Night terror or sleep terror is basically a parasomnia disorder that is mainly known to affect children. Normally, this disorder causes children to have the feelings of terror during the initial hours of their sleep. According to statistics, night terrors are not similar to nightmares, since nightmares are usually bad dreams that results into the feelings of horror. To some extent night terrors are also experienced in adults.
Night terrors are prone to occur during a transition stage from one level of sleep to the next. The aspect that a child or an adult may present a sense of dread might have originated from some given factors. Such factors may include the following: lack of sleep, this aspect will render an individual sleepless for a while in such a way that when a person finally sleeps he or she might experience night terrors; fever, which will render a person restless in such a way that it might trigger the disorder; and most importantly, periods of emotional stress, tension and conflict. The third aspect might be the major reason of night terrors in adult, where a person might be presented with a difficult scenario during transition from one level of sleep to the next.
Despite that there are some few cases of night terrors with adults. However, this is a situation that is common to children. Thus, children who are prone to night terrors do usually exhibit the follow conditions: sudden awakening from deep sleep; persistent feelings of terror at night; high screams, sweating, and confusion; not being able to remember what had happened at night; and rapid heart beating rate.
Night terrors have been proven not to be life threatening scenarios. However, parents ought to ensure that their kids live a stress-free life, have enough sleep, and are not exposed to some horrific events that may pose fear and render them sleepless. While for adults, one has to mainly avoid periods of high stress or tension. In addition, adults too need to get enough sleep.