Is a night terror different from a nightmare?
827177
Yes, it is, though you don't see night terrors as much in adults as you do in kids and teens, they are different.\n\nMainly, night terrors are recurring, and way more intense and lingering in their effects.  As in, some people, when they wake up from the night terror, they aren't entirely lucid or waking when they are "awake", meaning part of their mind is still stuck in dream mode....the fear and other negative emotions are still there and full awareness of reality, in the sense of fully being awake, doesn't always come quickly.  It is as if part of their brain is still stuck sleeping even though they are bodily *up*.\n\nLet me see if I can find a Wiki link to explain this better:
369047
It's called sleep apoenia and is a normal but odd glitch in your nervous system.Panic will make it worse.Just remember it's normal,you won't die and relax and breath deeply.I have it too.It's what explains legends of vampires and night-hags,succubus etc.
397295
Yes.  Whatever you don't deal with while your awake you deal with in your dreams.  They are mostly symbolic though rather than something easily decipherable.
311376
No one can avoid having nightmares as everyone has them occassionally.  Especially during times of stress.  \n\nNightmares are actually a very healthy way of detoxing your system of stress not dealt with during the daytime waking hours.\n\nYou can learn to view them differently and you can learn to control your dreams.  \n\nEach night, about a half hour before you close your eyes to sleep..map out what you want to dream about.  Tell yourself over and over that you are in control of your dreams and anything you want, you can have.  Sometimes it helps to have some paper and colored pencils and to just doodle out your dreams or a landscape or something.  If you don't like drawing, find some pictures in magazines and make yourself some dream boards.  Concentrate on a board before you go to sleep and then practice controlling the events in your dreams.\n\nYou practice by allowing yourself to create your dreamworld - before you actually fall asleep.  This is the time when you first close your eyes til you actually can't remember dozing off.  If you remember any of your nightmares, start with them and recreate the scenario only this time...you are in control of what happens.\n\nOnce you understand that a nightmare is just a way of releasing stress, and that you are in control of your sleeptime world...they aren't very scary.  You can get to a point of actually enjoying the chase, or of controlling the fall by being caught in a floating bubble...enjoy the landscape around you...whatever your nightmares consist of.  If you are having a nightmare about harm being done to you, change the face of the one causing harm to the face of a friend or loved one playing a joke on you.  You can do this, it's your dream.\n\nRelax as much as you can before laying down.  Drink a warm, creamy drink right before bedtime, like warm cocoa with extra milk.  Don't eat a few hours before bed.  Take the last hour or so before laying down for quiet time, read a bit or do your dream board, center yourself so that you are able to enjoy the world of your choice when you close your eyes.\n\nSleep well...
125009
I have been having the same nightmare since I was a child and I still wake up unable to scream or catch my breath.  I've also woken up sad/angry/happy with someone because of what happened the night before in my dreams.  It's strange because when you see the person next it's hard to talk to them.  I have to explain the dream and it usually makes me feel better.
298685
I have had night terrors on and off since I was about six or seven (I am now 27). They seem to generally be triggered by stress although not exclusively. Two of my cousins also suffer from them so I guess there might also be some genetic factors. \n\nA typical episode will usually involve coming into wakefulness very rapidly, whist at the same time experiencing some 'terror' scenario. These can vary from nasty insects, snakes, strange people / figures or just the feelings of a malevolent force in the room. The thing which sets these experiences apart from typical nightmares is the fact that these things happen during apparent wakefulness i.e. they are like waking nightmares. \n\nFor many these experiences are accompanied by sleep paralysis, but for me I am usually totally mobile and up and out of bed faster than a cat of a hot tin roof. It will then take me a few minutes to 'come down' from the event, during which time the scenario will continue to play out, and I will be able to see, hear, smell or feel whatever is occuring as if it were totaly real. As my fear subsides I will gradually realise that there isn't a scorpion in my bed or some evil figure in the room to the point where I am able to recognise it for what it is i.e. just a night terror. Once I am back to normal I am then able to return to bed and go back to sleep as if nothing happened.\n\nInterestingly they are not always 'terrors' and sometimes the events will be accompanied by intense feelings of joy and happiness, but on the whole there is usually some kind of nightmarish quality to them.\n\nPersonally, over the years, I have learnt to deal with them and accept that it will happen from time to time. My girlfriend is very understanding and knows not to freak out if I suddenly leap out of bed at night! I know from talking to my cousin that she wasn't so comfortable and would often avoid spending the night with people in case she had one. I guess it could be quite frightening if you weren't expecting it!..\n\nI hope this helps! If you want any more information, please feel free to contact me.
776379
Yes  In fact, lately I've had the realization of both a dream and a nightmare.  And although I wish I could pay more attention to the dream, it is still a little far out of reach...just out of grasp.  Whereas the nightmare is right in my face, haunting me on a daily basis.  I'm hoping once I clear this nightmare off of my path.... once I forge through the chaos of it all.... the dream will be more in focus and I will be able to breathe a little easier.  There are still some dreams that have yet to come alive....and they are the ones I look forward to meeting in the future.  As for the remainder of my nightmares, I don't think anything could be much worse than what I'm going through now.... although I don't want to jinx it.... I guess, it could *always* be worse.  :)
136452
It was a dream. Nothing more. Do a Google search on "sleep paralysis" or "night terrors".
29653
Fear of sleep is called "somniphobia". (In response to the later answer, insomnia is the inability to sleep, not the fear of sleep.)
99446
I am 26 years old and still afraid of the dark. I sleep well either drunk or completly exhausted.  If I am not either of those, I sleep with a light on and music playing.  The reason for me doing this is because I was molested as a child.  I later heard that many surviors also do this.  Maybe you were hurt as a child and that is something that you felt that you could control by being able to see your surroundings?  Good Luck!
364799
Hi, my name is CJ.  \nI have experienced night terrors , on and off,  for years.  \nLooking back,  they seemed to occur at the most stressful times of my life, and usually when I was dog ass  tired. \nMy night terrors are more then nightmares.  When I'm having a nightmare, I know its not real,  and that if it gets too scarey I can wake myself up.   With my night terrors,  I at times,  find myself dreaming w/ my eyes open, and have self-induced hallucinations..  seeing things or people in my room,  and reacting and/or talking to them.    Usually, I wake up the next morning exhausted, not remembering my dream,  until my husband reminds me that I was talking to the black shadowy figure in the corner,  telling him to back off !  When I was 8 months pregnant w/  my son,  I was sleeping in our bed,  and dreamnt that I woke to find this dark hooded figure reaching thru the window,  thru my headboard for me.  According to my husband,  it took him close to 15 min's to convince me no one was there. I later just blew it off as being protective and anxious for my newborn child on the way. \n   Weird huh ?   Sounds almost like someone who did too many drugs in the 60's,  and I've never touched em !  lol \n\nWhat are yours like ?
931483
Hi! I have experience sleep paralysis also, and found it a very frightening experience.  Some people tend to call it 'old hag' syndrome..  others just refer to it as a sleep disorder.  Like you, I rarely said anything about it because I thought I was going crazy!  Check out website www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050709 it's called 'Night of the Crusher', and might help you understand a little bit more.  I assure you that you aren't going crazy or anything.  If it happens again, try to relax and let it all pass.
963617
I also suffer from night terrors and I notice when I am either under lots of stress or when I am very tiered I get severe ones. However I've had them since I was a child, and what I've learnt is that you have to tell yourself it is not real and it's just a dream.\nI am 26 and only in past year or so I've been able to deal with them better.\nMy solution came to me when one day (yeah I get them in the day too) I had night terrors and I realized I was dreaming. I wear glasses and I knew that is had to be a dream because there is no way I could see so clearly. Since then I have been able to pull myself out of my night terrors easier because I am almost certain they are dreams.\nYou need to learn to control them in you sleep. \nThere is no way to predict when they are gonna happen but good things to do is try and rememberr things in your room like a painting or a mirror on the wall and look for it in your dream and focus on it. I know it's hard but it gets easier with time.\nGood Luck and I hope it works out for you.
691037
I like the adrenalin rush i get from nightmares.  I watch scary movies in hopes that i will have a nightmare.\n\nNightmares inspire me to be creative.  I am an F/X fanatic.  so the scary my dreams, the more artistic i am in my drawings and special effects for my kids costumes for Halloween. \nSome sleep researchers consider the occasional nightmare a natural response to stress, the body's way of practicing its "fight or flee" response, a way for us to work through aggressive feelings in a safe way, since the body's muscles are essentially paralyzed during rapid eye movement, REM, sleep.
1165115
No, I haven't, but if you have you may want to see a doctor so you ask them about Night Terrors or other sleep disorders.
472535
Not personally but I know about it\n\nSleep Paralysis (SP) is a common medical condition and usually tagged nowdays as a Sleeping Disorder.\nThe symptoms can sometimes include complete to partial paralysis of arms, legs and upper torso, a tight or heavy pressure on your chest sometimes with a choking sensation and almost always experienced as you are about to fall into sleep or just come out of sleep.\nThe most remarkable symptoms of SP are the accompanying audio and/or visual hallucinations often causing extreme terror and panic in it's sufferers, who more often than not mistakenly believe they are being visited by aliens, malevolent beings and other evil presences. \n\nResearch shows that SP is linked with REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. When in REM sleep you are usually dreaming, your body does not act out your dreams as you will hurt either yourself, or someone else, so evolution has worked its merry little way of getting your brain to switch off your muscles (so to speak) and relax you while dreaming, essentially paralyzing you to a degree
449329
I found that if think about all the things that I found destressing in past dreams just before I go to sleep. that they do not appear that night.  It's sort of facing your fears. When your sleeping your hidden fears in your subconcious come forward in your dreams. But if you face them while awake, then they are no longer in your subconcious etc.\nTry it, it works for me. If not then your best bet is to see a professional.