For those who may experience nightmares, please follow the guideline on how to get rid of them (the nightmares) explained below:

1. Precondition #1: you experience identical episodes from night to night.

The solution is relatively simple, however, you need to follow it as described below:

• Regardless how scary the episode might be, you have to participate in it
• It means, that in your dream you do exactly at it is expected you to do
• As an example, in your dream, if someone says to jump from the top of the building, then you do jump
• Apply this advice to your own dreams and modify your behavior accordingly
• No matter what you do in your dream, there is nothing is going to happen to you.

Explanation of this phenomenon: by completing any scary moment, similar to watch the end of the movie  you will replace your nightmare precognition by something, which is not scary or unknown to you. That is how you remove your nightmares from you memory.

2. Precondition #2: all your nightmares are different from one dream to another.

This is more complicated case when you are required to analyze your dreams and try to find some similarities between them. Then, before falling asleep, you need to construct in your mind any possible scenario of that common dream of yours, as well as you need to decide what you are planning to do when this situation happens.

There are maximum of 7 or 8 different scary situations that might  disturbe  your dream. They are listed by major categories:

1. Extreme danger, such as: being murdered, caught, attacked, eaten, squashed, stuck or burned, becoming diseased
2. Bad events, such as: falling, drowning, being raped, becoming disabled, sentenced, abandoned, etc.
3. Losing loved ones, such as: parents, children, relatives, spouses, friends
4. Facing death, such as: frozen, trapped, decrepit, tortured, etc.
5. Encountering unpleasant creatures or beings, such as: humans or animals
6. Sensation of pain or any other health problems (requires immediate medical attention!)
7. Dangerous places, such as: mountains, planes, high-rise buildings, etc.
8. Others

Any combination of those will create from about 60 to 120 possible nightmare scenarios. It is because 2⁷=64 and 2⁸=128. That is why there are so many different nightmares. In fact, there are total of over 120 different possibilities for the nightmares to take place and the technique to get rid of them.

 HAVE A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP!

Rhythmic Movement Disorder (RMD), also known as jactatio capitis nocturna, is a sleep disorder condition that can be described as repetitive rocking or banging body motions before and/or during drowsiness or light sleep. This condition mostly happens in infants and young children. However, adults can although be affected. Normally, Rhythmic Movement Disorder is harmless, but it can be shocking or puzzling to parents or others who witness it.

Rhythmic Movement Disorder refers to the following repetitive movements:

• body rolling when the whole body is moving while lying on the back with face upposition
• head rolling when the head is moving while in lying on the back with face up position
• head banging when the head is forcibly moving back and forward direction
• body rocking when the whole body is rocking while it is on the hands and knees
• other repetitive movements

Rhythmic Movement Disorder will usually occur at the beginning of sleep cycle, however, it has been reported to rarely happening during other sleep stages.

• The most common form of Rhythmic Movement Disorder is head rocking and banging.
• It displayed by a forward and backward movement onto a pillow, a crib, or  awall.
• Usually accompanied by humming sound,
• Rhythmic Movement Disorder incidents typically last for 15 min then stop.
• Occasionally, they could last much longer. It all depends on the lightness of sleep. In general, Rhythmic Movement Disorder reflects the child’s day-time precondition: if there have been some restriction to the child movements during the day, such as prolong body position during a day-nap, or any other restrictions to their body movements. If that happens, the child’s body will try to release itself from any disturbance that occurred during the day by simply producing those involuntary movements. Remember what the most animals do when they got wet: they produce shaking and rolling body movements to get rid of excessive liquid from their fur.
• Rhythmic Movement Disorder is quite common in young children, and, usually, it diminishes by the age of 3 to 4 years.
• It is a common opinion that Rhythmic Movement Disorder behavior is still unknown, however, medical research says that it might help stimulate sleep in some children. See Sleep Master’ explanation underlined above.

RMD affects mostly healthy children but has been also reported in children with autism and with other developmental disabilities, such as Down Syndrome.

Sleep-Related Movement Disorders in Adults

Adults, when they asked why they “rock” themselves to fall asleep, usually say that it is a soothing and calming method to fall asleep. They also say that they got used to it from their infant years when they had been rocked in their crib to get sleep by parents. It is also believed that children, by rocking and rolling back and forth in the bed, can warm themselves up to the point when it will be easy for them to fall asleep.

• Other study indicates that adults who have been diagnosed with RMD, especially those with autistic and intellectual inclination, display high mental concentration of their thoughts. For them, RMD may be a way to break that concentration and bring them into a regular REM sleep state during periods of light sleep. Other sleep disorders in adultsthat occur one time or another throughout their life span (see insomnia, hypersomnia, and narcolepsy) are also responsible  for RMD. 
• Some “sleep rockers” report a profound sense of relief when they allow themselves to engage in their pre-sleep movements and conversely great agitation when they attempt to “restrain” themselves from insomnia, hypersomnia, and narcolepsy their sleep movements. The degree and description of both relief and agitation reported by some with rhythmic sleep movements bears striking resemblances to reports from dancers, runners, or those whose religious practices include rhythmic movement who have been unable to engage in their desired activity. (by Wikipedia.org)

How to Prevent Rhythmic Movement Disorder in Children:

Normally, the treatment of Rhythmic Movement Disorder is not required. The only exceptions are when there is a high risk of injury, a disturbance to the family members or to the child, or when it destroys the child’s sleep.

• Good Sleep Habits and Hygiene (see related article).
• Make sure that children so not spend long time in bed without sleep during their bedtime.
• Apply behavioral interventions, such as reward systems. See Baby Sleep Secret article for details.
• Short term medication, such as benzodiazepine, can be used only in extreme cases and very seldom.

History 

• According to Wikipedia, the original research paper suggesting that sleep disorder that causes sexual behavior during normal sleep may be a new type of parasomnia, was published in 1996 by Dr. Colin Shapiro and Dr. Nik Trajanovic (from University of Toronto) and by Dr. Paul Fedoroff (from University of Ottawa), all in Canada.
• Other researches confirmed that problematic forms of sleep sex could be medically treatable conditions. 
• This condition of sexsomnia was  also defined in a paper called “Sexsomnia — A New Parasomnia?” published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry in June 2003 .
• The first doctor to coin the term sleep sex was Dr. David Saul Rosenfeld, a neurologist and sleep doctor from Los Angeles, California.

Research

• As studies suggest, people who experience sexsomnia are aware of their sexual behavior during their sleep a long time before they start seeking medical help.
• It takes place due to the fact that they have insufficient information about their medical condition, which is a form of sleep disorder.
• Another reason is a fear that other people will see it as unlawful act rather than a medical condition.
• The facts of sexsomnia have been confirmed by sleep disorder researchers.
• They have made polysomnograms and video recordings of patients with the sexsomnia condition while they are asleep and observed unusual brain wave activity during the episodes similar to other NREM arousal parasomnias.
• They have concluded that it is a mind/body disconnect that occurs during sleep.

Treatment of Sleep Sexsomnia

 The treatment of sexsomnia is similar to the treatment of other NREM (non-rapid-eye-movement) parasomnias. See Sleep Disorders Treatment posts for more details.

Cases reported in the press (by Wikipedia)

• Natalie Pona, the then Sun reporter, broke the story of the first case of sexsomnia in the fall of 2005.
• On 30 November 2005, a Toronto court acquitted a man of sexual assault after he was diagnosed with sleep sex disorder, although prosecutors filed an appeal of the acquittal in February 2006. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal on 7 February 2008.
• In Britain, a man from York was cleared of three counts of rape on 19 December 2005.
• In Australia, a woman was reported as leaving her house at night and having sex with strangers while sleepwalking. On 8 August 2007, a British RAF mechanic was cleared of a rape charge after the jury found him not responsible for his actions when he had sex with a 15-year-old girl.
• On 23 March 2009, a British woman gave an interview in which she spoke about problems in her life caused by sexsomnia.

My partner has tried numerous times to initate sex while sleeping. At first I didnt think he was still sleeping but he would not remember it in the morning and accuse me of making it up. He also talks or mumbles in his sleep on occaison. Last night he whispered in my ear he wanted to rape me and then gropped me and thrusted against me. It only lasted around 10 seconds and then he rolled over and continued to sleep. It happened a couple of hours after we had fallen asleep. Why is he doing this and does it now mean he wants to hurt me?

Answer: (by Aneesa M Das, MD, Assistant Professor, Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine) 

• Abnormal behaviors that occur during sleep are called parasomnias.
• Parasomnias are caused by partial arousals (brain activation without full consciousness) from sleep or during transitions between the sleep and waking state.
• Non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) parasomnias are events that occur in non-dream sleep.
• It is important to seek medical help for this condition as the sufferer and bed partner may experience frustration, guilt, shame or denial.
• This can be very stressful for a relationship. In addition, personal injury can result and so it’s important to get this evaluated.

One such type of parasomnia is often referred to as sexsomnia, though some have described it as “sleep sex.”

• Sexsomnia is described as a person engaging in sexual acts while asleep.
• Types of sexual behavior reported during sleep have included violent masturbation, sexual assaults, and continuous and loud sexual vocalizations.
• The severity of this disorder varies. Individuals tend to have no recall of the events upon awakening in the morning.
• While a specific cause may not be found in some cases, potential causes of this type of behavior have ranged from obstructive sleep apnea to a specific type of seizure disorder (epilepsy) to deep sleep (slow wave sleep) parasomnias to REM behavior disorder.
• Stress, alcohol and certain medications can also serve as triggers for this type of activity.

Potential causes for this the confusional arousal disorders are shown below:

• Alcohol consumption
• Sleep deprivation
• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
• Periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD)
• Psychotropic medication use
• Drug abuse
• Forceful awakening

Do I have it?

1. Did anyone ever told you that you acted in strange or confused way when they wake you up?
2. Did they describe your behaviour been unfriendly or aggressive?
3. Were your actions unsuitable in any way?
4. Did this a kind of behaviour happen on regularly?

If your answer yes to each of those questions, then you might have confusional arousals. However, you may have no memory of those events and will be hard for you to know the answer by yourself.

Other causes of Confusional Arousals

You also should know whether or not there is something that causing your arousal sleep disorders. It could quite well a result of one of the following events:

• Medication use
• A health condition
• Another sleep problems
• A mental health disorder
• Substance abuse or addiction

 Should I see a sleep doctor? 

• Of course you should. This type of sleep disorder that can create harsh health and personal problems.
• Ask for a professional help to treat it.

What sleep doctor needs to know?
You should complete a sleep diary for two weeks.

• The sleep diary will provide ideas of underling problems.
• You can also rate your sleep with the Questionnaire, which demonstrate how your daily life is affected by your sleep.
• You should also provide your complete medical history to the doctor.
• Remember to inform your sleep professional of any medication you are currently taking or used to take in the past.

Will I need to take any tests?

You may need to do an overnight sleep study. It is called a polysomnography.

• Charts of your brain waves, your heart beat as well as your breathing rhythm will be created with the help of polysomnogram while you are asleep.
• Polysomnography equipment is also recording your arms and legs movements.
• By analyzing polysomnograms it will be possible to capture symptoms of other disorders, which are causing your sleep problems, such as sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome..
• It will be possible to make a video recording of your sleep. It may show your additional problematic behavior.

How confusional arousal is treated?

You need to be aware that other sleep disorders, if any, which may be the source of the weird behavior must be treated first.

• Obviously, if you cut back on alcohol or tobacco completely, it also might help a bit.
• Remember, the most important part of your treatment is to get a full night of sleep.
• Medical study indicates that prescribed medication is also helpful, however. as you well aware, 50% of successful treatment is done through power of suggestion and psychological treatment, other than medication.
• Sleeping pills and antidepressants the most popular medication that have been successfully used in treating arousal sleep disorder..
• The best things to do is to get and advice from your doctor about this or any other form of treatment. 

Watch Video:

• Parasomnia is an episode that happens during sleep.
• Parasomnia could be induced or resulting from sleep, such as: sleepwalking, sleep talking, sleep terror, and nightmares
• Parasomnias are disorders that infiltrate into the sleep process and create disruptions into sleep-related actions.
• Parasomnias usually associated with REM sleep.

The parasomnias are divided into four groups:

• Arousal disorders
• Sleep-wake transition disorders
• Other parasomnia disorders  

What are Arousal Disorders?

Arousal Sleep Disorder is parasomnia disorder. It is considered to happening due to an abnormal arousal function. Classical sleep arousal disorders: sleepwalking, sleep terrors and confusional arousals (see corresponding post for more details).

Confusional Arousals. What is it?

• Confusional arousals is a parasomnia.
• Confusional arousals usually happens when a person is getting confused during sleep the initial part of the night sleep and following arousals from sleep.

Study shows that only 4% of adults report confusional arousals; however, they are very common in children. Confusional arousals in children, most of the time, associated with their accidental movements in bed and resulting dreams forcing them shifting from a restful sleep to a lucid stage of sleep. See Night Dreaming post for more details.

• Confusional arousal takes place as you wake up or right after awakening.
• A person acts in a way that something is quite different from the normal and/or very strange. It appears that the person doesn’t know where he or she is or what they have been doing. The person’s behavior may include:
• Confused thinking
• Slow speech
• Poor memory
• Dull responses to requests or asked questions

What causes arousal disorders?

Arousal disorders maybe triggered by other sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, restless legs, or periodic limb movement during sleep. When you visit your sleep doctor, he or she will check your sleep patterns, as well as your medical history before establishing an actual treatment.

How are arousal disorders treated?

Treatment by a sleep professional may be necessary, especially when there is a harsh incident that leads to personal injury or involves violent behavior, such as extreme eating, or disturbance to the bed-partner or your family. Medical treatment with prescription drugs or with behavior modification through hypnotherapy might advisable.

What confusional arousal look alike?

• It may look to you that you are fully awaken even though you have a lucid state of mind.
• Episodes of confusions are often initiated when someone tries to wake you up.
• You can experience sleepwalking or loud shouting during this episode.
• Teeth grinding is also possible.
• Actual duration of confusional arousal could last from a few minutes to a few hours.
• Due to a deep sleep stage, person usually keeps no memory of arousal incidents.
• Confusional arousals tend to happen as a person wakes from a slow-wave sleep, usually from non-REM sleep.
• It is known that confusional arousal is the most common in the first third of the night, however, it has been reported many cases that it may happen later in the night or during a daytime nap or even falling asleep in front of the computer.
• Mixing dreams with reality fools adults (in some rare cases) to display a very inappropriate behavior. Their actions can be aggressive and even hostile. The latest is similar to people behavior when they are under the influence of alcohol.
• This type of behavior can put a great restrain on the relationships with others people, especially with bed partner.
• Luckily, the extreme behavior is not common for people who are subject to confusional arousals.

Severe Morning Sleep Inertia

One type of confusional arousals is called severe morning sleep inertia. Let’s see what it is:

• It can affect everyone, kids, teens and adults.
• Occasionally, it is called sleep drunkenness.
• The symptoms of sleep drunkenness are similar to regular confusional arousals that are happening early at night.
• The only difference is that severe morning sleep inertia happens in the morning when you are waking up.
• It seems that this sleep disorder tends to reoccur every morning for several years without diminishing its regularity.
• Severe morning sleep inertia can cause you to be late for work or school and reduce your performance.
• Sometimes, severe morning sleep inertia can be a source of conflicts with family members.
• It can also lead you to a car accident in the morning or to episodes of narcolepsy.

Confusional Arousals in Children

To the most parents, all incidents of confusional arousals in their children look really weird and terrifying:

• It is common to see your child staring right through at you with a great confusion on his or her face.
• Resistance and visible agitation from your kids become apparent when you try to calm them down upon awakening.
• Most episodes of confusional arousals last from 5 to 15 minutes, however, some reports indicate those incidents lasting as long as 30 to 45 minutes in some kids.

Conclusion:

Confusional arousal episodes are reasonably harmless in most children. They become are less obvious after the age of 5. It has been noticed that children who experience confusional arousals quite often sleepwalk when they are teens.

Statistics of Confusional Arousal

• Confusional arousal occurs at the same frequency among both men and women.
• However, those rates are greater among children and adults under the age of 35.
• About 3 to 4% of adults have confusional arousals and 17% of children
• It is possible to have confusional arousal disorder if any of your relative also has it.

What is the risk?

These are several factors that may increase their risk of experiencing confusional arousals:

• Night shift work
• Other sleep disorders (hypersomnia, insomnia, circadian rhythm sleep disorders)
• Rotating shift work
• Sleep Deprivation
• Anxiety Disorders
• Panic Disorders

Watch video: Child Sleep Parasomnia

• Bedwetting is an involuntary action of the bladder. Children do not wet their beds deliberately. They just can’t control the flow of urine from their bladder while asleep.
• Almost all children wet their beds until their bodies learn to control the bladder.
• Bedwetting until the age of 5 or 6 is considered a common occurrence and it shouldn’t considered a problem.
• Bedwetting is not a disease. It is just an unfortunate situation that affects children, not only physically, but mentally as well.

Is bedwetting a problem for our kids? Yes it is! 

• Bedwetting doesn’t produce any physically pain, other than a discomfort after awakening. However, but the children who suffer from bedwetting might also suffer from emotionally.
• This is mostly because of the shame associated with bedwetting.
• Some children may even suffer from the punishments they receive from their parents who are not educated enough to understand bedwetting consequences.
• Teasing or punishing your kids will only hurt their feelings and/or harm their self-esteem preventing them from stopping bedwetting.  
• Another big problem with bedwetting is preventing your kids from participating in different social activities, such as sleepover and/or overnight trips.  
• Involuntary urination disorder, with its rare occurrence, is also adding a considerable discomfort in the children’s social life.

How can you help your kids to stop bedwetting?
Bedwetting can be easily cured. Most of the time, the best cure is time. There are several steps, which parents can do to reduce their children bedwetting.

• Limit fluid consumption several hours before children’s bedtime.
• Advice your children to go to a washroom before going to bed.
• If bedwetting occurs, it is advisable to wake them up at least once during the night just to empty their bladder.
• Bedwetting can be also elevated with a room temperature when it drops below comfortable level, especially if thermostat is not programmed properly. Make sure your kids are dressed in warm clothing.
• There is nothing wrong if you convince your children to wear diapers during the night, just to reduce their embarrassment in the morning and prevent them from wetting the bed.
• If your children suffer from bedwetting, it is better to consult your family doctor to detect any underlying causes. He may decide to prescribe a hormonal supplement to compensate insufficient level of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). He may also explain what kind of exercises your kid can do to strengthen his or her bladder.  

Watch video: Parents TV Bedwetting Woes

It’s a common problem, but bedwetting can be embarrassing for your child and a hassle for you. Parents TV’s Anne Ebeling talks to the urologist about why it happens and how to handle it.  

Medications for bedwetting

Desmopressin acetate, a synthetic analogue of the antiduretic hormone vasopressin, increases renal (kidney) tubular reabsorption of water, resulting in decreased urine output. It is effective in 60 percent of children with the highest success rate in those with primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis. It can be taken as a pill or a nasal spray, and used either nightly or as needed for special occasions such as sleepovers, camp and vacation, provided its efficacy has been demonstrated prior to the event (by Diane K. Newman, RNC, MSN, CRNP, FAAN).

• People of all ages are affected by bedwetting, but it is mostly observed in young children, usually until the age of six.
• Bedwetting is common in 60% of all males whereas 90% of them usually wet their bed almost every night.

Subject of bedwetting is usually avoided in any discussion due to a great degree of a shame when someone admits that his child still has a problem with his bladder. Study shows that bedwetting in children and teenagers is quite common. Read further to familiarize yourself with possible causes for bedwetting and how to stop it.

What causes bedwetting?
Several reasons could be responsible for bedwetting, such as:

Heredity causes:

• It is common opinion that bedwetting is inherited.
• If any parent or both of them wet the bed as children, there is a big chance that their child will also wet bed at night.
• Chances of inherited bedwetting will be increased from normal one by almost 50%.
• It is also known that the child will stops bedwetting at the same age, which his or her parent stopped.

Physical causes:

• Study shows that when a child has a small bladder than normal, he or she is more keen to have bedwetting.
• Another problem is related to the valve controlling urination.
• Bedwetting is also associated with constipation in children whereby some pressure is developed by full bowel over the bladder.
• A urinary tract infection can also provoke bedwetting.

Neurological causes of bedwetting:

Needless to say that in some children the brain development is slower than normal, especially when related to intentional control of particular functions of their own body.

• That is why a child wet the bed because his or her body hasn’t gained an experience in controlling the bladder function yet.
• In addition, children do bedwetting if there is inadequate formation of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH).
• This ADH prevents the body from loosing water, which is done in the form of urine.
• In fact, production of this hormone is quite high during the night sleep, however, it may not happen in all children, resulting in bedwetting. A
• nother problem with insufficient levels of ADH is difficulty for a person to wake up in the morning.
• This condition explains why bedwetting children are normally sleep longer.

External stress of bedwetting:

Study report that children being stressed are more likely to endure from bedwetting. That is why large number of children, being previously normal, all of a sudden start bedwetting during sleep. Numerous reasons could be responsible for bedwetting, such as:

• Beginning school or moving to another school
• Relocating to a new home
• New child in the family
• Conflicting parents
• Being abused
• Other reasons

However, there is no sufficient evidence to support the theory of external stress-related causes of bedwetting 

Watch video: Bedwetting

Urinary incontinence (enuresis) is a medical name for bedwetting, or the accidental urination in children who should be developmentally able to have control of their bladders:

Bruxism is divided into two categories: mild and severe. If Bruxism happens often, it may require medical attention. The following is the list of problems associated with Bruxism:

• Headaches
• Damaged teeth, such as chips in the teeth, obstructions, and cracks in the teeth
• Jaw disorders, wear teeth enamel
• Teeth damage, known as occlusion disease (refers to the manner in which the teeth from upper and lower arches come together when the mouth is closed), and is the number one cause of tooth loss
• Bruxism is one of the most common sleep disorders: between 30 to 40 million Americans constantly grind their teeth at night. With time dental damage will eventually take over
• Most of the people who grind their teeth are not aware of this habit. They may seek dental help from tooth decay or paradentosis.

Symptoms and Signs

• Soft tissue on the inside of the cheek
• Headache
• Chronic facial pain
• Jaw pain
• Stiffness in the jaw muscles
• Earache (not from ear infection)
• Tooth sensitivity
• Worn tooth enamel exposing inside of teeth
• Flattened, worn down, or chipped teeth
• Teeth grinding or chipping that is loud to disturb your bed partner’s sleep
• Mouth guard or a splint for preventing teeth damage
• Stress management and behavior therapy when teeth grinding is severe
• Medications, such as botulinum toxin (know as Botox)
• Dentist intervention may fix any misaligned teeth, crowns, or reconstruction of the chewing surfaces.

Teeth Grinding Treatment

• Mouth guard or a splint for preventing teeth damage
• Stress management and behavior therapy when teeth grinding is severe
• Medications, such as botulinum toxin (know as Botox)

Dentist intervention may fix any misaligned teeth, crowns, or reconstruction of the chewing surfaces. 

·         Mouth guard or a splint for preventing teeth damage

·         Stress management and behavior therapy when teeth grinding is severe

·         Medications, such as botulinum toxin (know as Botox)

Dentist intervention may fix any misaligned teeth, crowns, or reconstruction of the chewing surfaces.

Watch video: Teeth grinding, clenching, lockjaw 

Additional information could be find here: Stop Grinding Teeth at Night

What triggers nightmares?

The following events could trigger nightmares:

·         Eating before bed

·         Feeling of pain

·         Being a part of a fearful danger

·         Participating in unpleasant events

·         Fearing of something or someone

·         Sensation of drowning

·         Experiencing death

·         Falling from the height

For those who have been exposed to any dramatic event in their life, that event may be displayed in their dreams and create nightmares. It is common for nightmare victims to become awaken and continue suffering the episode, being unable to return back to sleep for a period of time, sometimes for the whole night.

Nightmares could happen to anyone. Occasional nightmares are quite common, however, when nightmares become persistent and can obstruct your sleep, there is a time to make an appointment to your family doctor or sleep consultant.

Research

It has been proven by thorough studies that nightmares can be primarily addressed to physical events, such as:

·         High fever delirium

·         Reducing amount of oxygen by facing down on a pillow (most of the time creating drowning dream)

·         Psychological causes: trauma and stress

Nightmares in Children

• Almost all children experience nightmares, which happen from time to time in.
• Nightmares are most common in children 3-6 years old, which coincides with a period of time when normal fears develop and a child state of mind.
• Studies show that about 50% of kids, 3-6 years-old, are having nightmares, which bother not only them but also their parents sleep.
• Nightmares create undesirable or frightening dreams disrupting kid’s sleep, being a result of other problems as a reflection of their regular life, from recent movies, or books.

When Nightmares Start?

From the previous post, “What is Sleep/REM Sleep”, we know that our regular sleep consists of 2 important stages: rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM). Both of them alternate in 90 to 100-minute cycles. We also know that our dreams happen during REM sleep. Sleep clinics around the world concluded that nightmares usually happen in the middle of the night or close to the morning when REM sleep is more often than not.

How Bad are Nightmares for Children?

Nightmares are usually bad dream that include imaginary and non-existent danger or simply a threat to the kid. The kid’s dream could be about scary situation or about dangerous places. Generally speaking, when children have been asked, they say that their nightmares are mostly disturbing images, fearful places, or strange figures such as animals, ghosts, monsters, or bad people. Children usually keep relatively quiet and do not jump around while experiencing nightmares. When they awaken, they quickly calm down and usually remember their dreams.

What Should I do to Stop My Kid’s Nightmares?

• The best treatment for your child when a nightmare occurs is try to comfort your kid in any way you like.
• Speak with your kid in a soft but convincing voice.
• Explain to the kid that you are in very close proximity.
• See if you can convert the nightmare dream into something funny or non-existent, such as movie stunt.
• Next time around you kid will be able to overcome the fear of the nightmare.

Preventing Nightmares
Preventing all bad dreams is almost impossible task for the parents, however, several things could be very helpful. Even you do not really know what kind of stress your child might be facing during the day, you can help your kid to chill out before going to bed:

• Start with a bedtime schedule of simple events exactly at the same time.
• Make sure that your child feels safe and comfortable by reading and talking with your child they fall asleep.
• You can apply a special night-light or just sing a nice song every night.nightmares prevalent
• Explain to your kid that nightmares dreams are not real.
• In case when nightmares prevalent more than twice per week for the past few months, medications are not recommended or not helpful. Consult your family doctor or a child psychologist for remedies.

Watch video: Nightmare Disorders

Night Terror Disorder of sleep is usually characterized by terrifying dreams far worse than a typical nightmare.

Symptoms of Sleep Terror

Sleep terror disorder is also known as “night terror.” The following symptoms are typical for this condition:

·         Regular occurrence of sudden awakening from a night sleep, usually happening during the beginning of the main dream accompanied with a scream of panic.

·         Person is experiencing strong fear and shows certain signs of rapid breathing, tachycardia, and sweating during each sleep terror incident.

·         Sleep terror victims can’t usually recall their dreams by demonstrating the total memory loss.

·         As a rule, sleep terrors, if they would happen in real life, reflect clinically significant impact in educational, social, occupational, or other important areas of person’s events, completely opposite to what actually had happened. Medical condition of sleep terror is irrelevant.

Usually, you can tell if a person is having a night terror by screams. Imagine to have a sleep partner who is prone to this disorder. Other symptoms of sleep terror include:

Breathing fast

Sweating

Rapid heart pulses

Sign of fear or panic

Large pupils

Confusion when eyes are fully open

Night Terrors vs Nightmares

Night terrors and nightmares are completely different. In general, nightmares are just dreams that a person can clearly recall when awake. Night terrors, on the contrary, are not dreams. Night terror is a very disturbing sleep disorder when a person becomes terrified during a sleep episode having no  memory of the event.

What usually happening during a night-terror episode is that the person is partially awaken, screaming, moaning, or out of breath. Most of the time, the person is not fully awaken, nor really calmed. It becomes a difficult task to wake someone up during a night terror. When the person is left alone, most likely he or she will simply go back to sleep without awakening. The person who experienced night terror when awaken or left to sleep has no recollection of the night terror episode whatsoever.

Who are Most Prone to Night Terrors?

·         Night terrors are most popular in children two to eight years old, however, can occur at any age. Night terrors distress about 3% of all children.

·         According to sleep studies, night terror events usually happen during the first hour or two of sleep, and last for one or two weeks. After that, they seem to disappear.

·         Fortunately, most children will go over night terrors.

·         The number of night terror episodes usually diminish after age 10.

·         However, not everyone outgrows night terrors. Adults can experience this problem also.

·         It has been reported that many older people complain of having night terrors when they sleep on their back.

What Causes Night Terrors?

No one can definitively say what causes night terrors. Let’s see some possibilities of causing night terror:

·         In children: high fever, emotional stress, or lack of sleep.

·         Study has shown that night terrors can be inherited.

·         In adults, lack of sleep, emotional tension, an alcohol, and stress seem to be responsible.

What Can You Do During a Night Terror?

·         Do not try to wake up the person.

·         Do not get involved. Let the person scream it out.

·         Do not try to hold the person having night terror. It may cause more confusion and anxiety.

·         Try to speak calmly to the person and tell him or her that you are right here.

·         Calm the person down with words, not with actions.

How Can Night Terrors be Treated?

As mentioned before, most children will outgrow night terrors. In the meantime, night terrors are mostly treated by:

• Kindness and comfort
• Removing anything around that can potentially be harmful to a person
• Refrain from loud movements and/or voices that might frighten the person even more.
• Some family doctors may advise counselling or psychotherapy. Others may prescribe Benzodiazepine medications, such as Diazepam or the over-the-counter Benadryl.

If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say — talk in your sleep.

Sleep talking and sleep walking (see other post on SleepWalking), as well as night terrors, are parts of a group of sleep disorders called parasomnias, as covered in Parasomnias Disorder, in another post of MasterYourSleep.com. Modern science of sleep still  puzzled why children and some adults are able to walk and talk in their sleep. Fortunately, sleep talking and sleep walking are considered not to be severe disorders. Both of them, sleep talking and sleep walking, happen during deep sleep, normally 1 to 3 hours after person is falling asleep. By comparison, sleep talking is more frequent than sleep walking, but both of them occur together.

Sleep Talking

Children who happen to talk in their sleep, may speak quite clearly and be unmistakably understood, while adults may mumble or make some noises. Do not be alarmed if you have been noticed with sleep talking. Sleep talking is not a part of  any physical or mental problem. There is nothing could be done to prevent sleep talking. If your children are speaking considerably loud and look upset, you to go to children and calm them. If they are simply pronounce some words or sentences, it would be a good idea just let it go without any intervention. Basically, leave them along. The incident of sleep talking will, as a rule, end shortly. If sleep talking looks very upsetting, it make sense to wake them up just to stop their dream. Kids usually fall back into sleep really quick because their dream was outside of their consciousness anyway.

Basics of Sleep Talking

• Sleep talking, also known as somniloquy, is a sleep disorder whereby people are talking during their sleep without being aware of it.
• Sleep talking can involve monologues and dialogues or nothing but mumbling and gibberish.
• Anyone can have incidents of sleep talking, which is more common in children and males.
• Interesting enough, that sleep talking is usually spontaneous or provoked by the conversation with the one who is asleep.

That is how hypnotherapists are making verbal contact with a patient, while he or she is asleep, and by making therapeutic suggestion, they achieve positive results in many mental disorders. It is also known fact to exhibit sleep talking during high fever condition, similar to febrile delirium, when people talking in their sleep in 8 out of 10 cases.

Where sleep talking comes from?

Many different mental conditions are responsible for creating sleep talking, such as:  depression, stress, day-time drowsiness, sleep deprivation, alcohol, sleep apnea, as well as fever. Sleep talking often occurs concurrently with other sleep disorders, such as: sleep terrors, confusional arousals, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and REM sleep behaviour disorder. When a person over 25 years old is diagnosed with a mental disorder or with any other medical illness, it’s more likely that sleep talking occurs quite frequently.

What do we know about sleep talking?

• Very little is known about sleep talking. Mostly sleep talking makes no sense at all.
• Some of it may be a reflection of the events in past, like relationships, parents, lost friends, school time, which have no current meaning or relevance, nor emotional influence.
• Sleep talking is commonly assumed (by modern medical science and the law) as being not a result of a conscious or rational mind.  Therefore any facts of sleep talking are not admissible in courts.

Disadvantage to others

Even sleep talking is not physically harmful to anyone, it can become an embarrassment aggravate a bed partner, roommate.

Symptoms
Sleep talking can happen during any stage of sleep. The lighter the sleep, the more comprehensible the speech is:

Stages 1 and 2: sleep talkers may even engage into conversations,

Stages 3 and 4: speech is limited to gibberish and moans.

Symptoms can vary in severity and duration.

Severity Criteria

Mild: sleep talking happens less than once a week

Moderate: sleep talking happens more than once a week but less than once a night, causing minimal discomfort to a bed partner

Severe: sleep talking happens every night producing considerable disruption of a bed partner’s sleep.

Sleep Talking Duration Criteria

Acute: one month or less

Sub-acute: more than one month but less than one year

Chronic: one year and longer.

Other symptoms of sleep talking

Sleep walking

Sleep Terrors

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Confusional Arousals

REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder

Nocturnal Seizures

Psychiatric Disorders

Treatment of Sleep Talking
Surprisingly, no treatment of sleep talking is required! However, you may need to talk to your physician or health care provider about the problem if sleep talking is severe or persistent over a long period of time. There could be hidden medical condition, which is unknown to you, responsible for your condition, like stress or other sleep disorder. Remember, all sleep disorders are interrelated!

Coping witn Sleep Talking
Here are several steps, which can be taken to reduce sleep talking incidents:

Follow regular sleep schedule by going to bed and getting up at the same time

Get sufficient amount of sleep

Practice sleep hygiene, which can help you to reduce occurrence and severity of sleep talking

Refrain yourself from heavy meals, alcohol, strong coffee and tea, as well as any stress

Suggest using earplugs or white noise generator (such as a fan or pleasant music) to your bed partner and roommate.

·         Parasomnias is commonly observed during to the Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (NREM sleep), and the Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM sleep).

·         The NREM sleep is commonly known as drunkenness sleep (usually without dreams), sleepwalking and Pavor nocturnus, which is a night terror. 

·         REM sleep behavior disorder with nightmares and isolated sleep paralysis occurrences are the most common in REM sleep based parasomnias.

·         Most people suffering from parasomnias, need to be diagnosed for a specific disorder, since they have no actual disease present. They require an accurate diagnostic assessment, if they have been preoccupied with nightmares, or when they experience daytime sleepiness.

·         It is more difficult to conduct diagnosis of parasomnias in adults than in kids.There are many well recognized signs and symptoms with certain recognition of the disorder development in kids. On the contrary, more complicated differential diagnosis must be applied for adults.

Treatment

·         Somnambulism, and REM sleep behavior disorder can be treated with Clonazepam for idiopathic nightmares. No other parasomnias disorders could be treated by therapeutic procedures.

Watch Video: Pavor Nocturnum

Word somnambulism is from the Latin somnus (sleep) and ambulus (walking). It involves involuntary motor acts-particularly walking-during sleep.

·       Studies indicates that sleepwalking is a ordinary phenomenon. It may be more prevalent among people who experience a lot of stress.

·        Most of the time, sleepwalking happens in pubescence, that is age ten to fourteen years.

·        It has been also noticed that there is a genetic factor shown in some families with a history of sleepwalk by family members.

·       A very unique correlation between somnambulistic and hypnotic states has been observed for a long period of time, going back to 19 century when sleepwalking was considered as a possession of an evil force.

·       A distinctive sleepwalking incident is usually short, rarely lasting more than 30 minutes. Strangely enough, sleepwalkers, as a rule, somehow successfully avoid hitting different objects while they walk. Also, sleepwalkers manage to return back to their bed without any accidents. Occasionally, they finish their somnabulistic accidents by lying on anything that looks similar to their own bed, such as a couch or a chesterfield.

When it happens?

Contrary to everyone’s expectation, sleepwalking happens only during Stage 4, the deepest levels of sleep, rather than during the other stages.

·        What happens after is that people are awakening in the middle of their sleepwalking activity and experience confusion and quite surprise to what they see around.

·        Being unable to reconstruct their dreams is considered to be a result of their confusion upon awakening.

·        This phenomenon is also prevalent in majority of people when they cannot recall their dreams upon awakening.

Observation

·        People of any age may be affected by sleepwalking.

·        Sleepwalking happens when a person moves during slow wave of sleep (SWS)

·        Research shows that up to 80% of children and young adults, as well as 50% infants, spent the night in SWS. As the person gets older, this percentage decreases.

Statistics

^·         According to a study published in 1997 in Finland, sleepwalking in children is more frequently than in adults. 6.9% of girls and 5.7% of boys reported incidents of sleepwalking in comparison to 3.1% for women and 3.9% men.

Watch Video: How to Diagnose Sleep Disorders. Sleep Walking

There are a lot of misguided perceptions about what sleep walkers look like and how to help them. Learn more about sleep walking and how to help someone who sleep walks from our medical expert in this free video.

Sleepwalking induced by drugs

·       The sleep medication Zolpidem (Ambien) has been linked with an elevated possibility to sleep walk, including the most dangerous situations, such as driving.

Activities

·        Many human activities have been reported and/or claimed to have happened during sleepwalking, such as bathing, urinating, talking, dressing, eating, painting, whistling, singing, driving cars, dancing, engaging in sexual intercourse, or even committing murder.

·       Opposite to a common believes, most cases of sleepwalking do not result in actual walking. Most of the time, as it has been confirmed in sleep clinics, sleepwalking started  when people are fully awakened by something that disturbed their SWS.

·       The person may sit up, even get up, look around and then immediately go back to sleep.

·       Occasionally, people are awaken when they experience nightmare, then they wake up to simply stop that vision, and going back to sleep without even remembering anything. It is common to see sleepwalkers with their eyes wide open so they can navigate their environment, and not with their eyes closed and their arms extended, like zombies in many movies and cartoons.

·        When you try to question someone who is sleepwalking, you may notice that the person’s eyes looking “empty” with no life any intelligence in their faces. They also answer your questions very slowly and usually unable to respond in an intelligible manner.

Hazards and safety

It is really advisable to lead sleepwalkers away from any dangerous  situation and back to bed, especially when could do some harm to themselves or to others by going up or down the stairs or when holding any dangerous tool or located close to a potentially harmful objects such as a stove, fireplace, balcony, or a stepladder.

It has been also reported that sleepwalking victims were injured or even have died or as a result being in that sleep stage.

Note: sleepwalking should not be confused with psychosis.

Homicidal somnambulism has been a defense technique against charges of murder, sometimes successfully.

Automatism

·       There is another rare instance when a person may enter into the condition similar to sleepwalking being actually full awake and alert.

·       This condition has been diagnosed as a form of epilepsy with associated mild form of seizure. It is also known as automatism.

·       An attack automatism usually begins without any warning.

·       This condition is hard to detect, other than the claim  by a person who has no memory of the event, as well as often been disoriented.

·       The person may produce simple gestures or small movements, occasionally complex behaviors, such as driving, cooking, or performing any other activity as if fully alert. After the ends,