Night Terrors

 A night terror or parvor nocturnus comes under the category of a parasomnia, it is characterized by a state of extreme terror which occurs in slow wave sleep, unlike a nightmare which occurs in REM sleep. The person experiencing a night terror is in a state of only partial arousal, and will quickly return to sleep , unable to remember what might have caused such a  state of terror.

The person may shriek out loudly, moan and gasp, and will be difficult to arouse, this state occurs in non REM sleep. Many  attempts may be made to wake the person from their terror but to no avail, the terror experience may continue for sometime, maybe as long as 20 minutes, then normal sleep is resumed. When asked later for information about the terror, the person can not recall the content of the terror, and there appears to be no obvious reason for such a state of extreme terror.

Some children are prone to night terrors, it appears to be an inherited trait, and after a few weeks the problem seems to resolve. Both adolescents and adults experience night terrors, but the experience is not as common in this group as in children. Something as simple as a high fever may trigger a night terror in children, however, in adults, although the terror is the same, the underlying trigger may be very different, in the case of adults some form of trauma may be involved, and unfortunately medication may be sought to resolve the problem. Although the problem demands treatment, the use of anti depressants to treat the terror, fails to treat the cause, far better to seek out an alternative medical practitioner to treat the problem.

Read more:Nightmares Sleeping Disorder