2007-02-23 04:59:39 · 4 answers · asked by hooah89d 4 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
Nightmares are frightening dreams that occur during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. They usually are scary enough to awaken the sleeper and sometimes remain in the mind for several hours.
SYMPTOMS:
Having recurring extremely frightening dreams
Feeling threatened by the content of the dreams
Detailed memories of the dream that are hard to erase from the mind
Usually occur in the latter half of the sleep period
There is no known clinical or mental cause for the dreams
Unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during slow wave sleep. They cause intense terror and partial arousal. The sleeper may appear to be awake, sitting up, eyes open, but is actuality still asleep. The person seldom remembers the episode or the dream the next day.
SYMPTOMS:
Recurring abrupt arousals from sleep
Usually occur earlier in sleep than nightmares, often in the first third of the sleep period
Screaming
Intense fear
Rapid breathing and heartbeat
Sweating
No response to efforts to comfort the dreamer
No recall of the episode in the morning
No medical or mental cause for these episodes
2007-02-23 05:09:53 · answer #1 · answered by l8yjc 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nightmares are common occurrences in which a dream in really intense and the person who is dreaming finds the dream disturbing. So, a nightmare is a dream, basically.
Night terrors, however, are a medical condition, actually a sleep disorder. It normally affects children, but some adults experience it too. Night terrors are accompanied by screaming and moaning. Night terrors happen in the deepest stage of sleep, as where nightmares happen during REM-sleep.
A night terror victim cannot be woken up in the midst of their terror, and in all actuality, a person suffering from night terrors don't have dreams at all, they just FEEL fearful.
Too much info? Sorry!
2007-02-23 13:16:08 · answer #2 · answered by pockety 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Night terrors are reacuring bad dreams!
18yjc above is right too it's what i said and hers!
The wake up screaming part!!
2007-02-23 13:31:53 · answer #3 · answered by THE DARK LORD 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually pockety is right, also. I'm going to assume that she found the information on wikipedia
2007-02-23 16:13:37 · answer #4 · answered by Elena D 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋