Sunday, July 18, 2010

Night Terrors Vs Nightmares: How To Handle Them

By Harvey Foreman

One question sleep disorder sufferers often ask is "Did I have a nightmare or a night terror? And what is the difference?" Night terrors and nightmares are actually distinctly different from one another, and the scientific classifications between the two are clear.

Nightmares are likely to take place following a period of many hours of deep sleep. The victim remembers the dream - sometimes in exacting detail. This is one of the biggest differences between nightmare and night terrors: the nightmare victim nearly always becomes aware that they experienced an intense dream after waking himself up or perhaps shortly thereafter. Although the nightmare itself could get a person directly out of bed, there's hardly ever any kind of thrashing about or any physical movements that accompany the nightmare other than whimpers or perhaps some slight groans.

When the nightmare patient wakes up, they have a tendency to recall the experience to have been a very fearful one at the time, even though they might be unable to identify precisely why. Very often, the individual benefits from discussing the facts of the nightmare together with somebody close to them. Nevertheless, should a person experience nightmares constantly spanning a extended time frame, it could possibly suggest a far more serious sleep trouble - maybe even a genuine sleep disorder.

Night terrors, however, take place within the first couple of hours of sleep. When they strike, the sleeper responds with deafening shouting which is almost always accompanied by intense thrashing in bed. Waking the sleeper up is very difficult and the sleeper usually doesn't remember much of anything other than an overwhelming sensation or perhaps a individual scene from their dream. In many cases, the night terror victim doesn't remember anything at all.

Nightmares and night terrors develop during distinctly different periods of sleep. Young children who have experienced night terrors may also tend to walk in their sleep and/or discharge urine in bed. Nightmare sufferers, on the other hand, seldom experience these reactions, regardless of their age.

When compared to nightmares, experts still do not fully understand exactly what brings about night terrors. Additional in-depth investigation will be required in order to discover the actual causes. As soon as adolescence comes, children usually stop having them. In older people, however, night terrors tend to be triggered by stress filled day time circumstances and experiences. In situations like this, a discussion with a medical professional knowledgeable in the area of sleep problems would certainly be advised. Sufferers of both nightmares and night terrors could benefit from a discussion with a sleep disorder professional.

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