Sleep Terrors When I Was 4 and 8, Now 17 and Fear Sleep

by Rachel
(Sping Mills, Pennsylvania)

I had night terrors when i was 4 and 8 when I moved from house to house. About 6 to 10 episodes that i know of but my parents don't tell me when i get them. I am now 17 and get an average of 5 hours of sleep a night because I go to bed completely exhausted but my mind continues to think for hours after my body shuts down, and it's always about things i fear that i never think about during the day. I get so scared i usually cry or have to wake myself up and move around, causing less and less sleep. Pavor Nocturnus is caused when you suppress fears and they come out when you're unconscious right? Could my sleep problems now be linked with what happened when i was young?

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Kevin: Hey Rachel, I don't know that sleep terrors are the cause of suppressed fears at all, but they can definitely be made worse or more frequent by sleep deprivation. Maybe spend some time thinking about how you can calm yourself down at night, possibly through music or reading or something of the like, so you can get some more sleep. Working on your sleep deprivation sounds like one of the best paths to take to ameliorate your episodes at night.

I know that sounds kind of difficult--how can you lower your deprivation to help your fears if it's the fears that are causing the deprivation?--but I think you can do it.

All the best,
Kevin

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