Nightmares & Night
Terrors
A Frightening Sleep Disorder
At some point of their life, almost all children experience
the sleep disorder of having a nightmare. They are more common
in children and the disorder can begin as early as two years
old. Usually, they happen in children between three and twelve
years old and are considered part of the normal developmental
process. Fortunately, only about 3 percent, experience night
terrors, which also known as sleep terrors. Both of these
sleep disorders can be very frightening to a child.
Nightmares are dreams which are so frightening that they
often wake the person up. Everyone has had nightmares once
a while throughout their life and they usually are not something
to worry about.
Nightmares happen few hours after going to sleep during the
REM stage of sleep when there is general body paralysis and
active dreaming.
A child can remember the nightmare once they awake and they
usually remember it in the morning. This nightmare can sometimes
be a problem when it happens so often and the child becomes
to sleep or becomes sleep deprived. When a nightmare happens
it is important that the parent remains calm and reassuring.
There are a couple of things that a parent can do to prevent
nightmares. Discuss calm and comforting things with your child
just before putting then to bed. Reading to them, or telling
them a story can also be very comforting. Besides, it is best
not to let a child watch violent or scary shows on television,
especially just before going to bed. You should also maintain
a relaxing bedtime routine is also important. Sometimes, nightmares
point out a more severe emotional problem within your child.
Night terrors tend to happen during the first few hours of
sleep, during deep non-REM sleep. They always happen the same
time each night. Night terrors are identified by screaming,
crying or moaning. It is not unusual for a child to experience
a night terror to sit straight up in bed and scream. Their
heart rate will be increased since they experience rapid breathing.
An episode of this sleep disorder could last from 10 minutes
to more than an hour. Although the child's eyes are open,
they are actually still asleep and when they wake up in the
morning there is no memory of what happened during the night.
While night terrors can be frightening, often they are not
dangerous. They usually are not a sign of any type of mental
distress. A parent should not try to wake the child, or comfort
them, during a night terror. The best thing for a parent to
do when their child is experiencing a night terror is to make
sure they are safe. Most of the children will outgrow night
terror after a few months or years.
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