Night terrors — what they are, and what you can do about them
Night terrors are different from nightmares and can be frightening to witness. Here's what happens in the body, who it affects, and what helps.
You hear a scream from the bedroom. Your child is sitting bolt upright in bed, eyes wide open, staring straight ahead, shouting and shaking — but not awake. Nothing you say gets through. By morning, they remember none of it.
Or it happens to you: you “wake up” with your heart pounding, an overwhelming fear flooding your body — but there’s no dream to recall, no image to pin the fear to. Just raw, unexplained physiological dread.
That’s a night terror. And it’s different from a nightmare in almost every way.
What night terrors actually are
Night terrors — also called sleep terrors — are a parasomnia: a sleep disorder that occurs during non-REM sleep, typically in the deep sleep of the first one to three hours of the night. That’s what separates night terrors from nightmares at a fundamental level: nightmares happen during REM sleep, while night terrors happen during deep non-REM sleep.
The consequence matters. Because a night terror occurs during deep sleep rather than dreaming sleep, there’s no dream attached to it at all — no images, no storyline, nothing the brain can point to and use to explain the fear. Just pure, unprovoked, physiological panic.
What happens during an episode
An episode typically starts with a sudden movement — sitting bolt upright, shouting, screaming, or other intense physical signs of fear: a racing pulse, sweating, wide-open eyes. The person looks awake but isn’t consciously present. They can’t communicate, don’t respond to comfort, and aren’t mentally “there” the way they would be if genuinely awake.
The episode usually lasts anywhere from a couple of minutes to fifteen or twenty. Then it fades, the person lies back down, and sleep continues — with no memory of any of it the next morning.
Who they happen to, and when
Night terrors are far more common in children than in adults. Somewhere between 3 and 6 percent of children experience them, most often between ages 3 and 12. Many grow out of it by their teenage years.
In adults, night terrors are rarer — affecting roughly 1 to 2 percent — but they do happen. They show up most often in adults dealing with:
High stress or anxiety. Stress is one of the clearest triggers for an episode.
Sleep deprivation or an erratic sleep schedule. Episodes are more frequent when sleep is cut short or irregular.
Fever or illness. In children especially, a fever can set one off.
Genetics. Night terrors run in families, and households with a history of sleepwalking tend to see more of them.
Why this is not a nightmare
It’s worth being able to tell the two apart, especially with children. A few things separate them:
Timing. Night terrors happen within the first one to three hours of the night. Nightmares tend to strike later, during REM sleep.
Awareness. During a night terror, the person can’t be reached and remembers nothing afterward. After a nightmare, they’re fully conscious and can describe the dream.
Comfort. A child in the middle of a night terror can’t be soothed — they don’t register that you’re there. A child waking from a nightmare can be.
Content. Nightmares come with images, a storyline, something frightening to point to. A night terror has none of that — just physiological fear with nothing behind it.
What to do while it is happening
The single most important thing is not to try to wake the person up. That sounds backwards, but attempting to rouse someone mid-episode can draw it out and make it more intense. A better response looks like this:
Keep them physically safe. Clear anything dangerous nearby, and stop them from falling out of bed or wandering somewhere risky.
Speak in a low, calm voice without expecting a reply. It won’t register consciously, but a steady voice can still help the body settle.
Wait it out. The episode will pass on its own.
Once it’s over, guide them gently back down and let them keep sleeping. They’ll sleep soundly and remember none of it.
Reducing how often episodes come
Keep sleep on a schedule. A consistent bedtime and wake time — especially for children — cuts down on episodes noticeably.
Protect enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is one of the clearest triggers there is. Children need more sleep than most parents assume: 10 to 12 hours at school age, up to 14 for the youngest.
Manage stress directly. For adults, reducing stress — through rest, mindfulness, or therapy — is often the single most effective step.
Keep the room cool and steady. Overheating and fever are known triggers, so a comfortable bedroom temperature helps.
Cut back on screens and stimulation before bed. An overstimulated nervous system raises the odds of an episode.
When to talk to a doctor
Most of the time, night terrors are harmless and pass on their own. Still, it’s worth talking to a doctor or sleep specialist if:
Episodes happen very often — more than once or twice a week. The person gets hurt during an episode. Sleepwalking comes along with it. Sleep loss or anxiety from the episodes is genuinely disrupting daily life.
The link to sleepwalking
Night terrors and sleepwalking belong to the same family of sleep disorders — both occur during deep non-REM sleep, both involve partial arousal without full consciousness, and both tend to run in families. It’s not unusual for a child who has night terrors to also sleepwalk, or for both to turn up in the same household.
If night terrors come with sleepwalking — the person doesn’t just sit up but actually gets up and moves around — it’s worth taking extra care to make the bedroom safe: clear obstacles, lock windows and doors, and consider talking to a doctor.
When they start in adulthood
In adults, night terrors are rarely just a matter of sleep mechanics. Research points to a real link between night terrors and anxiety disorders, PTSD, and stretches of heavy emotional strain. Where a child’s night terrors are usually just neurological immaturity that gets outgrown, an adult’s are more often a sign that something psychological is asking for attention.
That doesn’t mean adult night terrors always point to a serious mental health condition — but it’s worth asking whether something in your life right now is unresolved, feeding an ongoing level of stress that isn’t finding any other outlet.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for sleep problems (CBT-I) and stress-management techniques have shown good results for adults dealing with recurring night terrors.
Explaining it to a child
A child old enough to understand that they’ve had a night terror — and who might be confused or unsettled that they “acted strange” — needs a simple, reassuring explanation.
One approach that works well: “Your body was asleep, but a small part of your brain hadn’t quite finished falling asleep yet. It’s like your body was doing the dreaming instead of your head. It’s completely normal, and it happens to lots of kids. You don’t need to be scared of it.”
What matters most is normalizing it — not turning it into something dramatic or worrying, but also not brushing off what the child went through.
What to hold on to
Night terrors are different from nightmares, and they have nothing to do with dream content — they’re a glitch in the handoff between sleep stages, not a story the mind is telling. A few key points to hold onto:
- They happen during deep non-REM sleep, not dreaming sleep
- The person remembers nothing and can’t be reached during the episode
- Don’t try to wake them — let it pass on its own, and just keep them safe
- Most common in children ages 3 to 12, but adults get them too, especially under stress
- Stress, sleep deprivation, and fever are the main triggers
- A steady sleep schedule and enough rest are the best prevention
- In adults, recurring night terrors can be worth exploring with a doctor or therapist
Sources and further reading
- Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep — on the stages of sleep, and why night terrors belong to deep NREM sleep rather than dreaming sleep.
- Ernest Hartmann, The Nature and Functions of Dreaming — on the difference between nightmares and the states that only resemble nightmares from the outside.
- Sleep Foundation — How Sleep Works
- NHS — Sleep and tiredness
- CDC — About Sleep