Night terrors typically happen during non-REM sleep, specifically stage-three sleep. Nightmares occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage of sleep when vivid dreaming is most likely to happen, according to the American Sleep Association (ASA). There are a few key differences that set nightmares and night terrors apart.įor starters, nightmares and night terrors typically happen at different points in the sleep cycle. Because of sleepwalking, night terrors can be physically dangerous too-say, if you get out of bed and wind up hurting yourself. We think this is because night terrors and sleepwalking have similar underlying mechanisms in the brain during sleep. Also noteworthy: A lot of people who have night terrors sleepwalk. That last symptom is especially worth emphasizing because if you sleep alone, you could have night terrors and not even know it, whereas if someone else sleeps in bed with you, they might be able to tell you about your night terrors. You may wake up and have no idea you had a night terror You may have a quicker pulse and flushed face You may stare wide-eyed during the episode, even though you’re not actually awake Here are more night terror symptoms to know: One old but often-cited 1999 study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry interviewed nearly 5,000 adults in the United Kingdom, finding that 2.2% of respondents reported night terrors. There isn’t a similar statistic for night terrors in adults (the Mayo Clinic describes it as a “much smaller percentage” than in children), but generally they’re considered relatively uncommon. Almost 40% of children will experience night terrors, but most outgrow them by their teen years. Night terrors tend to affect kids more than adults, according to the Mayo Clinic. These episodes involve sudden bouts of intense fear, screaming, and thrashing around while you’re still asleep. Night terrors are considered a parasomnia, a type of disorder marked by abnormal occurrences during sleep. Night terrors are far less common than nightmares in adults. You might have what’s known as nightmare disorder if you have nightmares frequently or if they disrupt your sleep, make it hard to fall asleep, or get in the way of your daytime functioning. All that said, it’s notable if your nightmares aren’t just occasional annoyances. Occasional nightmares are common and nothing to worry about (unpleasant though they may be). Recurring nightmares, or bad dreams where the same theme or events play out, are especially prevalent among trauma survivors and people with PTSD, according to the U.S. Here are some other common signs that you’re dealing with nightmares, according to the Mayo Clinic:Īccording to the Mayo Clinic, there are a few things that increase the likelihood of having a nightmare, including consuming scary media (looking at you, r/nosleep and horror-movie lovers), medications including some antidepressants, lack of sleep, sleep disorders like restless legs syndrome, and stress. Think of nightmares like scary movies, where there’s usually a build-up. In case you’ve been lucky enough to avoid nightmares yourself, they’re essentially incredibly vivid bad dreams that tend to get scarier gradually, rather than be terrifying right away. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) estimates that anywhere from 50% to 85% of adults report having at least an occasional nightmare. The unpleasant dreams we know as nightmares are very common. Nightmares are, unfortunately, something you’ll probably experience occasionally. Below, we’ll dive into both and cover some ways you can try to stop whichever is plaguing your rest. These are actually two separate sleep conditions with some pretty important differences, which are important to learn if you’re not sure which one you’re dealing with. But night terrors (also known as sleep terrors) are more than just super-intense nightmares. When it comes to comparing night terrors and nightmares, you might assume that they’re both bad dreams of varying intensities.
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