Top 12 Scary Sleep Disorders!

11. Sleep Terror Disorder

So you’ve heard of Chronic Nightmare Disorder, now meet it’s even worse cousin, Sleep Terror Disorder. Sleep terrors would usually occur during the first three hours of sleep, which is in the slow-wave cycle of sleep. Usually, a person suffering from the disorder will wake, scream, kick and thrash, with an “intense look of fear” in their eyes and heart racing (Ohayon et al, 1999). If the individual has not yet woke up, then it can be very difficult to wake them up, making it almost seem to the individual as if they are trapped in a nightmare. Even worse, Sleep Terror Disorder can take effect during daytime naps. Sleep Terror Disorder was first observed in the medieval era, when villages were plagued with illnesses, and so, it was thought that sleep terrors were a part of the illness, and occasionally priests were brought in for exorcisms of the sick patient! Nowadays, scientists believe that a possible cause is a delay in the maturation of a child’s Central Nervous System (Mindell, 1993). However, sleep deprivation, stress and even fever can also trigger episodes.