|
Nightmares vs. Night terrors
17/f
I've been waking up feeling panicked and terrified for the last few weeks-every night. The thing is.. I don't remember the majority of my nightmares. I will remember a couple of horrifying pieces, but that's it. I will wake up shaking, sweating, heart pounding, and terrified. I'm not stressed or ANYTHING, I'm perfectly healthy other than the nightmares. So, does anyone know what's going on? Am I having night terrors instead of nightmares?
P.S. This is effecting me when I'm awake. I'm frightened all the time, especially when I'm alone. It's also causing me to lose sleep.
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Health & Fitness category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Mental health?
It's tough to say for certain if these are Nightmares or Night terrors. The main difference between the two is this: Night terrors take place during slow-wave sleep, which isn't quite as deep as REM sleep, where dreams take place.
So Night Terrors take place in an altered state of consciousness and normally a person doesn't wake up from one. Typically, night terrors have no dream-like plots or events. No images, no sounds, no memory of anything happening, there is just the FEELING of terror. Some people might have some vague impressions but nothing like a detailed dream. When a person does wake up due to a Night Terror they often have trouble fully waking up, and drift back to a restless sleep shortly afterwards.
So, if you have any memory of images sounds or thoughts like "I'm falling" or "He's chasing me" and if you are waking up fully directly after these experiences they are probably not night terrors.
There are quite a few other sleep disorders that can cause unpleasant experiences besides Night Terrors. It would be best if you spoke to a doctor or counselor. There are a few medications that are sometimes prescribed if this is really becomming a problem in your life, but more often it’s looking into some lifestyle changes to help cope and reduce the dreams.
So see a doctor, espcailly because these things are starting to effect your waking life, but in the meantime, if you sleep on your back, try to stop. Try sleeping on your side instead. It’s a silly thing, but it’s been proven to vastly reduce nightmares and night terrors in a lot of people. Also try to avoid eating a heavy meal right before bed.
]
I have heard that temperature can sometimes affect a person's dream. It may be too hot in your room during the night- I would suggest turning a fan on, opening a window, throwing off the covers, ect.
Also, it helps a lot of people to read a calm book before turning out the light. Try to stay away from scary movies or stories because a lot of the time, dreams have to do with the stuff we think about in our everyday lives.
When you're alone in the dark, it's easy to imagine all sorts of things in the shadows. You can help yourself to calm down with a night light- and no, they're not just for little kids. Fear of the dark is something a lot of people face, and even if you're not afraid of dark, it may help you calm down.
One last thing that helps a lot of people is to hum a happy tune when they're afraid and focus on the words of the song. I hope that I was a help- Have a restful night!
]
Nightmares and Night Terrors are two different things. Night Terrors are also known as Sleep Terrors and parasomnia.
Nightmares happen only when you are in deep REM sleep. Night Terrors usually occure during the first 1/3 of the night. Night terrors usually involve sleep walking. Actually getting up out of bed and walking, maybe even running around the room or house. Acting violently even threatening. It is possible to hurt yourself during night terrors. It is very difficult for people to wake you up, even when you are up and walking and eyes wide open, you are still in the middle of the night terror.
I would say that your symptoms do point to nightmares, only. Those can be caused by anxiety, as you mentioned, stress and even food. I found out that when I eat foods with lots of preservatives, I often have dreams that have death or blood, sadness and a sense of loss, in them. Since you say that there is no stess in your life it is time to look at your diet. also any changes in your room, are you burning incense, buring scented candles? ARe you on any medication for say, acne, menstrual cramps. etc?
I like to take a natural approach to health problems, so for both night terrors or night mares, I would recommend some herbal products that would help you to get a better more restful sleep. Like L-theanine, or St. John's Wort, or Valerian Root, or Melatonin. All of these products have evidence that they help with sleep mild sleep disorders.
I hope this helps
Michele
]
it sounds like you have night terrors,
here's a link to help you and if you cant find it with the link i just typed in nightmares in google and hit the test and diagnosis then went with the first link and it came up to it
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
]
More Questions: |