Night Terrors

4/10/2008

Night terrors are often more frightening to a parent than the child. Your little girl or boy is clearly terrified---flushed, trembling, heart racing like a bird’s, shrieking like a banshee, and flailing around. She cannot be consoled. You wonder what awful, painful thing is happening to her.

So the first thing I want to tell you about night terrors is that, even though your child’s eyes are open, she is not awake. In fact, she is in a deep state of sleep. When she is experiencing a night terror, she is not in pain, she is not having a seizure, and she will not remember a thing in the morning.

Night terrors are a parasomnia, or sleep disturbance, that occur in about five percent of children aged 3-12 years old, most frequently at about 4-5 years of age. They may occur only once or once a week or once a month, but eventually children outgrow them.

Episodes of night terror usually occur 30-90 minutes into a child’s sleep cycle, just before the transition from deep (non-REM) sleep to light (REM) sleep. They can last from ten minutes to an hour.

During an episode of night terrors your child is actively dreaming, but appears awake. She may sit up, scream, and speak, but won’t actually be able to respond to you. Her autonomic (involuntary) nervous system goes into hyper-drive, causing sweating, dilated pupils, rapid breathing, flushed appearance, and rapid heart rate. This arousal behavior will eventually exhaust her, however, and send her back to sleep.

No one knows for sure what causes night terrors. There is some evidence of a genetic link, as parents of children with night terrors frequently recall having similar sensations themselves. Other possible factors:

• Stress at school or in the home
• Emotional conflict
• Fatigue
• Fever

You may be able to prevent or reduce episodes of night terrors by:

• Putting your child to bed early enough to prevent fatigue
• Making bedtimes pleasant, regular, and relaxing
• Talking to your child’s teacher about any issues at school
• Using conflict-resolution and stress-management techniques to reduce family stress or tension
• Conferring with a child psychologist if you find yourself unable to minimize the stress your child feels

You will need to cultivate patience if your child suffers recurrent night terrors, as there is little you can really do to speed the process along. She is not actually awake, so reasoning with her will not work. Your best bet is to comfort her physically with strokes and gentle rocking until the episode is over. Protect her from accidental injury while she’s in this agitated state. If an episode goes on for a long time, you can try to gently waken her. Once she’s awake and calm, reassure her, and tuck her back in to sleep as quickly as possible.

If the episodes do not abate, a visit with a sleep specialist might uncover whatever is triggering the terrors.