Give him a hug and try to validate his feelings, say “it sounds like it was a terrible dream, you must have been scared”, never say “well it isn't real” because you aren...
"If you wake from a nightmare and have difficulty falling back asleep, get out of bed, do something soothing like a few yoga poses or find a place to sit, close your eyes, and try a breathing technique or relaxation exercise."
Speak calmly but avoid waking them.
A person may behave irrationally and violently during a night terror. Trying to wake them up can be dangerous but also futile. Many people in night terrors never wake up during the episode.
Indeed, studies suggest that nightmares are often linked to unmet psychological needs and/or frustration with life experiences. Yet those links aren't always easy to make—except in cases of trauma (discussed below), our nightmares tend to reflect our troubles through metaphor rather than literal representation.
The best way to handle a night terror is to wait it out patiently and make sure your child doesn't get hurt if thrashing around. Kids usually will settle down and return to sleep on their own in a few minutes. It's best not to try to wake kids during a night terror.
Nightmares, dreams and other sleep disturbances are a common symptom of complex trauma with nightmares recognised as a principal feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The treatment of nightmares not only alleviates those symptoms but is shown to help reduce PTSD symptoms in general.
1. Being chased. Being chased is one of the most common nightmares. If you dream that you're being chased by something, whether it's an 8-foot-tall rabbit or a shrouded figure, then it's an indicator that you're running away from something or someone in real life.
Barrett says that in post-traumatic nightmares, the region of the brain involved in fear behaviors, including the amygdala, a structure deep in the brain that works to identify potential threats, may be overactive or overly sensitive.
Nightmares become much more than bad dreams when they have a significant effect on your health and well-being. Among people who experience nightmares, those who are anxious or depressed are more likely to be distressed about the experience and suffer even more psychological ill effects.
Sleep terrors differ from nightmares. The dreamer of a nightmare wakes up from the dream and may remember details, but a person who has a sleep terror episode remains asleep. Children usually don't remember anything about their sleep terrors in the morning.
The cause is unknown but night terrors are often triggered by fever, lack of sleep or periods of emotional tension, stress or conflict. Night terrors are like nightmares, except that nightmares usually occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and are most common in the early morning.
Nightmares can be triggered by many factors, including: Stress or anxiety. Sometimes the ordinary stresses of daily life, such as a problem at home or school, trigger nightmares. A major change, such as a move or the death of a loved one, can have the same effect.
Nightmares about falling were followed closely by dreams about being chased (more than 63 percent). Other distressing nightmares included death (roughly 55 percent), feeling lost (almost 54 percent), feeling trapped (52 percent), and being attacked (nearly 50 percent).
A person may experience extreme agitation, such as flailing about, screaming, or even sleepwalking. Despite these physical reactions, people who experience night terrors usually sleep through them. Night terrors and nightmares happen during different stages of sleep.
Anxiety dreams are unpleasant dreams that cause distress. They can be more off-putting than nightmares and can result in you waking up panicked or nervous. These feelings of angst tend to remain in your mind throughout the next day.
Most children experience nightmares from time to time. Frightening dreams can start when the child is about two years old, and reach a peak between the ages of three and six years. Nightmares usually occur later in the sleep cycle, from 4am to 6am, but the frequency differs from one child to the next.
Do what seems unthinkable—wake your child up. If your child has been stuck in a rut of having night terrors over the past few weeks, then waking your child up before you go to bed might be your best bet for breaking the pattern.
Night terrors usually last around five to 10 minutes and may happen more than once during the same night.
September 14, 2020. Mallory/Adobe Stock. When it comes to comparing night terrors and nightmares, you might assume that they're both bad dreams of varying intensities. But night terrors (also known as sleep terrors) are more than just super-intense nightmares.
Crying in dreams symbolizes any suppressed emotion you experience in your waking life. This dream means that your emotions are taking over your ability to remain calm about certain situations. If your emotions are heavy enough to meet you in your dreams, try to take things slowly and handle the situation with care.
Waking up crying in adults
Mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression, tend to be the biggest reason adults wake up crying. If you haven't been diagnosed with a disorder, consider waking up crying as an important symptom to discuss with a doctor.
Remember... Talking about a nightmare strengthens the image. This makes the memory more scary, and the dream is more likely to recur the next night. If you remain calm, and encourage your child to think about something more pleasant, you help the memory of the dream to fade away (just like most of our dreams do…)
Nightmares, Barrett says, are the mind's way of “anxiously anticipating bad things and trying to think of what to do.” Many experts — Barrett included — believe that nightmares developed as a neural response to the threats posed by life before locked doors, streetlights, and social order.