Sometimes the terms may incorrectly be used one for another, but there are clear differences.
What is the difference between sleep paralysis and night terrors?
How can these conditions be distinguished from one another?
a creation of samuelbradleyphotography.com / Getty Images
(To add another layer of confusion, night terrors are sometimes referred to as sleep terrors.)
to get to better understand these distinctions, lets review some of the highlights.
Night terrors may uncommonly affect adults, but they typically affect children.
On the other hand, sleep paralysis often begins in adolescence and persists well into adulthood.
A key element to consider is how the condition affects the person who experiences it.
In the case of night terrors, the event is not remembered by the child.
Quite to the contrary, sleep paralysis is vividly recalled in horrible detail by the person who endures it.
This suggests distinct levels of consciousness in the conditions.
Night terrors come out ofslow-wave sleepthat occurs in the early part of the night.
This deep sleep makes the affected child difficult to arouse.
There may be vivid hallucinations, an inability to move or speak, and emotions such as fear.
The unique sleep stages that result in these conditions is a clear difference.
It is difficult to wake children from a night terror.
Instead, it is best that they fall back asleep, which they often do.
Some people report being able to gradually regain control of their extremities as the paralysis slowly leaves.
Alternatively, someone else can also stimulate you enough to awaken you from sleep paralysis.
Isolated sleep paralysis occurs frequently and has no major adverse consequences or association with any particular disorder.
However, it may also occur with three othercharacteristic symptomsas part of a more serious sleep disorder callednarcolepsy.
Conversely, night terrors that occur in childhood may simply suggest a brain that has not fully developed.
Night terrors are not associated with other sleep disorders.
Both conditions may be associated withobstructive sleep apneaas this breathing disorder can fragment sleep and lead to the episodes.
It is often unnecessary to treat night terrors as most children outgrow them.
In conclusion, sleep paralysis and night terrors are distinctive conditions that can be distinguished in multiple ways.
They are experienced differently by the affected person and can be uniquely characterized by what is observed.
Denis D.Relationships between sleep paralysis and sleep quality: current insights.Nat Sci Sleep.
2020;16(3):176-182. doi:10.2174/1573396315666191014152136
National Sleep Foundation.Sleep paralysis: symptoms, causes and treatment.
Leung AKC, Leung AAM, Wong AHC, Hon KL.Sleep terrors: an updated review.Curr Pediatr Rev.
2020;16(3):176-182. doi: 10.2174/1573396315666191014152136.
