Night Terrors in Adults

Do you often sit up in your bed and start screaming? You don?t have an idea of what you are doing. Generally people who experience night terrors try to fight imaginary horror situations. According to the statistics about 2.2 % of adults and 6.5% of children have night terrors. Actually night terrors in adults usually develop at late stages of life. Parasomnia is a term used to describe night terrors, a group of sleeping problems, which often go together with undesired events. In fact, night terrors in adults can happen at any sleep period, but are more often seen in the primary hours of sleep.

Do you often sit up in your bed and start screaming? You don?t have an idea of what you are doing. Generally people who experience night terrors try to fight imaginary horror situations. According to the statistics about 2.2 % of adults and 6.5% of children have night terrors. Actually night terrors in adults usually develop at late stages of life. Parasomnia is a term used to describe night terrors, a group of sleeping problems, which often go together with undesired events. In fact, night terrors in adults can happen at any sleep period, but are more often seen in the primary hours of sleep.

Potential causes of night terrors

Night terrors usually have an underlying genetic link. As a matter of fact, night terrors in adults happen due to certain psychological problems:

• Anxiety
• Bipolar disorder
• Depression
• Lifestyle changes
• Sleep apnea
• Sleeping disorders
• Sleep deprivation
• Head injury
• Migraine
• Bloated stomach
• Premenstrual Syndrome
• Brain swelling
• Hyperthyroidism
• Constant traveling
• Stress
• Alcohol abuse
• Fever
• Sleeping in inconvenient conditions
• Medical conditions

Lab tests in people with night terrors show a significant increase in the activity of the brain which causes frightening dreams.

Night terrors and nightmares are different things. Nightmares are generally experienced during the 5th stage of sleep. The person is in the deepest stage of sleep, however can be woken up easily. The sleeper having a nightmare might not remember the details, but will remember he or she experienced a nightmare. Night terrors can happen at any sleeping point, more often at stage four, and it is difficult to wake up the sleeper. The individual might not remember anything at all bout. Adults who suffer from night terrors should visit the doctor to manage the condition.

Treatment options

The only method to treat night terrors in adults is to visit the doctor. Doctors usually ask to keep a sleeping diary to detect the sleeping patterns. The doctor will also observe carefully your sleep schedule, the diet and lifestyle you have. These all help to discover the root of night terrors in adults. The best advice is to stay open about your life problems with the doctor.

As a matter of fact, night terrors in a rather scary case to deal with. It is recommended to be calm and accept that you have a problem. It is not a good idea to wake up the sleeper! Note the times of night terrors and things the sleeper says. Try to comfort the sleeper and help him or her to deal with this problem.