How To Treat Night Terrors

Anticipatory Awakening

As a general rule, night terrors are creatures of habit, meaning if the cycle of the terror can be broken there is a considerably decreased likelihood of it occurring again. The use of a specific practice known as anticipatory awakening draws upon this knowledge to break the cycle of night terrors. Through a variety of means, whether a professional sleep study or a patient simply looking at their alarm clock upon waking, the approximate moment of the incident is timed relative to when the patient falls asleep. Additionally, another person in the household, be it a spouse or a parent, could periodically check on the individual in question for signs of a night terror, such as excessive tossing and turning or heavy breathing. From there, the individual is awoken a few minutes before the night terror and asked to stay awake for a few minutes. Afterward, the patient is allowed to go back to sleep. Usually this is enough to prevent the onset of a night terror in a given evening, and is an ideal way of breaking the cycle of night terrors for individuals who suffer for them rather sporadically.

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