A night terror, also known as a sleep terror or pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia disorder, causing feelings of terror or dread, and typically occurring in the first few hours of sleep during stage 3 or 4 non-rapid eye movement NREM sleep. However, they can also occur during daytime naps.
Night terrors should not be confused with nightmares, which are bad dreams that cause feelings of horror or fear. While nightmares are relatively common during childhood, night terrors occur less frequently according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. An estimated 1%-6% of children and fewer than 1% of adults will experience a night terror episode within their lifetime. Sleep terrors begin between ages 3 and 12 years and then usually dissipate during adolescence. In adults they most commonly occur between the ages of 20 to 30. Though the frequency and severity varies between individuals, the episodes can occur in intervals of days or weeks, but can also occur over consecutive nights or multiple times in one night.
Read more about Night Terror: Associated Features of Night Terrors, Genetic and Cultural Features of Night Terrors, DSM-IV-TR Diagnosis, Adults, Children, Treatment
Famous quotes containing the words night and/or terror:
“We are born at the rise of the curtain and we die with its fall, and every night in the presence of our patrons we write our new creation, and every night it is blotted out forever; and of what use is it to say to audience or to critic, “Ah, but you should have seen me last Tuesday”?”
—Michéal MacLiammóir (1899–1978)
“It is not for me, the day,
Nor this light of sun.
Ah, mother, mother,
The same terror is cast on us both.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)