Is there a connection between sleepwalking and night terrors?

Question

My almost three year old daughter has either nightmares or night terrors. She sometimes also sleepwalks. Can someone explain the difference between nightmares and night terrors? Is there a connection between nightmares/night terrors and sleepwalking? Finally, what causes sleepwalking?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Night terrors are most often experienced in childhood, and taper off by early adolescence (so your daughter would be in her prime for having them).  It is a kind of parasomnia, along with somnambulism (sleepwalking) and confusional arousals.  Most experts believe that sleep disorders in children are usually caused by poor sleep habits or poor personal hygiene.  However, they do believe that comorbid (or, co-existing) sleep disorders may indicate that the child is depressed or anxious.

The idea behind parasomnias is that the person experiencing them is not getting a good rest - they don't go through the stages of sleep like other people do.  They sort of stay in a stage that is in between sleep and awake, which causes them to experience the parasomnias.

So to get right down to your questions:  what happens with a night terror is that the child's sleep becomes disturbed during stage 4 of the sleep cycle.  When the child has a night terror, they will usually sit straight up in bed, wide-eyed, with a racing heartbeat (around 160 to 170 bpm).  They will panic, and that may last up to 20 minutes. People who remember the night terror usually describe seeing a person or animal they thought would hurt them (like a shadowy figure or a spider or snake).  However, they also say they weren't really scared by the dream, but by something else.  Many times, the child will appear to sort of throw a temper tantrum during their panic.  

Sleepwalking happens when a person is in a deeper stage of sleep where your brain sort of reviews the past few days' events.  Most people's brains release a chemical into the spinal cord that temporarily paralyzes the body so that you don't injure yourself in your sleep.  However, some people's brains fail to do this, which causes the sleepwalking - the sleepwalker will then act out all of these daily events that they are dreaming about.  They may try to use the toilet, brush their teeth, get out some milk and cereal, etc.

The best advice I can give your daughter's sleep problems are most likely connected, and will most likely wear off in just a couple of years.  Make sure her bed is comfortable, that she doesn't watch much TV an hour or so before bed, and that her hygiene is kept up (which I'm sure isn't an issue).  If you want, you could always consult your family doctor about it as well.