw them. I guess that’s still why I can’t bear to look at that picture. Never liked it and never will. (No offense to the artist) I often wonder if the next family found them too, and what they thought. *shudder* It just disturbs me and I don’t know why.
My night terrors always came in the form of looking out the window, but not seeing the view I would see when awake. Like seeing huge piles of steel girders just thrown haphazardly in a pile only to change in the next moment to a fully formed bridge. Or being in buildings I’ve never been in before and opening doors that lead to steps, passageways, or rooms with open windows and torn curtains blowing in the breeze. I still experience those, but they’re not as disturbing anymore since someone explained to me they are signs of change and to go with the flow.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:10 am
Crazy. I know so many people whose kids have these. I think it’s more common now, though. But I wasn’t discussing this with my mommy friends in the 70’s.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 am
No night terrors here thank goodness! I do have nightmares myself from time to time. Normally it’s when I’m under a lot of stress and not sleeping well which fits the profile above. Thanks for not including the clown pic - they give me the heebie-geebies!
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 am
hmmm if you let the kid go back to sleep…
i am such a sound sleeper i don’t know what goes on in my house when i kick out i am out
do you suggest to yourself that you confront these ‘buggaboos’ or go from falling to flying if you start…
I remember dreaming someone was shooting me with a pistol and being jolted in my sleep - nightmares, no, just the usual fears of vampires and monsters and such in the night
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
My step-daughter had night terrors for years. We knew not to wake her so we would just follow her around to make sure she didn’t hurt herself or anyone else. We let her talk and screem until she was over it and we could guide her back to bed. She doesn’t remember any of it. She is over them now thankfully.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I can’t imagine not comforting a child. It comes so automatically.
I can’t remember any of my children experiencing night terrors.
Nightmares yes. Terrors no. Thanks Heavens
August 24th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Carolyn, I have to agree, I have vague memories of seeing this picture in my youth, this and Van Gogh’s Scream have it in for me. But a clown is more frightening.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:34 am
Larry, I don’t have night terrors anymore, and when I did they were always very minor. Chances are that if you’re having something like this now, you just need more sleep, I’ve always had more luck confronting them than running away.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:35 am
Singing angel, I value your experience in this, I haven’t had a lot of trouble with my children and night terrors, but I have to admit that my gut reaction is to wake them up and tell them it was a dream. Thank you for your comment.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:37 am
Omama, I couldn’t agree with you more, I’m very comforting to my children. I think it’s okay to comfort them, it’s just suggested to not wake them up as holding them and loving them should be comfort enough, but if you wake them up then they’ll more likely retain a memory of whatever it was that frightened them so.