Everything to Know About Nightmares, Night (Sleep)Terrors & Sleepwalking

Nightmares

The first thing that must probably come to your mind when you hear the word ‘nightmare’ must probably be the image of a person who woke up frightened because he couldn’t handle his dreaded dream. If left untreated this condition may end up being a habit for the person.

Reasons for Nightmares

There can be several reasons for your nightmares. Nightmares seem to have a common occurrence in kids as they are usually fed stories relating to strange mythological creatures. This does not mean that adults are less prone or do not experience nightmares at all. Nightmares in adults could occur as a result of stress, anxiety, depression, and several other reasons. Take control of your mental health and well-being to prevent any off-balance of your emotions. 

Solutions for your Nightmares

If you are an adult understand that there is no shame in expressing your pain and emotions to a trusted person. Doing so will help you become calm and face the situation head-on. It is advised that you should try to face a particular creature face-to-face instead of cowering in fear for your life. You could even imagine a merrier ending for your nightmare and try to keep it off your mind. A tip for adults is that they should not unnecessarily try to engage their children in useless fables which could possibly horrify the kids for their entire life. 

Sleepwalking

When compared to nightmares, sleepwalking may get viewed as a lesser dangerous activity but it really isn’t. Sleepwalking is an activity in which an individual involuntarily ends up walking while still being in a state of sleep. While this may sound harmless the individual may end up in the wrong place which could be potentially dangerous. This could include running into a hard door, a balcony, or a thing that has any type of pointed edges. Activities like walking, eating, preparing food, urinating, and others can be noticed in cases of sleepwalking.

Reasons for sleepwalking

Stress seems to be one of the most common reasons for sleepwalking. This is because the modern lifestyle requires adults to be very active which ultimately leads to a lot of unnecessary stress and pressure. The usage of a lot of electronic gadgets can also hamper your sleep schedule which can lead to sleep deprivation among adults. Any minor change in your health and lifestyle can easily trigger sleepwalking. These can be due to an illness like fever, migraine, breathing disorder, restless leg syndrome, and several others. 

Cure for sleepwalking

Sometimes sleepwalking doesn’t even need a cure, you need to wait for some time and see if your sleepwalking ends up going away or worsening. This is usually the case noticed in smaller age groups. A doctor can be consulted who could provide you with some medications to at least suppress your stress levels. 

Night terrors

Night terrors or sleep terrors are a state or conditions in which an individual usually shows signs of screaming, shaking, and intense fear. The heart rate of the concerned individual could easily spike up as a result of these sleep terrors. These night terrors or sleep terrors could be something that isn’t even noticed by the individual himself but through a third person. The individual may not remember anything when he wakes up as he may have no recall of this incident. 

Reasons for night terrors

The reason for night terrors are pretty similar to the ones mentioned above and can entirely disrupt your child’s sleeping routine. Sleep problems like sleep apnea could also be one of the reasons for your sleep terrors. In some cases, fever was also found out to be the main culprit for night terrors. It could be that an underlying medical condition is triggering your night terror. 

Ways to treat night or sleep terrors

The diagnosis of sleep terror could start with an EEG test conducted by your family doctor. Simple ways like reducing caffeine intake are often recommended for sleep terrors. Your night or sleep terrors can easily get treated through the use of hypnosis, psychotherapy, or relaxation therapy. However, this should only be done under the guidance of an experienced counselor. 

After this article, we’re sure that your knowledge of various conditions like nightmares, sleep terrors, and sleepwalking must have become more profound. If any of the above-mentioned conditions get out of your control, do not hesitate to reach out to a specialist who could help control any of the above-mentioned sleep disorders.