Parasomnia: Night Terrors

Kelsey Carrio, Megan PreovolosChristian Wilbur, Marjan Amiridavani

COGS 175June 1, 2007

Outline Intro to Night Terrors—Kelsey REM/ n-REM—MJ Causes—Christian Treatments—Megan Conclusions

Parasomnias

Parasomnias are disruptive sleep-related disorders that can occur during arousals from REM sleep or partial arousals from Non-REM sleep. Parasomnias include nightmares, night terrors, sleepwalking, confusional arousals and many others.

Nightmare or Night Terror?  (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1998)

Nightmare Night Terror

Scary dream awakens child. Child awakes only partially, if at all.       

Occurs in last hours of the night. Occurs one to four hours after child falls asleep.

Child cries and is afraid. Child sits up, thrashes, and may struggle with caregiver. Child may scream, cry or talk aloud. Eyes may be staring ahead, with heart racing.

Child is aware of caregiver. Child is not very aware of caregiver.

Child may have trouble going back to sleep. Child often goes back to sleep without fully awakening.

Child often remembers dream and may want to talk about it.

Child has no memory of a dream, or of waking up, screaming, or thrashing.

Night terrors A person experiencing a night terror or sleep

terror abruptly awakes from sleep in a terrified state. The person may appear to be awake, but is confused and unable to communicate. They do not respond to voices and are difficult to fully awaken.

Night terrors last anywhere from a few seconds up to 30 minutes, after which time the person usually lies down and appears to fall back asleep.

People who have sleep terrors usually don't remember the events the next morning.

People experiencing sleep terrors may pose dangers to themselves or others because of limb movements.

Night terrors are fairly common in children occurring in approximately 5% of them mostly between the ages of three to five.

N-REM vs. REM Non-REM Slow EEG

Muscular activity Dreaming rare 80% of sleep time

REM (paradoxical) EEG similar to awake

person

No movement Dreaming common Hard to arouse easily 20% of sleep time

Onset of Night Terror - EEG Spontaneous attack

during stage 3 of NREM sleep

2 s of diffuse hypersynchronous high voltage delta wave arousal

Brief EEG delta discharge immediately preceding the clinical episode

Increased heart rate (shown from EKG)

Causes of Night Terrors

Genetic Factors Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) Acute Triggers

Genetic FactorsGuilleminault et. al. 2003

- 35% of children with both NT and SDB have at least 1 immediate relative with parasomnia.

Kales et. al. 1980

- 96% had 1 or more relatives in the pedigree with NT or Sleepwalking.

Owens et. al. 1999

- 60% risk if both parents were affected.

Sleep Disordered BreathingGuilleminault et al. 2003

- 51 of 84 children had BOTH NT and an additional sleep disorder.

- If the SDB is treated, then the NT symptoms disappear.

Owens et al. 1997- Parasomnias are more common in children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) than in a normative age-matched sample.

How SDB’s? Sleep fragmentation due to sleep-

disordered breathing may elicit an increase in slow-wave sleep as a recovery mechanism. This could be an increased risk factor for night terrors because they occur in stage 3/4 of sleep.

Acute Triggers

Mild increases in psychosocial stress and relative sleep deprivation are known to trigger night terrors in affected individuals. These triggers most likely play a synergistic role in evoking the night terror, and are not the primary source when they

Treatments

EducationBehavioralHypnosis

Medication

Educate Make sure parents understand

Transitory: Usually end on their own

Regular sleep pattern Safe environment

No bunk beds, safety gates, etc

Remove sleep disturbances Night lights, sounds, etc

Protect but don’t awaken

Behavioral Intervention“Waking Treatment” Usually occur around same time each night Track timing of night terrors for a couple of nights Fully wake up 15-30 mins before usually occur

Allow to sleep again after 5 minutes

After week, stop waking. If terrors return, repeat waking for one more week

90% effective in study of 50 children (Oakey)

Hypnosis Stress reduction In adults:

Mild night terrors: self-hypnosis Deep breathing, concentrate on relaxing imagery

Severe night terrors: Professional hypnotism Suggestions to reduce awareness of nocturnal

sensory stimuli

Medication Tricyclic Antidepressants

Ex: Imipramine, Trazodone Often used as temporary treatment in conjunction with

hypnosis Benzodiazepines

Ex: Diazepam Suppress slow-wave (stage 3/4) sleep Disadvantages

Addictive Growth hormone secreted in slow wave sleep Also studies stating DOESN’T work (Cooper)

Melatonin Therapy Neurohormone produced by pineal gland Therapy for sleep-phase onset delay Take controlled release 30 mins before

bedtime Study: Abrupt disappearance of

parasomnias in 12 year old boy (within 2 days)-Smits et al.

L-5-Hydroxytryptophan(Bruni et al, 2003)

Pre-cursor of serotonin Serotonin may cause production of sleep-producing

factors Resolves conflict between slow-wave sleep and arousal

45 children: 34 given L-5-HTP, 14 take placebo Episode recurrence after 6 months

2 in L-5-HTP (6.4%) 9 in placebo group (64.3%)

Case StudySelf-Hypnosis in Management

(Kohen et al, 1992) Four children, 8-12 yrs old Treatment: 20-60 mg of imipramine at

bedtime followed by self-hypnosis Strategy:

Demystify through education Establish prompt control through imipramine Train in self-regulation through self-hypnosis Discontinue medication but continue hypnosis

Conclusion

Unanswered questions What causes the sudden occurrences to stop? Exact causes and remedies

Alternate State of Consciousness? Is it even conscious? Are they aware?

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“Not Such ‘Sweet Dreams’” http://www.talaris.org/spotlight_dream.htm Talaris Research Institute © 2005

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Owens J, Spirito A, Nobile C, Arrigan M. Incidence of parasomnias in children with obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep. 1997;20:1193-1196.

Rosen, et al. Sleep walking, confusional arousals and sleep terrors in the child. Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine in the Child. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders. P 99-106.

“Sleep Disorders: Parasomnias” www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/parasomnias ©2005-2007 WebMD, Inc