Night Terrors, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

This book describes Night Terrors, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related DiseasesWhen I was a young boy I used to be wakened up by my brothers who said that I was disturbing their sleep by thrashing and screaming in my sleep. Mind you they were not concerned about me but about the fact that I was disturbing their sleep. I did not remember what happened in my sleep. May be it happened only after a high fever when I was stung by a jellyfish or it could be due to the concussion that occurred after a fall while climbing a high tree.
After a few months my night terror problem probably stopped because my brothers did not wake me up during my sleep. Night terrors (also called sleep terrors) are a sleep disorder in which a person quickly wakes from sleep in a terrified state. Night terrors are events of intense screaming, crying, thrashing, or fear during sleep that happen again and again, normally in children ages 3 to 12. Night terrors happen during non-REM sleep, normally about 90 minutes after a child falls asleep.
Night terrors tend likely to run in families. CausesNight terror is a sleep disorder producing feelings of panic or dread normally happening during the first hours of stage 3-4 non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and persisting for 1 to 10 minutes. Night terrors normally start in childhood and normally diminish with age. Risk factors which may cause night terrors are:1. Young age, 2. Sleep deprivation, 3.
Medicines, 4. Stress, 5. Fever, and6. Intrinsic sleep disorders. While the frequency and severity vary between different persons, the incidents can happen in intervals of days or weeks but can also happen over successive nights or many times in one night. Night terrors are likely to happen during periods of arousal from delta sleep. Delta sleep (called slow-wave sleep) happens most often during the first half of a sleep cycle, which suggests that people with more delta-sleep activity are more susceptible to night terrors.
They can also happen during daytime naps. They can persist longer, particularly in children. The precise cause is not known, but night terrors may be activated by:1. Fever2. Lack of sleep3. Periods of emotional tension, stress, or conflictThey can happen in adults, particularly when there is emotional tension or alcohol use. Most of the time, they have no definite cause. But certain things might have a part, such as:1.
Stress2. Depression or anxiety3. Fever4. Too much caffeine5. Sleeping in a different place or away from home6. Lack of sleep7. Medicines that affect the central nervous system (the brain)8. Restless legs syndrome9. Sleep disorders like sleep apnea10. Recent anesthesia for surgerySymptomsNight terrors are most frequent during the first third of the night often between midnight and 2 a.m. During a night terror episode, a child might:1.
Sit up in bed2. Flail around in bed3. Scream4. Look awake but be confused5. Seem like they don't know that a parent is there6. Not talk7. Not respond when a parent comforts them8. Most episodes last only a few minutes, but it may take up to 30 minutes before the child relaxes and goes back to sleep. They often have no memory of the incident when they wake up the next dayNight terrors are not dangerous, but they can disrupt the child's sleep.
In many cases, a child who has a night terror only requires to be comforted. In most children, night terrors ultimately subside and do not need to be treated. It may be useful to reassure the child and their family that they will outgrow this disorder. Decreasing stress or coping mechanisms, talk therapy or counseling and hypnos...