You crawl into bed after making dinner, doing the dishes,
and getting your children tucked safely into bed. You fall asleep quickly only
to be awakened abruptly by a loud, piercing scream. Dashing into your child’s
room you find him/her sitting straight up in bed, emitting loud cries. You
expect to find a giant spider, but instead your child is staring unseeingly
into space. Nothing calms him/her down, what can possibly be happening?
Night terrors happen during non-REM sleep, when a child
switches between deep sleep into a lighter sleep; which usually occurs within
the first few hours of falling asleep. That transition for some reason is
sometimes accompanied by an intense fear, increased heartbeat, rapid breathing,
and sweating that can last between five to forty five minutes. It is found that
waking a child during these terrors is not necessarily beneficial as they will
be disoriented and confused. Because these are not nightmares, the child will
not remember the terrors.
One to six percent of children will have terrors and a large
amount of children with night terrors also have a relative who has night
terrors or goes sleep walking. (Sleep walking is another sleep disturbance.) Fortunately
as the neurological system matures the terrors will usually subside. This phenomenon
can occur as young as eighteen months but typically take place between the ages
of three to pre-adolescent. Strangely enough an adult can have these
occasionally as well.
Why do night terrors occur?
1.
Exhaustion, jet lag
2.
Stress or illness, elevated temperature
3.
New medication
4.
A new sleeping environment. I.e. attending camp,
staying overnight somewhere, etc.
While not a cure, there are some steps that might decrease night terrors:
1.
Do something relaxing before bed.
2.
Make a calming bedtime routine and stick with
it.
3.
Don’t plan something exciting right before bed
such as rough house games.
4.
Try not to let your child get overtired as that
can bring on the unwanted terrors.
5.
Music can make the shift smoother from deeper
sleep into lighter REM sleep.
6.
Put an end to television until he/she is older.
The American Pediatric Society tells us that it is not good for those less than
twenty four months because can be detrimental to brain development.
7.
There is some thought that if you
wake a child about ten to fifteen minutes before the night terrors usually
strike, that you may be able to reset the arousal for night terrors and they
may not recur.
Sources:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_night-terrors-why-they-happen-and-what-to-do-about-them_64971.bc
http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/813052/13-tips-for-handling-night-terrors-in-kids/page:2http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/health/19babies.html?_r=0
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