Night Terrors

It’s halloween, so what better time of the year to have a little look at night terrors?

These are sometimes conflated in popular culture with nightmares or bad dreams (especially in horror films) but they’re a bit different. Nightmares happen during the REM part of our sleep cycle, we wake up fully and we can typically remember the dream that’s scared us, at least for a bit.

In contrast night terrors happen during non-REM sleep at the start of the sleep cycle.

You’re only partially awake, not really aware of what’s around you, and consumed with fear and panic for the duration of the experience which can be anything from just a few minutes to around half an hour. This can even involve screaming and thrashing or even complicated movements and sleepwalking, sometimes resulting in bruises and other injuries .

It can be challenging to support someone who is having a night terror as they typically won’t respond to us. The person normally doesn’t remember the dream either, and once they’ve got back to sleep may not remember anything about it in the morning.

Night terrors aren’t as common as horror movies might have us thinking and only about 6% of kids will have them. While it can be quite distressing for parents (and the whole household!), children will usually grow out of them in time.

It’s not unknown for adults to also experience them though, although this is even less common. In contrast to kids, adults are more at risk of injuring ourselves as adult night terrors tend to involve us getting out of bed and our bodies are bigger, heavier and more challenging to move around safely than that kids.

The exact causes of night terrors are unknown but they are associated with sleep deprivation, fevers, anxiety/stress, and alcohol. Typically, good sleep hygiene, managing stress and anxiety and looking after our general health can help, although night terrors in adults can indicate more serious issues like PTSD which can be addressed with counselling.

If you’d like to work with me on your mental health, you can get in touch with me via the website or drop me a message directly at mckellarcbt@gmail.com

While you're here, if you'd like some dream-related related horror movie suggestions for Halloween, you might like to consider:

• They (2002)

• A Nightmare on Elm Street (any of them, but not the remake)

• Bad Dreams (1988)

• Dream Demon (1988)

• Paperhouse (1988)

Happy Halloween!