I scream at night in my sleep: why does this happen?

For normal fruitful work, the human body must rest regularly. During sleep, all organs slow down their functions, relax and recover, so that upon awakening a person feels rested, renewed and full of strength. But it often happens that during a night's rest the nervous system does not manage to rest. In this case, the person sleeps restlessly, often wakes up or starts screaming in his sleep. If such disorders occur frequently, it is worth paying attention to the problem.

Possible reasons

Long-term stress can lead to screaming in your sleep
If you are familiar with the phrase “I scream at night in my sleep,” you probably wondered what could precede such a phenomenon, what exactly contributed to your screaming at night. If we consider such manifestations in adults, the following factors may be to blame:

nightmare;
abrupt awakening, which led to fright;
the result of prolonged stress - when a person is in constant stress or worries for a long time;
taking certain medications can also affect the appearance of such a phenomenon as screaming in the middle of the night;
bad habits can also negatively affect night's sleep;
the consequence of a disrupted daily routine;
long-term use of sedative medications or their abrupt withdrawal;
the presence of conditions unsuitable for the sleeper, for example, high humidity or too high room temperature;
the result of high body temperature is screaming during fever;
manifestation of a neurological disorder;
presence of mental illness.

Separately, it is worth considering two points that are often displayed in adults.

Scream only in the presence of other people. There are cases when a person, being in the same room or bed with a certain person, begins to scream in his sleep. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that a certain person provokes an attack of night screaming. The person does not feel safe next to him, perhaps experiencing a threat, accompanied by anxiety and irritation. At the same time, in the daytime he doesn’t even know about it. His subconscious signals in a similar non-standard way.
The result of alcohol abuse. Often a cry in the middle of the night is heard from a person who has taken alcohol the day before. The fact is that drinking alcohol while intoxicated is considered to be similar to anesthesia. In some parts of the cerebral cortex, inhibition occurs, resulting in a night cry.

If we consider the situation in children, the following points may occur:

the smallest screaming through their sleep may indicate a desire to refresh themselves;
may be a consequence of daytime impressions, which manifest themselves in a similar way in a child’s fragile nervous system;
the consequence of watching cartoons or films before bed, which had a disturbing effect on an impressionable child.

Psychologist's advice

If a person screams in a dream, this may be a sign of a subconscious desire to express his emotions in reality to some person. Showing negative feelings is rarely welcomed in society. A person, for various reasons (upbringing, fear of punishment, secondary benefit) tries to hide his true emotions from others, and often he successfully hides them from himself. It could be fear, rage, resentment, irritation. In this case, only by realizing and openly expressing your feelings can you get rid of sleep problems.

To begin with, you can use “safe” methods, for example, opening up to a friend or writing a letter to a person, expressing everything in it, and then burning it. If necessary, the process can be repeated until the parasomnia symptoms disappear.

To avoid screaming in fear at night, try to figure out its causes during the day.

For those people who do not fully understand why they scream in their sleep, what emotions they suppress, psychologists recommend doing the following exercise.

Take a comfortable, relaxed position, close your eyes, and even out your breathing. Find one of the most pleasant and joyful memories in your memory and enjoy it.
Then you should remember your feelings after waking up. What is it – fear, anxiety, malice, anger? Where are these feelings located in the body? How can they be described by visualization? Color, size, smell, weight?
If these emotions could talk, what would they say?

As a rule, at this stage it becomes clear what a person is afraid of or what makes him angry.

What to do when screaming in your sleep, when psychotherapy does not help and the attacks are severe:

drug treatment is recommended (taking sleeping pills and sedatives, nootropics under the supervision of a doctor);
physiotherapy (massage, mud therapy, relaxing baths, electrosleep);
vitamin therapy (taking B vitamins, magnesium, fatty acids, tryptophan).

Relatives of someone screaming in their sleep should remember that it is impossible to wake them up abruptly during an attack. Due to a sudden awakening in the REM phase of sleep, a person ultimately does not get enough sleep. This may lead to worsening of the disorder in the future. It is better to speak soothing words, stroke the person’s hand, quietly call him by name until he gradually wakes up or falls asleep peacefully further.

Characteristic manifestations

When we talk about screaming in a dream, we can consider certain situations.

The man speaks in a raised voice. At the same time, it seems that he is turning to someone or calling for help. Those who are nearby at this moment may get the impression that the person has awakened.
Loud utterances can be clear or incoherent depending on the stage of sleep.
The person screams, cries or waves his arms. This behavior is especially noted in the case of a nightmare or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The sleeping person gets out of bed and begins to scream or ask questions. Symptoms similar to sleepwalking

Despite the fact that in most cases, night screaming is not a threat to human health or his life, there are still certain situations when this phenomenon gives cause for concern:

daily nightmares that persist for a long time;
the appearance of sleepwalking;
the onset of teeth grinding;
suffocation in sleep;
temperature rise above 38 degrees;
the appearance of trembling attacks during periods of calm.

It is important to understand that such manifestations may indicate serious abnormalities in the body, the presence of pathological processes. Initially, you can seek help from a neurologist; if necessary, this specialist will redirect you to a psychologist, psychotherapist or somnologist.

Is it dangerous

Restless dreamers themselves, as a rule, upon awakening do not remember anything about what happened and do not want to see a doctor, while their loved ones are very frightened by night attacks. They are often the first to wonder why a person screams at night in his sleep.

Although in most cases night screams are a completely harmless thing, this condition in children should still be monitored with special care. As a rule, this behavior is one of the phenomena of parasomnia - a specific sleep disorder, most widespread among children under the age of 8-10 years. However, such screams may be a sign of increased epiactivity of the brain. If the situation is chronic and does not go away with age in the child (by 14-16 years), then it makes sense to consult a neurologist. If the neurologist does not identify any violations, then in order to figure out why the person screams and talks in his sleep, he will be sent for a consultation with a somnologist and psychotherapist. The somnologist will draw up a picture of the dream, and the psychotherapist will examine the patient’s state of mind for abnormalities that could cause problems.

Methods of counteraction

It is important to determine the true cause that influences the appearance of night screaming. If necessary, consult a doctor if you cannot solve this problem on your own.

If you understand that you need to take a sedative, then it is better to seek help from a specialist who can choose a safe remedy that does not have a negative effect on the body. Your doctor may prescribe tincture of valerian or motherwort as a sedative.
The doctor may also prescribe nootropics - drugs that improve the functioning of the brain and also have a positive effect on normalizing sleep.
Physiotherapy may be prescribed along with drug therapy. Among which are noted: mud treatment, electrophoresis, relaxation baths.
The doctor may prescribe a multivitamin complex if he deems it necessary. He will also advise enriching your diet with foods containing magnesium, B vitamins, and tryptophan.
When faced with screams at night, analyze whether you have a suitable pillow for sleeping. Perhaps it’s time to change it, buy a modern orthopedic option.
Before going to bed, you can perform a certain ritual, namely: take a relaxing bath with the addition of herbal decoctions that have a calming effect.
Before going to bed, do not watch scary films that excite your nervous system. Especially if you are overly impressionable and have repeatedly noticed the connection between these phenomena. Do not sit in front of a monitor screen for a long time.
If you are visited by disturbing thoughts, you cannot relax, you feel excessive tension, then it is recommended to turn to Eastern practices, do yoga or meditation. You can also visit a psychologist or psychotherapist, who in their sessions will help you cope with the problem that has arisen and teach you how to relax.

If there is a neurological problem, a neurologist will help. If there is prolonged stress or nightmares, a psychologist or psychotherapist will help. If the presence of mental disorders is detected - a psychiatrist.

Panic attacks during sleep

Panic attacks differ from nightmares in the time they occur. Night dreams occur in the second half of the night during the REM sleep phase; a person often remembers what he dreamed. Nocturnal panic attacks are not associated with dreams and most often develop from twelve at night to four in the morning.

Panic attacks during sleep have serious negative consequences for a person's health and overall well-being. Attacks prevent the body from resting, disrupt falling asleep, and lead to lack of sleep and constant fatigue.

Important

Panic attacks at night are impossible to forget. A person begins to live in constant fear that this will happen again, and is afraid to go to bed.

Repeated attacks of anxiety and fear at night should alert you and cause you to contact a specialist. Over time, attacks occur more frequently and their duration increases. For example, if at the beginning of the disease there are 1-2 panic episodes every two to three months, then without treatment, attacks can develop daily.

Precautionary measures

Evening walks in the fresh air have a beneficial effect on normalizing sleep

Try to go to bed at the same time every day. It is advisable to do this no later than 23:00. It is recommended to sleep at least seven, and preferably eight hours.
Try not to watch movies, sit in front of the computer, or study new information before going to bed.
It is recommended to take walks in the fresh air in the evening.
Take care to give up bad habits. Remember that nicotine, alcohol and drugs have a negative effect on the body, including a person’s sleep.
It is worth taking care to create comfortable conditions for a night's rest. It is necessary that the room has an optimal temperature (from 18 to 22 degrees) and humidity (50 - 60%).
It is important not to overeat before going to bed. It is recommended that the last meal be at least three hours before the night's rest.

Now you know why a person can scream in his sleep. As you can see, there may be several reasons influencing the occurrence of such a phenomenon. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand what exactly in your case causes night screaming. Remember that you should not self-medicate, for example, start taking medications prescribed for a relative to normalize sleep. You may have a completely different case, and with such an attraction you will only harm yourself.

Why can children scream in their sleep?

Children, just like adults, can cry in their sleep. This happens for the same reasons: stress, fear, bad dream, stuffy room. Often, in addition to exclamations, the child also cries. Sometimes it is difficult for a mother to understand why this is happening, because the baby cannot yet explain what scared him so much.

Popular reasons include the following:

The baby screams when it is hungry. Considering that he sleeps for most of the first month of life, this is the only way the baby can express his desires. The exclamation is also a defensive reaction for a baby to a possible danger. As a rule, he can voice in his sleep, in the hope of feeling the presence of his mother. If the mother does not immediately approach him, the baby begins to scream loudly.
The baby’s nervous system has not yet strengthened, so anything can impress him. If parents, for dubious educational purposes, are accustomed to frightening their child with “baykas,” monsters and other fantastic characters, they risk getting a person constantly screaming and crying at night. All these parental scary stories and threats are nothing compared to the wild imagination of children, so it is impossible to predict what the baby imagined in his head.
TV, endless bright cartoons, a combination of loud sounds - all this excites the child’s nervous system. As a result, he is guaranteed restless sleep.
If for an adult sleepwalking can be considered almost a disease, then for children under 12 years old it is a common occurrence. And talking, crying and screaming in a dream are also attributed to somnambulism.

As for an adult, for a child restless behavior in sleep is associated with nervous tension. Most often the reason for this is fears and strong impressions. You should protect your baby from overexcitation as much as possible, especially before a night's rest.

Treatment of nocturnal panic attacks

What to do to get rid of panic attacks in your sleep? Panic attacks are treated with a combination of psychotherapy and medications. Treatment has two main directions:

Learn to stop attacks.
Don't allow them to repeat.

You can stop an attack - that is, quickly stop it and get rid of symptoms - with medication or non-drug. At the request of the patient, the doctor can prescribe an anti-anxiety drug (anxiolytic), which in a few minutes brings the nervous system into a relaxed state.

The patient needs to learn non-drug relaxation techniques during individual psychotherapy sessions. These are thought control, self-hypnosis and proper breathing. Modern relaxation techniques include biofeedback therapy.

To get rid of panic attacks at night forever, you need to understand their causes. This may require several therapy sessions, and the patient must be willing to make efforts, change, listen carefully to the therapist and strictly follow his recommendations. In this case, the prognosis will be favorable.

How does a hysterical seizure differ from an epileptic seizure?

It is necessary to understand that a hysterical attack and an epileptic attack are completely different diseases. A fit of hysteria is caused by pronounced emotional reactions, which, as a rule, occur in the presence of “spectators” - close people or strangers. Most often, a hysterical attack is provoked by fear, grief, or resentment. Unlike an epileptic attack, during a hysterical attack the patient does not cause severe damage to himself and does not lose consciousness. An attack of hysteria lasts about 20 minutes, sometimes several hours, and the duration of an epileptic seizure is, on average, two minutes. After a hysterical attack, patients do not experience drowsiness and a feeling of stupor, which is characteristic of an epileptic attack.

What to do?

Separately occurring episodes of screaming during a night's rest do not indicate serious threats. The following symptoms may be a cause for concern:

regular human screams at night,
waking up after screaming with increased sweating,
manifestations of sleepwalking,
feeling of suffocation while sleeping in a well-ventilated area,
shuddering in sleep,
bruxism, grinding teeth in sleep,
depression, negative emotions, sleepy, lethargic state during the day.

If several of the symptoms described above are observed, it is better to contact a neurologist or somnologist.

Diagnostics

The first stage is an oral survey, during which the therapist (or a specialized doctor) clarifies the frequency, duration, and intensity of moans; how disturbed the sleep is, the presence of a hereditary factor, as well as existing bad habits.

In order to track the picture of the ongoing process, a woman or man is asked to record daily changes in condition:

events experienced during the day (to determine tension and psycho-emotional background);
daily routine: time of waking up and falling asleep, getting up at night;
well-being after sleep;
attacks and the nature of the moaning (the wife or husband who is nearby during the night moaning will help with this point).

In advanced cases, polysomnography is prescribed. Polysomnography is a procedure that involves connecting sensors to a sleeping person. Based on the data obtained, the somnologist makes a conclusion about the root causes that served as a signal for the manifestation of catophrenia.

Polysomnography procedure. Using computer systems, heartbeat, pulse rate, breathing, and the functioning of internal organs are recorded