10 Terrifying Things That Can Happen To You Whilst Sleeping

Nightmares are a common thing for many regular dreamers, and often harmless outside of the sleep as the person experiences the images whilst their eyes are closed and may wake up to sweats or feelings of being scared. Having a night terror is a step up from this, as the images can occur outside of the person's closed eyes, making them feel like the dream is actually happening.

Much like sleep paralysis, night terrors are most commonly brought on by lack of sleep or alcohol and are accompanied with hallucinations along with a feeling of panic or dread if the images are scary. However, in night terrors, the sufferer can move whilst their dream is happening around them.

There can be extreme cases of night terror experiences such as screaming, thrashing or running out of bed away or towards what they might be seeing. These cases can also lead to the dreamer hurting themselves unintentionally by heading towards or reaching for things in their room to hide or get the vision away.

They are common in children from 3-8 years old but are more dangerous if the sufferer is an adult. It is a trait that can run in family genetic history.