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Surprisingly, we do not
dream during any of these four stages of sleep. Indeed, if you
wake someone up at this point, they will remember either
nothing, or they might say they were "thinking".
After stage four we then
suddenly shift into a completely different mode of sleep called
"rapid eye movement" (REM) sleep. This is when all the dreaming
occurs. If you watch someone in this stage, you will see their
eyes darting from side to side. We dream for about 45 minutes,
and then we go back into non-REM sleep for another hour or so.
This pattern continues through the night, with the non-REM
stages becoming increasingly lighter. Hence the saying "an hour
before midnight is worth two after".
If we have nightmares,
they occur while we are dreaming. They can be full blown horror
movie experiences and very frightening.
Night terrors are
something different altogether. They happen in stage four of
sleep. Sleepwalkers and talkers are active during this stage as
well. No one knows what causes night terrors, but fortunately
most children do outgrow them. Sometimes stress seems to amplify
them.
Although very alarming,
and most distressing to the rest of the family, night terrors
cause no harm to the child himself. Indeed, if you can possibly
bear it, the best tactic is to not wake him. As you have said,
after a while, he just goes back to sleep by himself. The same
also applies to sleepwalking, when the goal is simply to make
sure the child is safe in his wanderings, and. that he cannot
fall down the stairs or out of a window.
Children aged from 3 to 6
are usually the ones who experience night terrors. Sometimes
they continue for a little longer. Of course they are hard to
ignore, but it truly is best not to awaken them. You need your
rest too, although it is difficult to sleep through a night
terror event.
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