What is the Difference Between Nightmares and Night Terrors?

Discussion Sleep disorders are common in all ages particularly with sleep deprivation in our increasingly busy world. Sleep problems are more common in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, headache and visual impairments. Sleep problems can cause cognitive and behavioral impairments including emotional regulation problems, increased seizures or headaches, and impaired attention and have been known to prolong recovery from various acquired brain injuries. Parasomnias are “undesirable events that accompany sleep and typically occur during sleep-wake transitions.” The term sleep terror is preferred to night terror as these episodes can occur during any sleep period, daytime or nighttime. One of the key elements is that the terrorized person is not the child but the family member who is often quite alarmed and distressed by the appearance and behavior of the child. The episodes have an abrupt awakening with screaming/crying with strong autonomic discharge including tachycardia, tachypnea and sweating where the child is not aware of what is going on. The episodes are generally brief and the child is amnestic of the event later on. A 2015 study found a sleep terror prevalence rate of 34.4 % of 18 month olds that slowly decreased to 5% at age 13. There was a similar inverse trend for sleepwalking with a prevalence rate of 12.8% at age 13 that decreased to 3.6% at age 18 months. The authors note that there is a strong familial association ...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news