About Bad Dreams, Nightmares, and Night Terrors

Posted by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen Jun 3, 2007

Last week, in the middle of the night, I woke up to see a man walking down the slope behind our house (we live in a wooded area on an island; our bedroom window is level with the bed). He was heading toward the house.

As soon as I realized this guy was headed toward my bedroom window, I threw myself off the bed and plastered myself on the floor, hoping he'd think nobody was home. Then I realized I'd be visible from the side window, so I crawled over the the corner of the room and pressed against the wall. After a few seconds, my heart thudding.......I slowly woke up. It was a dream.

I dreamed that the guy was outside, but I physically responded by scrambling all over the room -- and I was incredibly confused and still scared when I woke up. That was a sleep-walking nightmare. (I don't have insomnia, I have nightmares! Which is worse?)

Night terrors on the other hand are different in that people can't remember what terrified them. They can't be wakened from their experience -- the night terror can last from 10-20 minutes. Night terrors aren't dreams, they're sleep disorders characterized by an inability to wake up, extreme terror, and no recall of what exactly was terrifying them.

Sleep-related eating disorders are another form of sleep disorder, in which people eat in the night without waking up. Sleep-eating affects about 2% of the US population, and is becoming more researched -- more people are coming "out of the closet" as it were.