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Hudson Valley Parent 29
running with a real look of terror
on their face and may include loud
screaming," she says. "A true night
terror also includes the possibility
of the child hurting themselves or
breaking things. This is much rarer
to see."
'Confusional events'
Through her research, Edmonds
also found that there is some con-
fusion between a true night terror
and what is also known as a "con-
fusional event." Confusional events
occur when a child's body is in a
deep stage of sleep and trying to
come out.
"During these transitional periods,
the body's 'drive to wake' and 'drive
to sleep' meet head on. Most of the
time they can make these transitions
smoothly — they might just moan,
roll over, grab their blanket. But
sometimes when these two drives
meet, they collide head on and in
a sense create a collision with the
brain and body and this creates a
sleep terror or confusional event."
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