Night Terrors: Cause Partially Genetic
Night Terrors - also known as sleep terrors can be a dreadful experience for an adult. How much worse they must be for a child. Up to now scientists have been unsure what causes the condition, however new research published in Pediatrics suggests it could be at least partially inherited.
Rsearchers from Montreal's Sacre-Coeur Hospital studied 390 sets of twins and found that identical twins were far more likely to suffer from the terrors than fraternal twins. This suggests a strong genetic element to the condition. According to Bich Hong Nguyen:
This research offers hope for a better understanding of night terrors but not necessarily a way to prevent them. However there is some consolation for distressed parents: the study also noted that half the children suffering night terrors at 18 months were free of the condition at 30 months.
Rsearchers from Montreal's Sacre-Coeur Hospital studied 390 sets of twins and found that identical twins were far more likely to suffer from the terrors than fraternal twins. This suggests a strong genetic element to the condition. According to Bich Hong Nguyen:
"Our results show that there is a substantial effect of genetics factors in sleep terrors"
This research offers hope for a better understanding of night terrors but not necessarily a way to prevent them. However there is some consolation for distressed parents: the study also noted that half the children suffering night terrors at 18 months were free of the condition at 30 months.
Labels: night terrors, sleep
