what's the difference between night terrors and bad dreams?
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Answers:
first of all, 3 of my 7 children have had this condition. Right now, my 5 yr. old daughter has them. The diffrence is a nightmare is just that.a bad dream or something thta causes a nightmare.scare.
A night terror has no real answers.that my hubby and I and our pediatrician have found, but the closest explaination that we have all found is that it has something to do with the brain activity and sleep patterns.
What you should try, and this has worked on my children and is currently working on our 5 yr. old.is time one hour from the time your child falls asleep and then wake the child, gently, take the child to the bathroom, get a drink or whatever, but establish a routine to do each night with your child and it should subside in a few nights.
You'll have to do this for a few weeks, try a night or two off and if the night terrors stop, then your good to go. However if they re-occur, go back to the waking up proccess again.
I have found it is crutial to wake my daughter right at or just before hte hour, if I do not she'll wake with the night terror and have them every few hours.
The thought behind this theory is that it breaks the sleep cycle and interupts the brain, which is believed by some to be the source of the night terrors.
Also, any one who has been witnes to a night terror knows it is just that..terror !
Also, some experts believe children grow out of it by about age 3, but not so..my daughter is 5, I also have a nephew, now 15, that had them as a young child and has had a recent resurgence in them.
Good luck and give this a try..in fact, it is about time to wake my own child.. :) I hope this helps.
Other Answers:
um.. not sure.. but i think bad dreams are usually one time occurances.. night terrors are a regular thing that someone experiences. that's my guess
Do not wake up when having night terrors, no matter how many people yell at you. A bad dream-You wake up scared
Night terrors-You wake up screaming, "AAHHHH! COBRAS!!"
I think night terrors can sometimes result from past trauma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terrors
This link even explains the difference between night terrors and nightmares.
I watched a show about night terrors, so this purely based on that. But they said that with night terrors, the individual sometimes can't wake up even when shaken. They tend to "sleepwalk" more and sometimes do violent things. Also, they are usually unaware that they experienced a terror after they are awake.
I'm not sure if that helps or not--I sure hope this is not what you're experiencing. Good luck.
the best way to tell the difference is.
night terrors will always occur BEFORE we reach R.E.M. sleep.
usually with the first to second hour..we also {normally} will not remember the night terror.
nightmares, or bad dreams occur AFTER we reach R.E.M. sleep
app. 4 hours into sleep. Sometimes we can vividly remember our bad dreams.
hope this helps hon..either way..if they are occurring enough..seek help.
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