Night terrors, also called sleep terrors, are common, affecting 1 to 3 percent of children and some adults as well. They often run in families. In children, night terrors often start with screaming, after which the child may be agitated and inconsolable. Kids look awake – their eyes are usually open – but their “brains are deeply asleep,” said Dr. Judith Owens, associate professor of pediatrics at Brown University Medical School. After an episode, kids go back to sleep and have no memory of the event. Adults are more likely to be aware of an episode.
The good news, said Owens, is that night terrors “are not an indication of any underlying psychological or medical issue in most case.” They usually go away on their own , although it can take years.
Medically, night terrors are classified among the “parasomnias,” a continuum of disorders, said Dr. John Winkelman, medical director of the Sleep Health Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. At the mild end are “confusional arousals,” in which the sleeper, while deeply asleep (in stage 3 or 4, or slow wave sleep) becomes partially awake. It’s as if people “get stuck in some middle state between being awake and asleep,” said Winkelman.
The next step is sleep walking, a more aroused state in which the sleeper literally walks around, which can lead to falling down stairs or other injuries. At the far end are the night terrors. Night terrors are quite different from nightmares, which occur during dreaming or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
Nobody knows what causes night terrors, although sleep deprivation can be a trigger. People with adult-onset night terrors should see a doctor to make sure they don’t have epilepsy or sleep apnea (disruption of breathing during sleep). For adults, hypnotherapy sometimes helps, as do some sleeping pills. But in kids, the best treatment, Owens said, is to “just gently settle the child but not try to jolt him or her awake.” In some cases, “scheduled awakening” of the child during deep sleep can also help.