Night terrors are very different from nightmares. A lot of people will think they're the same, but they're really not. Night terrors - you want to look at the time of night when you're having the problem. Night Terrors happen in deep sleep. Nightmares tend to happen in a lighter REM sleep.
Shelby HarrisSo, more times than not, but not every time, it can be linked to a medical problem, such as menopause, cancer, chronic pain, it can be linked to anxiety and depression. Those are the more common causes.
Shelby HarrisSo there's a few different ways that we treat insomnia. The first thing that we always do is we look at the cause.
Shelby HarrisThere's some debate as to whether you need to awaken from them because there are some patients who are actually starting to say, "I had these horrible nightmares, but I never woke up from them." But they can still recall them when they get up in the morning. So there's still some debate in the field.
Shelby HarrisWhen you are more awake at nights, they'll toss and turn, they'll think more, they get frustrated. And when that starts to happen, you really don't sleep even more because you're making your body tense and your mind is getting more and more active.
Shelby Harris