In Introduction to Psychology, we talked about the idea of alternate states of consciousness. One of the most common alternate states of consciousness is sleep. There are many myths and misconceptions on why we sleep. Scientists have carefully studied what sleep can do to us, since we spend about 25 years of our life in these alternate states of consciousness (Huffman & Dowell, 2015, p. 159). Scientists explain our need to sleep through four theories. Adaptation/Protection theory of sleep explains that sleep evolved to conserve energy and provide protection from predators. Repair/Restoration theory of sleep allows organisms to repair or recuperate from depleting daily waking activities. Growth/Development theory is that in deep sleep it is correlated with physical development, including the stages of structure and organization of the brain. Lastly, the learning/memory theory is important for learning and for the consolation, storage, and maintenance of memories (Huffman & Dowell, 2015, p. 160).
What are the stages of sleep? Sleep is broken down into five stages. The first stage is the interim between consciousness and sleep, and you move to stage two after 5-15 minutes. Stage two your heart rate slows because the brain does less complicated tasks. After another 15 minutes, you move into non-REM sleep, the Delta stage. Stage three your body makes repairs, moving into stage four your body temperature and BP decreases. You then move into REM sleep approximately after 90 minutes after first feeling sleepy. In stage five REM your eye movement, heart rate, breathing, BP and temperature all increase. REM sleep is just Stage five, while NREM is stages one through four. REM sleep consists of rapid eye movement, high frequency brain waves, paralysis of large muscles, and dreaming. While in NREM it consists of light to deep sleep, slower heart rate, and your body is rejuvenating and healing from illnesses (Huffman & Dowell, 2015, p. 162).
NREM sleep arousal disorder, also known as sleep terror is an abrupt awakening with feelings of panic that significantly disrupts NREM sleep. People who experience NREM sleep arousal are thought to be both partially awake and asleep during their episodes. During these episodes, they may last from 10 minutes to an hour, and during this time sleepwalking and sleep terrors commonly occur. Sleep terror is caused when a person is suddenly awaken from sleep by an intense fear. Episodes usually start with someone screaming and are then followed by physical signs of fear, such as fast breathing and sweating. Unfortunately, it is very hard to try and help someone who is going through sleep terrors because you do not want to wake them up. Causes of NREM sleep arousal do have a genetic component, with having people 80% of people who experience sleepwalking have a family history in sleepwalking and in sleep terrors. There are other risk factors such as sleep deprivation, sleep schedule disruptions, exhaustion, and physical or emotional stress (Psychology Today).
Sleep terrors affect 40% of children and a smaller percentage of adults. Although sleep terrors for children usually go away when they are in their teenage years, if they persist and are causing problems with getting enough sleep they may require treatment (Psychology Today). After reading different stories and applying what we had learned in class to them, I was then able to apply it to my own life. When my sister was little she would always wake up in the middle of the night and start screaming. My parents didn’t think much of it because she always told them she had nightmares. It wasn’t until she would start walking around to my room and my parents room, that they started to get concerned. She would scream and start hysterically crying in the middle of the night. Her breathing would get heavier and she would be sweating through her clothes. Although I was only trying to help, I woke up my sister causing her to punch and kick at me. She became very confused as to where she was and got even more upset. We realized that it wasn’t a nightmare because during a nightmare someone is able to be comforted after it occurs. With my sister’s night terrors she remained asleep, and unable to recall the event after she woke up. My parents then concluded that she had gotten this from my father. My grandmother told us that my father experience the same sleep terrors when he was about her age. Fortunately, a couple years after she grew out of her sleep terrors (DeCecca).
As we were learning about this in psychology, researching different studies, and the information I got from my own experiences, I was able to get a better understanding on what sleep terror is and how it affects people.